{"id":201313,"date":"2015-05-12T04:00:57","date_gmt":"2015-05-11T18:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=201313"},"modified":"2015-05-12T04:00:57","modified_gmt":"2015-05-11T18:00:57","slug":"prti-honors-esfdb-jr-high-mock-trial-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/prti-honors-esfdb-jr-high-mock-trial-team\/","title":{"rendered":"PRTI honors ESFDB Jr. High Mock Trial team"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every lawyer got their start somewhere.<\/p>\n

\"Eskuelan<\/a>
Eskuelan San Francisco de Borja Junior High Mock Trial Team. Front row, from left, are Marjorie J. Banaag, Jeremy John Atalig II, and Tyra Reese A. Calvo. Back row, from left, are Angelo S. Lucero, Joshua James Puerto, and Raimundo Y. Manglona. (Contributed Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For local young people, it might have been events such as this year\u2019s 11th Annual Junior High Mock Trial hosted by the Northern Marianas Humanities Council on April 18 at the Guma\u2019 Hustisia in Susupe.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s case is a fictitious murder trial, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands v. Quinn Siguenza. Police detective Quinn Siguenza has just been indicted by a grand jury for the murder of a suspected drug dealer, Vinson Perez. Perez was gunned down in an alley behind a local bar. Eyewitness testimony and forensic evidence claimed Siguenza was the murderer. However, other eyewitnesses claimed other individuals may have been involved. Each team argued their case before a real judge.<\/p>\n

Though it is non-competitive, Eskuelan San Francisco de Borja and students from nine other schools were each recognized by the judges.<\/p>\n

Students from Eskuelan San Francisco de Borja that were recognized for superior achievement for their role as defense attorneys are Tyra Reese A. Calvo, Angelo S. Lucero, and Marjorie J. Banaag.<\/p>\n

Joshua James O. Puerto, Jeremy John Atalig II, and Raimundo Y. Manglona were recognized for their role as defense witnesses.<\/p>\n

Aside from the Northern Marianas Humanities Council recognizing the ESFDB students, the Pacific Regional Training Institute\/U.S. Army Child, Youth, and School Services out of Hawaii also recognized the students for their outstanding achievement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw these students in action in their school Facebook and they were nothing short of awe-inspiring,\u201d said Col. Jon Takamura of the U.S. Army Judge Advocate Corps. \u201cI witnessed a commitment to excellence I don\u2019t often see in high school students. I salute the attorney and teacher coaches for their excellent job.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope that the school continues their participation in this valuable educational program. It offers students an opportunity for personal growth and achievement, emphasizing the importance of research, presentation, and teamwork,\u201d said Capt. Ford Ebesugawa.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese students have achieved something very impressive with their performance during the Junior High Mock Trial event. It helps the students with public speaking and teaches them critical thinking,\u201d said ESFDB administrator\/principal Carmen H. Atalig. \u201cNot only were they recognized for their outstanding performances but they earned a good grade for their performances. It\u2019s an invaluable experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve represented our school and Luta community very well. I am proud of the achievements of these God-given talented students,\u201d added Atalig.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was the bad police detective,\u201d said 6th grade student Raimundo Y. Manglona. \u201cI found out what it was like to be on trial. It was intimidating to have people present all kinds of negative evidence against you. It was actually quite amazing. I enjoyed my time and a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI participated three times. And in those times, I had been recognized outstanding witness and attorney,\u201d said 8th grade student Tyra Reese A. Calvo. \u201cI want to thank Mr. Ed [Maratita Jr.], our lawyer coach, for believing in me and showing me my potential to be a lawyer someday.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Eskuelan San Francisco de Borja Junior High Mock Trial team had been preparing for the event since January this year.<\/p>\n

The Junior High Mock Trial event was ESFDB\u2019s culmination of a 12-week class conducted by Army Judge Advocate General Corps attorney coach Capt. Edward Maratita Jr. and assisted by teacher coach Mary Rose Lucero.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring the 12-week class, there was a lot of reading, they had a long packet of information to read before the junior high mock trial, and I am very proud of them because they were focused and disciplined,\u201d said Maratita, who is also the ESFDB board chairman. \u201cThe students had a sense of how the judicial system works. Next year we\u2019re hoping to get more student participation in the junior high mock trial classes to build around for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

The administration, faculty, and students would like to express their appreciation to the NMI Humanities Council, Superior Court judges and Supreme Court justices, Pacific Regional Training Institute Legal Counsel Division (Hawaii), Arlo Lucero, and to the parents for their encouragement and support. (ESFDB)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every lawyer got their start somewhere. For local young people, it might have been events…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":201315,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[674,1677,67,4486],"class_list":["post-201313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-life","tag-esfdb","tag-eskuelan-san-francisco","tag-people","tag-quinn-siguenza"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}