Tahoma High School’s team of constitutional scholars finished 10th at the national competition finals for We the People, held April 27-May 1 in Washington, D.C.
This is the 17th time that Tahoma High School has represented Washington state at the national competition.
It is the second time that Tahoma High, or any Washington team, has advanced to the top 10.
George Mason UniversityTahoma’s team is coached by Gretchen Wulfing. The team is composed of seniors who began preparing for We the People competition last June during their summer vacation. Team members are: Nathan Farnsworth, Sarah Fuller, Mark Gato, Katherine Hartke, Matthew Horne, Kristen Jamieson, Oliver Kombol, Kaitlin Lowe, Emily Martin, Allanah Miller, Sadie Lee Nelson, Emily Page, Julianne Reilly, Thomas Reinhard, Justin Ross, Lora Sonnen, Grace Taylor, Kendall Thiele, Clara Tibbetts, Harrison Waldock, Caitlyn Ward, and Barrett Weston.
The 25th Anniversary We the People National Finals is the culminating event of the We the People high school program.
Classes qualify for the National Finals by either placing first in their state competition or through a “wild card” availability.
The competition is conducted on the campus of and in hearing rooms of the U.S. House of Representatives.
The competition takes the form of simulated congressional hearing. During the hearings, groups of students testify as constitutional experts before panels of judges acting as congressional committees scoring the groups through a performance-based assessment. Each class is divided into six groups based on the six units of the We the People: The Citizen & the Constitution high school textbook.
Each hearing begins with an opening presentation by students from one of the six unit groups. The opening presentation is followed by a period of questioning during which judges probe students’ depth of knowledge, understanding, and their ability to apply constitutional principles.
The format provides students an excellent opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of constitutional principles while providing the seventy-two judges with an excellent means of assessing students’ knowledge and application to historical and current constitutional issues.
While in Washington, D.C., students also have the opportunity to tour our nation’s capital and meet with members of Congress and other important dignitaries. Since the inception of the We the People program in 1987, more than 30 million students and 90,000 teachers have participated in the program.
