After winning first place in the Delaware state mock trial competition this winter, the Wilmington Friends team plans to head to nationals in mid-May. The state case, involving a nature reserve and an insurance company, was complex, with many hidden details and obscure laws at its center. “I think the case tested the bonds and stamina of our team, especially during Saturday morning practices, but we did a great job at states and I’m excited to go to nationals,” said Claire Manning ‘22, team captain and co-winner of the Delaware Bar Association’s Most Loquaciously-articulate Student Attorney Award. However, the nationals case promises to be extremely challenging. It revolves around the prestigious, arrogant, and ludicrously-wealthy Jeffery Bezos- Harvard School in Greenwich, Connecticut (a Quaker school), and two angry, arrogant, and ludicrously-wealthy parents. They claim that their child has been cheated out of a 5.0 point GPA by a malicious teacher. The school, meanwhile, argues that the parents demanded that the student’s grade be “revised” (to quote out of court material, which is also at issue in this harrowing scandal), and some of the accusations include bribery, corruption, and international eco-terrorism. (The parents threatened to release Croatian Vaporflies, a species of fruit fly, to destroy the school’s three-million-dollar Rare Wood Arboretum). Caroline Hayter ‘22, an attorney on the team, said that the nationals case has interesting relevance to Friends itself. “It’s hard to have to pick a side, because while eco-terrorism is obviously wrong, I also empathize with the student’s situation. We’re all special, so doesn’t everyone deserve proof of that? Why shouldn’t we all have good grades?” Undaunted by the challenges of the case, the team is confident in its ability to succeed.