How it all started...

The clock strikes noon and the East Brunswick team is finally done competing. 20 students were done with their speeches and questioning and now it was only a matter of time before they find out if they have placed nationally and if they were going to Washington DC. All throughout the senior year of high school 20 students apart of the Institute of Political and Legal Education (IPLE) program prepared and worked diligently to craft 4-minute speeches on various legal areas and to be able to respond to questions from attorneys, professors, and legal scholars. The We the People Civic Education competition was one of the many competitions me and my best friends were working toward. The only difference with this competition was that it was our last one in high school and we wanted to leave with a bang.

This photo below best represents how I and my unit were feeling moments before we had to give our testimonies. For me and my friend Kamala, this competition was super important to us because it was our only outlet in high school to express our legal knowledge and develop related skills. Both Kamala did all public speaking-related activities throughout high school and having her as my partner for this competition made my experience all the better. Both Kamala and I aspire to be lawyers and we dove into the material for our topics for this competition. We stayed up many long nights editing our speeches, researching, and receiving criticism from our advisors. The workload was very stressful but all the more stimulating and fulfilling. In any case, my unit was small, yet had all the strengths of a successful group. My friend Victor is on the right of the picture and is a computer science major and didn’t particularly care all that much about the competition. However, he still pulled his weight in ways Kamala and I couldn’t. His knowledge of computers and his analytical processing skills bridge the intellectual gap between me and Kamala. My unit members allowed me to have such a fun experience and allowed me to develop my passion and love for the law. Not only my team members but the family that was built between me and the other members of my highschools’ team. This competition took a village to properly prepare the East Brunswick team. For months before the competition, Mr. Brodman, and Mondry called in several alumni from the program to come in and prepare the senior class for the state and national competition. This required a lot of late-night zoom calls, several after-school meetings with other teachers, and alumni, and overall bonded a large group of students and staff to one another. Being a part of the IPLE program and the Model United Nations team was the best part of my high school experience and it has shaped me into the person that I am today.

With all the hard work came great rewards because not only did my team place first during the state competition but my unit specifically won on the national level. This was my proudest achievement of senior year and only furthered my passion for the law. Not only did this make me proud but word traveled to cousins and family members who previously had done this competition. To say the least, my family members were impressed with my public speaking and ability to converse about the legal system. Moreover, I was able to impress Mr. Brodman and Mr. Mondry, the two most critical and intelligent people I know. Both of them put me and my unit under immense pressure and expected the best out of us and they pushed me to be my best self. Since then, I have only furthered my interests in the legal system as I am pursuing a political science degree and intend to go to law school. Not only am I confident in the skills that I have but I also have the support of my friends, family, and teachers as I proceed through this journey of college and hopefully law school.

Featuring the infamous Marc Mondry