Mediation Team Brings Home Top-Ten Individual Award
“I can’t believe these are undergraduate students” was a common comment from the judges about Principia’s mediation team at the 2016 International Law School Mediation Championship, which was held at Loyola University’s School of Law in Chicago in early March.
Fifty-two teams from 38 universities competed, including teams from the United Kingdom, India, Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, Singapore, Ireland, Canada, and Zimbabwe. Principia was one of only four undergraduate mediation programs represented, and with a ninth place individual mediation trophy, the team earned a top ten finish for the second year in a row.
Led by team captains senior Justin Duffy, junior Elaina Cokinos, and sophomore Connor Fiddler, Principia narrowly missed the semifinal round but took the trophy due to a particularly outstanding performance by freshman Namrata Roy. “What makes Principia's team unique is that we are all naturally peacemakers,” Roy says. “The basis of Christian Science puts us a step ahead. We are striving toward finding harmony and resolution every single day anyway, and the competition allows us to hone our peacemaking skills in a very effective manner.”
The team is preparing for the 2016 International Intercollegiate Mediation Championships at the University of Texas in Dallas in November. “The training at the Loyola tournament and the strength of the competition was an exceptional learning opportunity for what is still a fairly young team,” says coach Dr. Jeffrey Steele. “We are very much looking forward to next season.”