CT State Senator Recognizes Standout Mock Trial Team

She’s a history and geography teacher to many, but to the 13 articulate, welldressed mock trial team members at East Shoreline Catholic Academy (ESCA), Nancy Addorisio is so much more.

“Given the opportunity, they are amazing in the heights that they rise to,” Addorisio said.

Addorisio fosters responsibility in the students as well as collaboration, offering them an environment in which they are encouraged to speak independently and learn the foundations of law along the way. Nancy Addorisio first began the mock trial program in 2002 at Our Lady of Mercy School (OLM) in Madison where she produced 11 championship teams. Nancy brought the mock trial program to ESCA in 2018 when they became a STREAM model and successor school of Our Lady of Mercy and St. Mary (Branford) Schools.

On March 30, ESCA’s mock trial team competed virtually for the Middle School State Championship at the Appellate Court. Although the team did not win, they were recognized for their accomplishments by Senator Christine Cohen who handed out citations from the Connecticut General Assembly at the school on June 15.

At the event in Branford, Senator Cohen said that to be a part of mock trial is an “incredible experience.”

“I was very shy before I started mock trial, I wouldn’t speak up in class, but she really helped me make my place at this school,” eighth grade witness Kayla Mullane said of her teacher and coach, Nancy Addorisio. “I’m really thankful that she gave me that.”

Many of the students involved had experiences so positive, they plan to continue their law journey as they move into high school, and for some, college.

“We really do have to collaborate on everything,” Grace Grammatico, named best attorney along with teammate Patrick Manning, said. “And it’s not only helped me in the past two years in schoolwork in general and in life, but it’s going to help me in the future – advocate for myself in high school classrooms that are going to get bigger and then in college.”

The team spends many after school hours familiarizing themselves with cases and adapting to roles they’ve been assigned.

Memorization is one of mock trial’s key elements, and Addorisio says the students have confronted this challenge with grace with help from Judge Peter McShane and attorney Barry Beletsky.

“It amazes me, with middle school kids, not only do they memorize fast, but you take them from not knowing how to develop a cross question, then they’re through law school,” Addorisio said. “I’m amazed.”

The entirety of competition dialogue is spoken from memory, including opening and closing statements that are about seven minutes long. Eighth grade graduate Max Schroeder read the opening statement at the State Championship competition, that which he said he “read like a hundred times.”

Even after graduating, Addorisio says it’s not uncommon for former students to return to mock trial and help coach. Some current students have even voiced that they envision themselves doing so.

“I have had students that state, ‘Everything that I know came out of mock trial. It gave me the confidence, in high school and beyond,’” Addorisio said. “It’s more than a team effort, it’s really like family.”