{"id":59197,"date":"2014-12-30T08:59:14","date_gmt":"2014-12-30T13:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=59197"},"modified":"2015-01-02T08:03:42","modified_gmt":"2015-01-02T13:03:42","slug":"we-the-people-program-teaches-students-about-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2014\/12\/30\/we-the-people-program-teaches-students-about-politics\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We the People’ practice held in CP Court"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/b>independent editor<\/i><\/p>\n

A group of 10 really dedicated Advanced Placement Government students at Van Wert High School gave up several hours of their holiday vacation Monday morning to talk about political issues that go back thousands of years to the ancient Greeks, through the creation of the United States Constitution more than 200 years ago, but which also remain relevant in today\u2019s vastly different modern society.<\/p>\n

\""We<\/a>
“We the People” judges (from the left) State Representative Tony Burkley, Jared Reitz and State Senator Cliff Hite listen as students make presentations. (Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Also giving up some holiday time were State Senator Cliff Hite, State Representative Tony Burkley and Jared Reitz, former director of programming for the Ohio Center for Law Related Education, who acted as judges for the presentations, which were held in Van Wert County Common Pleas Court as part of the \u201cWe the People \u2026 The Citizen and the Constitution\u201d national program.<\/p>\n

Bob Priest, who teaches the VWHS AP Government classes, said the \u201cWe the People\u201d program is an excellent way for students to learn about how government works \u2013 especially in the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur kids walk out with a complete understanding of the Constitution,\u201d Priest said after the practice session. \u201cIt fits right into project-based learning \u2026 and I don\u2019t think there is a better way to demonstrate our level of understanding and knowledge than to go through what the students just went through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Priest added that, while all VWHS government students participate in the \u201cWe the People\u201d program, only AP Government students are involved in the nationwide competition, since that fast-paced college-credit program is the only one where students will complete the required textbook prior to the state competition held later this month at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus.<\/p>\n

The AP Government teacher explained that the competition format is that of a congressional hearing, where the judges portray a committee conducting a hearing on a particular issue, with students acting as \u201cexperts\u201d brought before the committee to make presentations and then be questioned by the committee.<\/p>\n

\"VWHS<\/a>
VWHS AP Government students listen as a judge asks a question Monday during a practice session for the “We the People” competition. (Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Students can use notes while making individual presentations, but must put notes away during the question-and-answer portion of the competition. The competition is timed, so students are forced to make concise, succinct presentations.<\/p>\n

Issues dealt with included some of the most basic tenets of democracy and Constitutional government, including unlawful search and seizure, judicial review, the U.S.\u2019s adversarial legal system, the pre-Constitution Articles of Confederation, religious freedom, the idea of federalism and the president\u2019s right to issue executive orders.<\/p>\n

Students, who included Daniel Perry, Becky Anderson, Quentin Rotowski, Jacob Williamson, Alea Hill, Karlee Detwiler, Brandon Hernandez, Eric Yeung, Erin Morrow, and Joe Lisa,\u00a0cited Supreme Court decisions and other Constitutional sources in their presentations and under questioning by the judges.<\/p>\n

Hite, a former teacher who has been involved in the \u201cWe the People\u201d program for 30 years, was obviously enjoying himself, while he, Burkley (serving as a practice judge for the first time) and Reitz also provided praise and positive criticism for the students.<\/p>\n

Priest, who has implemented the program in each school he has taught in, said his ultimate goal is to unseat Findlay High School, which has dominated the state \u201cWe the People\u201d competition, winning all but one state championship in the past two decades or so, but also felt the program is a great one to teach students how government operates. He also noted that students who are involved in the program are also more likely to get involved in the political process in some way after graduation.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, there was at least some compensation for the judges giving up several hours they could have spent with their families. Following the practice session, Priest treated the judges to a \u201choliday\u201d meal at a local Mexican restaurant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor A group of 10 really dedicated Advanced Placement Government students at Van Wert High School gave up several hours of their holiday vacation Monday morning to talk about political issues that go back thousands of years to the ancient Greeks, through the creation of the United States Constitution more than 200 years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-31 10:02:50","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59197\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}