Photo courtesy of Kendra Thornley.
We the people VHHS
This year’s VHHS We the People team members are Jaxon Thomley, Stacey Reimann, Jon Woodall, Silin Li, Mary Catherine Cook, PJ Spina, Austin Owen, Patricia Howard, Wendi Lu, Siyin Han, Mitchell Eitzen, Emma Jackson, Claire Chen, Nicole Estrada, Andrea Lin, Kelly Chen, Emmy Ye, and Aditi Prasad. They are led by teachers Amy Maddox and Jane Schaefer.
After three riveting days of congressional hearings on the U.S. Constitution, Vestavia Hills High School placed in the top five in the nation at the We the People finals in Washington D.C.
Hundreds of teams began the road to nationals back in the fall at the regional and state level. A total of 56 teams were invited to compete in the first two days of constitutional debate at George Mason University. Only ten teams, including Alabama, advanced to the final day of competition. The final day competitors enjoyed the privilege of debating in congressional hearing rooms on Capitol Hill. Vestavia’s team competed in the Judiciary Committee room in the Rayburn House Office Building, the same room used for the Watergate hearings.
The “We the People” competition, sponsored by the Center for Civic Education, is in its 27th year. Students research and study the Constitution and compete in simulated congressional hearings that assess their knowledge and interpretation of government foundations. The subjects discussed range from pre-Constitution America to the modern era.
The judges included state Supreme Court justices, law school and political science professors, an FCC attorney, trial lawyers, a Senior Fellow at the American Policy Council, educational think tank leaders, a deputy attorney general, a county treasurer and an attorney for the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Many of the participants take AP U.S. History in 10th and 11th grade. It is a two-year class so the AP exam is given at the end of the student’s junior year. The AP class is not a requirement, but it is a common path to We the People. Students must apply and be selected to be on the We the People team. This happens during second semester of junior year during course selection for their senior year.
-Submitted by Kendra Thornley
