History-making team member part of ECC graduation class

When Mary Burke was laid off last year from her computer science job, she decided to go back to school at Elgin Community College for paralegal training.

"I've got a family full of lawyers," said Burke, of Batavia. "It always did kind of interest me."

Burke loved her courses, particularly those taught by Professor Ronald Kowalcyzk, an attorney who was always talking about the new club - ECC's first-ever mock trial team - that he had started.

"I thought it sounded like fun, something different to try," Burke said.

The experience turned into a David and Goliath tale that would make headlines across the country.

Burke, 55, was a member of the 9-student mock trial team that beat both Villanova and Yale in Harvard's annual crimson classic mock trial tournament in November.

Like Burke, many of ECC's team members were nontraditional students, with full-time jobs and families to care for.

Along with Burke, more than 400 students were candidates for fall graduation, roughly 150 of them at Friday night's commencement ceremony.

Jennifer Goorsky, a nursing student from Johnsburg, was selected as the commencement speaker. ECC board Chairwoman Eleanor MacKinney gave the message from the board.

Burke says her experience on ECC's mock trial team is something she'll always remember. Her next task, however, is "looking for a job. I've been looking a little bit, but after (Friday) I'm going to have to get busy and really get started," she said.