WINONA LAKE, IND. – The Grace College Mediation Team concluded its eleventh season
of competition in November. The goal of the team is to establish peace-making values
and practice conflict resolution.
Dr. Mark Norris, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences and mediation coach at Grace
College, led the team of five students through two successful competitions this year.
“My style of coaching is grass-roots,” Norris said. “I allow the students to lead.”
The team includes Brooke Trice, Isaac VanLoh, Emerson Mast, Austin Treen, and Elijah
Brooks. The students meet weekly to practice and prepare solutions for future cases.
Two weeks before each competition, they are given the cases to study and practice.
The first competition of the year was at Maharishi University of Management in
Fairfield, Iowa, where Grace competed with 15 other teams and 48 individuals. Four of
Grace’s five members won awards, and the whole team won second in Mediation
overall.
The second competition of the year was the 20th Annual International Intercollegiate
Mediation Tournament at York University in Toronto. Teams gathered from around the
world. Austin Treen won first place on a bye team for the Advocate and Client category.
Grace’s Mediation Team also attended the Victims and Offenders Reconciliation
Program in Elkhart, where the students earned a certificate and volunteered as
mediators.
Before each competition, a training conference is held which is led by world-class
mediators and lawyers, who later serve as judges in the competition. “Talent is just
showered on us at the tournament,” Norris said. “It’s an amazing time to get advice
from great talent for our students,” he added.
VanLoh, the team captain, said, “Being on the Grace Mediation Team has meant a lot to
me. I am proud to have found a way I can represent Grace College.”
Students on the Mediation Team receive class credit in Applied Learning for their
participation. Many current team members are studying Pre-Law, but the team is open
to students in any program or major.
For more information on the Grace College Mediation Team, contact Dr. Mark Norris at
norrismm@grace.edu.
