This letter is in response to the article, “HS South Goes Back to Court” in the Feb. 1, 2018 issue of West Windsor & Plainsboro News. While I am ï¬attered by my prominence in the article, I would be remiss if I did not draw attention the hard work performed by my teammates.
In a recent letter to The News, the parents of one of the members of Mock Trial mentioned that the article unfairly portrayed the role of their daughter. However, this was never my intention. The article was about the creation of Mock Trial, and how the avenues that we took to form the club surpassed the red tape of administration.
Anika Prakash and Ria Seth undoubtedly did a fantastic job in helping run the club. For the past four years or so, people have submitted applications to the administration requesting to create a Mock Trial club, and last year that was Anika Prakash and Ria Seth.
This year, with the help of Mr. and Mrs. Mehno, I was able to bypass this process (as I knew its probable outcome) and go directly to the Board of Education. I ï¬gured that Anika, Ria and Neal Singal (who I will discuss later) were also deserving of officerships given their past attempts to start the club, not to mention the incredible amount of work that was needed to be done. These three dedicated individuals along with myself make up the leadership of Mock Trial.
There is one individual in particular who deserves special recognition in running the club after its creation—Neal Singal. I have had the pleasure to know Neal through debate and Model UN and can say with complete confidence that he is one of the most capable and intelligent leaders I have ever met.
Serving in the “attorney” role with both me and Naman Sarda, I am so happy Neal chose to get involved. His tireless communications with Mr. Mehno and experience in the humanities made him an invaluable asset in pulling the team together before the competition. I think we all learned a great deal from Neal’s leadership and help and his impact on Mock Trial will never be forgotten.
Finally, I would like to thank Mr. and Mrs. Mehno who stepped up and helped us clear the final obstacle when Mr. Mehno agreed to take time from his busy life and coach the team.
— Tommy Colitsas, West Windsor
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I enjoyed your article about the West Windsor South Mock Trial team. It might interest your readers to know that West Windsor has had a Mock Trial team for the past 10+ years, called the Marshall Academy, coached by Barbara Rapaport (full disclosure, she’s my wife), that includes mostly home-schooled students. The team has been to the Mercer County finals almost every year, and has won county three times, including this year, when they defeated Princeton Day School.
— Peter Stein, West Windsor
