Knowing about current events and the United States Constitution was enough for students in the Green River High School’s Advanced Placement Government Class to take third at the state We the People competition.
GRHS AP government teacher Bill Hodges said the group competed against 26 schools in December for a chance to make to the state competition.
With only six advancing at districts, the pressure was on.
Hodges said the students were given 18 discussion questions on the U.S. Constitution, which they were asked to write four-minute essays on.
Some of the topics the students were asked to write an essay on was “Compare and contrast the essential political ideas of classical republicanism and natural rights philosophy,” “What were the most important differences between the basic ideas of feudalism and the basic ideas that developed out of the Renaissance and the Reformation,” “What are the basic differences between the adversary system of justice used in the United States and the inquisitorial system used in most European nations?”
These are tough topics, Hodges said.
The essays written by his students were presented to the district judges, which consisted of Wyoming Supreme Court Justices, and Wyoming Senators and representatives.
“That’s a pretty prestigious group of judges,” Hodges said.
The competition did not go on without problems, Hodges said during the first-round of the competition the GRHS students had the wrong set of questions. The students were still able to give their essays, but the judges asked them questions on the topics they were supposed to give essays on.
The first group of GRHS students were nervous, but after that they settled down and did the best they could.
“I was pretty impressed with their range of knowledge. It was enough that they were able to just wing it,” Hodges said.
The students did the best they could; and it paid off. They along with Cheyenne Central, Sheridan, Saratoga, Laramie and Kelly Walsh made it to the next round.
At the state competition, the team was much more comfortable, Hodges said. Hodges was hoping for a top three finish, but knew getting a first-place would be tough.
“Some schools have a We the People class,” Hodges explained. “We prepare once a week.”
It is hard to compete with the schools that prepare every single day, but they were glad to walk away with a third-place finish. Hodges said they were 100 points behind first-place Sheridan. Cheyenne Center took second place.
To prepare for state, the students prepared their written essays and then tried to anticipate what the judges would ask them. Darren Howard and John Malone volunteered to act as judges; and asked the students questions.
Hodges said a lot of the students in his AP government class are also on the GRHS Speech and Debate team so they are used to giving speeches and backing up their debates.
Those in the AP government class are Jeremy Adriano, Emily Allen, Alexis Andersen, Natasha Braecklein, Maggie Fischer, Victoria Gilliam, Nicholas Green, AJ Halverson, Ethan Hart, Patrick Harvey, Haylee Heiner, Savannah Hook, Taten Knight, Kirsti Patterson, Claudia Reyes, J.D. Richardson and Sarah Sullivan.
Sheridan took first-place for the second year in a row and will travel to 28th annual We the People National competition, which will take place April 24-27 in Virginia. They will also go to Washington D.C.
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