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Public: Recent News

Northwest Guilford High School took first place in We the People: The Citizen and The Constitution, held Feb. 6 in the Knapp-Sanders Building at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Raleigh Charter High School received the second-place trophy and Lejeune High School placed third.

Northwest Guilford High School

UNC-Chapel Hill was a new venue for the simulated congressional hearing competition, which has been held at the N.C. Legislative Building in Raleigh for several years. The competition is sponsored by North Carolina We the People, the North Carolina Bar Association Foundation and the Center for Civic Education.

Raleigh Charter School

Drawing on his own experience as an alumnus of We the People, Duke School of Law Assistant Professor Neil Siegel addressed the assembly of students, parents and teachers who gathered before the start of the competition. Siegel is a graduate of Duke Law and the University of California, Berkeley, with a J.D. and a Ph.D. in jurisprudence and social policy, respectively.

Lejeune High School

We the People State Coordinator Susan Temple also welcomed the assembly, followed by UNC-Chapel Hill School of Government representative Kelley O’Brien, NCBA President-Elect Janet Ward Black and Lakeview High School teacher Justin Rydstrom, who also served as a competition judge.

The awards ceremony opened with remarks from N.C. Supreme Court Justice Mark Martin. Temple and NCBAF Law-Related Education Director Diane Wright presented awards.

East Mecklenburg High School

The team from East Mecklenburg High School also made its way back into the state finals and continues to show promise as a young team that is growing into its own. Their eagerness to take on the older, more experienced We the People teams captures, in great degree, the spirit with which these competitive hearings were intended.

In addition to Rydstrom, Siegel, Wright and Justice Martin, contest judges included Jim Bond, Seattle University School of Law; Christon Halkiotis, Guilford County District Attorney’s Office; Dr. Louis Warren, East Carolina University; Blair Carr, Associate General Counsel, City of Greensboro; Susan Giamportone, Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC; Ted Edwards, Kilpatrick Stockton LLP; Christie Hinson, N.C. Civic Education Consortium; Rufus Allen, N.C. Department of Justice; Gill Beck, U.S. Department of Justice; Cathleen J. Hunt, Progress Energy; Kendra Dockery Hill, N.C. School Boards Association and co-chair of the NCBAF Law-Related Education Advisory Committee; Chris Justice, McKinney & Justice, PA; John Rubin, School of Government, UNC-Chapel Hill; and Michael West, U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

More than 26 million students and 1,000 educators have participated in We the People since it began in 1987. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the instructional program promotes civic competence and responsibility among elementary and secondary students by teaching greater understanding of the history and foundations of U.S. constitutional democracy.
The program culminates in a simulated congressional hearing where students “testify” before a panel of judges. Students demonstrate knowledge of constitutional principles and assess, defend or take positions on relevant historical and contemporary issues.

Regional winners compete for each state title. State finalists travel to Washington to compete in the national finals, where they also have the opportunity to meet members of Congress.

Story and photos by Michelle Porter, NCBA Assistant Director of Communications