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Mock trial team members earn regional honors

Feb. 16, 2007

KALAMAZOO--Two members of Western Michigan University's mock trial team ranked in the top 10 in two categories for their performances at a regional tournament in early February.

Recent graduate Richard Salchow of Richmond, Mich., and Reema Nandy, a third-year political science student from Sterling Heights, Mich., received individual awards from the event Feb. 2 to 4 at the University of Notre Dame. One of WMU's two teams, coached by part-time Lee Honors and political science instructor Joelle Renstrom, also received an honorable mention.

In mock trial, students assume the roles of lawyers and witnesses and present their side of a case issued by the American Mock Trial Association. Points are won by individual performances, and the top-10 ranked members in each category earn Outstanding Attorney awards and Outstanding Witness awards, such as those earned by Salchow and Nandy.

Salchow, who received his bachelor's degree in political science from WMU in December, accrued 18 of a possible 20 points for his work as a defense attorney, in which he delivered an opening statement, examined a plaintiff expert and cross-examined another witness.

Nandy received 17 of a total 20 possible points for her portrayal of a defense witness and expert investigator.

"Our recent competition would not have been possible without the hard work of our coach Joelle Renstrom. Joelle poured countless hours of preparation into making sure that the Western Michigan Mock Trial team was able to make it to such a competition. Without her dedication we would have not had the success that we did," Salchow said of Renstrom, who this year took over the reins of the program her father, the late Dr. Peter Renstrom, started in 2001.

Media contact: Deanne Molinari, (269) 387-8400, deanne.molinari@wmich.edu

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