By Riley Sullivan 
Have you ever been put on hold when calling an on-campus office here at Fitchburg State University?  For most students the answer is yes!  The new voice recording highlights all of the great aspects of Fitchburg State University. One is a nationally recognized student success:  “Fitchburg State University students placed first in the brief-writing competition at the American Collegiate Moot Court Association National Tournament in California.”
Every Thursday from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. during the Fall semester about ten students gather for the course offered here called Moot Court.  What is Moot Court you ask? According to the Fitchburg State University website, it is a course in which “students will intensively study a specific area of law for the purpose of arguing in a moot court competition. Moot court involves teams of student-contestants, clients burdened by a legal problem, briefs and oratory detailing the dimensions of the legal problems before an appellate court, and the judging of performances by panels of faculty and attorneys. The top teams emerging from this course will be eligible to represent the university at the national tournament.”
Two students, Matthew Costello and Sydney Kirsch, won first place in the brief-writing competition last January.  All the hours of hard work and dedication to Moot Court paid off in last year’s national competition in California.  Not only did this experience positively impact the Fitchburg State community, it also changed Matthew’s college experience and created memories that will last a life time. Costello stated that “creating an actual legal brief was one of the most strenuous yet rewarding experiences thus far. I worked countless hours to make the brief nearly perfect but I never expected that we would place first on a national level.”
Being a senior here at Fitchburg State, Costello claimed that “the moment that Sydney and I received our award, which was followed by a standing ovation, is probably one of my fondest memories.”  He concluded the interview, beaming with Fitchburg State pride, saying that “to top all of this off when we are competing with top schools from across the nation, many of which students pay three times what I do to attend school, makes the accomplishment that much more rewarding.”