MCS students participate in nat’l competition on US Constitution

About 1,100 high school students from all 50 states and the Northern Mariana Islands will test their knowledge of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights during the 22nd annual We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution National Finals.

Students from Mount Carmel School of Saipan won the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands competition to advance to the national finals.

The first-round hearings was held this past weekend, April 25 and April 26, at Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, Virginia.

The top-10 finalists’ Championship Round will be held today (Tuesday, Saipan time) at the Cannon House Office Building, Room 122, Capitol Hill, immediately followed by an awards banquet.

Students serve as expert witnesses testifying on constitutional issues in a simulated congressional hearing. To reach the national finals, classes won first place in state competitions. Students are scored on their opening statements and on answers to follow-up questions by a panel of judges, who grade the students on understanding, constitutional application, reasoning, supporting evidence, responsiveness, and participation. The national finals judges include state Supreme Court judges, public officials, political scientists, historians, educators, attorneys, journalists, and We the People alumni.

Implemented nationally in upper elementary, middle, and high schools, the We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution program has reached more than 30 million students and 81,000 teachers in its 22-year history. The program is funded by the U.S. Department of Education under the Education for Democracy Act approved by Congress. The program is directed by the Center for Civic Education, which is based in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

First-, second-, and third-place classes will receive trophies and individual medallions, with special awards given to the other top-10 finishers at today’s evening banquet. Non-finalist classes with the top scores in each of the six units of curriculum and in each of the five geographic regions also receive awards during the Monday evening banquet.

The Lincoln Award will be given to the class that scores the highest on the question about President Abraham Lincoln and his constitutional legacy. The question was added to this year’s finals to commemorate the bicentennial of the 16th president’s birth.

During tonight’s banquet, Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy will be presented with the 2009 Dale E. Kildee Civitas Award for his contributions to the field of civic education.[B][I] (PR)[/I][/B]