Other notes from today's Govt Club

We got all members of the Montgomery teams registered on time!
www.alyig.org

For ALL team members:
The next meeting (Oct 7) we will have half the meeting as a General Meeting and half the meeting as Mock Trial -- Please bring at least a rough draft of direct questions if you are a witness and cross questions if you are a lawyer.

The following week, October 14, we will primarily be going over Objections. Witnesses from all the teams are welcome to attend, but we especially need all of the lawyers to attend.

Prosecution Team (Scrimmage)

Opening -- Aaron
Closing -- Tess

Witnesses
Shelby -- ?? (Directed by Micah)
Jamie -- ?? (Directed by Tess)
Police -- John (Directed by Aaron)

Crosses
Pat -- Micah
Kinsley -- Tess
Loren -- Aaron

Defese Team (Scrimmage)

Opening -- Holden
Closing -- Eli

Loren -- Hannah (Directed by Eli)
Kinsley -- Brad (Directed by Holden)
Pat -- Ben (Directed by Tiffany)

Crosses
Police -- Tiffany
Jamie -- Eli
Shelby -- Holden

Prosecution Team (Montgomery)

Opening -- Connor
Closing -- Jacob

Shelby -- Pearl (Directed by Kayleigh)
Jamie -- Maggie (Directed by Jacob)
Police Officer -- Katie (Directed by Connor)

Crosses
Kayleigh -- Loren
Jacob -- Pat
Connor -- Kinsley

Defense Team (Montgomery)

For right now, will be practicing on Friday mornings from 10 a.m. to 12 noon.

Opening -- Tori
Closing -- Joel

Witnesses
Pat -- Heidi (Directed by Ariella)
Loren -- Lee (Directed by Joel)
Kinsley -- Noah (Directed by Tori)

Crosses:
Ariella -- Shelby
Joel -- Jamie
Tori -- Police Officer

Fundraiser Letter - be sure to insert phone number/names/email addresses

October 2009

Dear

We are members of the Way Home Christian School (WHCS) Government Club. We are writing today to ask for your support for our important upcoming events.

Each year our club sends teams to the statewide Youth Judicial (Mock Trial) competition in Montgomery, Alabama, which is hosted by the YMCA Youth in Government program. The YMCA Youth Judicial program allows high school students (Grades 9 -12) the opportunity to learn about law though preparation and presentation of a mock case. Students are on teams of 6, with 3 youth lawyers and 3 youth witnesses. Teams prepare either the defense side of the case or plaintiff/prosecution. Other students in Alabama’s program go down as a judge, sheriff, or deputy sheriff. (No other states offer these other choices for participation or have youth as the scoring judges.) All participants receive a fictional case which has a case summary, evidence and affidavits for the plaintiff/prosecution and the defense.

In the last 12 years, the Club has taken 21 teams to Montgomery. Every year at least one team has placed in the top 10, and 8 of the years we had 1st place teams. (We take our Mock Trial seriously and yet still have fun as we prepare our cases.) Additionally, 15 of our students have participated in national Mock Trial competitions over the years. Several of those students went on to do College Mock Trial and one is starting his final year at NYU Law School.

Altogether our Club needs to raise $5000 for this event in order to cover program fees, transportation, lodging and food expenses for the teams and advisors. Additionally, we have several students who are planning to attend the Harvard Mock Trial Training weekend in October, many who would like to go to Youth Legislature in February, and numerous more who hope to attend our Government Club Field Trip to Philadelphia in March.

Any size donation would be greatly appreciated and your entire donation is tax deductible as well.

Please send your contribution in the form of check or money order made payable to the Way Home Christian School (WHCS) to the following address:
WHCS Govt Club Fundraiser
8006 Old Madison Pike, Ste 11-a
Madison, AL 35758

If you would like to learn more about our group or have any questions regarding this letter, please feel free to contact me at (insert phone number). Thank you very much for your time and consideration.


Best regards,



Insert Names Here
WHCS Government Club
cmmjaime@alum.mit.edu

16 Sept General Meeting

Our general meetings will be spent discussing current events that are related to government. This week's Meeting was easy -- we spent almost the entire time discussing last weekend's 9/12 March/Rally in D.C. (My apologies for not mentioning in advance that Dee and I were going to that!)

We went through the pictures we had taken, the speeches, the media coverage, the reasons for it, and more.

Harvard Mock Trial Training

It looks like only 2 of us will be attending the Mock Trial Training in Harvard this year. But don't worry, we will come back with lots of good information to share with everyone!

Fall Meeting Dates Modified

I had these posted earlier, but made some changes to it, so I'm posting it again with the corrections:

General Govt Club Meetings are usually the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Wednesdays of the month, beginning on September 16. (The exception will be November 4, since we will be having a Mock Trial Scrimmage that day, instead of a General Meeting.)

So, the fall general government meetings are scheduled for: September 16 & 30, October 7 & 21, and December 2. (The November General Meeting has been canceled -- it is too close to our potential departure for the Thanksgiving holidays...So for the fall we will plan on two General Meetings in September, two in October and one in December.)

The semester ends with a Christmas Party on December 16 from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Mock Trial meetings are scheduled for September 9 & 23, and October 14 and 28. Then the first scrimmages are on November 4, and there is a Mock Trial Scrimmage/Dress Rehearsal on November 11. (The location will be announced on those -- we like to have at least the Dress Rehearsal somewhere larger, so it is easier for family and friends to come and watch.)

Additionally, we will try to have at least some of the Mock Trial teams get together to practice once a week, from mid-September through the beginning of November. (We will discuss that more at the September 9 meeting.