By Emma Greenberg ’18
On Jan. 7 the We the People section of A.P. Government and Politics learned that they qualified for the National We the People competition.
The We the People competition tests students on their knowledge and understanding of the constitutional principles and provides students with opportunities to evaluate, take, and defend positions on historical and contemporary issues by having them testify before a panel of judges acting as members of Congress.
The team placed second at the state competition, which serves as the qualifier for nationals, but only the first place team automatically advances. Afterward, social studies teacher and team advisor Suzanne Kammerman told the class that they still might be able to qualify for the national competition off of a wild-card entry.
“[Kammerman] had told us that it was really a [possibility],” Chloe Adda ’18 said.
Because of this, Adda said that she “was not really surprised,” when the class found out they had qualified for nationals.
Unlike Adda, many other students were surprised with the news of the wild-card entry. “We came in second place in the state and knew it was a possibility, but after not hearing any news for a month, I was shocked,” Peri Kessler ’18 said.
Kessler also added that she is excited to compete further in the competition because she personally wants to pursue politics. “The state competition was so much fun and really forced me to have an in depth knowledge of the Constitution and the U.S. government,” she said.
The We the People section of A.P. Government and Politics is different from all other A.P. Government and Politic classes because in addition to following the Staples curriculum, the class is specifically engineered toward preparing for the competition.
“The entire class put so much effort into the first competition and I think it really paid off,” Brooke Kessler ’18 said. “I learned so much from working on my unit and am excited to learn more about government and politics through the national competition.”
The class has been preparing for the competition since the beginning of the year. The national event will be held from April 21-25 in Washington D.C. The entire class plans on attending.
Photo used under the Creative Commons License
