On April 27, students from Marshwood High School traveled to
Washington, D.C.,and represented Maine in the 25th annual We the People: The
Citizen
and the Constitution national championship. About 1,400 high
school students from forty-seven states and the District of Columbia
participated in the highly prestigious academic competition on the U.S.
Constitution and Bill of Rights.
After two days of rigorous competition, Marshwood’s Unit Six
team of Isabella Burke, Catherine Pouliot and Samantha Silver were awarded
honors for being the top team in the nation for Unit 6. Marshwood students
studied for months to prepare for their role as experts testifying on
constitutional issues in a simulated congressional hearing. To represent Maine
at the national finals, the class won the state competition held in Portland on
February 3. This marked the fourth
straight state title for Marshwood.
“To win the
state championship is quite difficult and to win a unit award at the National
championships is an amazing achievement,” said Matt Sanzone, the social studies
teacher who coaches the Marshwood team.
“We’ve been to nationals five times, but this is the first year one of
our teams won an award. Isa, Kate
and Sam are extremely talented and bright students who spent countless hours
doing research and preparation.
They performed at an elite level,” said Sanzone. Perhaps the most impressive aspect of
these students’ accomplishment is the fact that they competed in two separate
units due to Marshwood’s team size.
“We only had twelve students at nationals, so six of our kids had to do
two units each. Competition rules
require three students on each of the six unit teams,” noted Sanzone.
“It is always a tremendous honor to represent our state at
Nationals,” said Sanzone. All six, unit teams displayed outstanding knowledge
of their topics and demonstrated poise in the face of some challenging
questions. I am so proud of each and every one of them.” Students who represented Marshwood at
the National Finals were: Unit 1 (What are the philosophical and historical
foundations of the American political system?) Adam Bryant, Trenor Colby and
Jessica Pickford; Unit 2 (How did the Framers create the Constitution?)
Isabella Burke, Catherine Pouliot and Samantha Silver; Unit 3 (How has the
Constitution been changed to further the ideals contained in the Declaration of
Independence?) Nick Forsyth, Rebecca Green and Madeline Hixon; Unit 4 (How have
the values and principles embodied in the Constitution shaped American
institutions and practices?) Rebecca Green, Toni Kaplan and Timothy LaPointe;
Unit 5 (What rights does the Bill of Rights protect?) Adam Bryant, Timothy
LaPointe and Ian Ramsay; and Unit 6 (What Challenges might face American
constitutional democracy in the twenty-first century?) Isabella Burke,
Catherine Pouliot and Samantha Silver.
Senior Isabella Burke said, “I'm extremely grateful for the
experience I've had with We The People. It was especially awesome to be
able to see all the monuments, museums, and landmarks in Washington, DC. The
city provides a perfect backdrop for the competition. I was already very
interested in politics and government, but this experience has helped me gain a
greater understanding of governmental and Constitutional issues throughout
American history. We The People is a unique, rigorous, and inspiring program
that challenges students to think and articulate ideas at a higher level than
most other academic situations require. I think it instilled a greater sense of
citizenship and patriotism in all of us.”
We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution is funded by
the U.S. Department of Education under the Education for Democracy Act approved
by the United States Congress. The
program is directed by the Center for Civic Education in Los Angeles and
Washington, D.C. Nationwide, the
program is implemented at the upper elementary, middle, and high school levels
and has reached more than 30 million students and 81,000 teachers during its
25-year history. (courtesy photo)
