More than 900 Indiana students representing 14 middle and 14 high schools will gather in downtown Indianapolis next week to showcase their knowledge of the U.S Constitution.
The Indiana Bar Foundation will host the state finals in the “We the People: The Citizen and Constitution” competition on Dec. 5 and 6 at the Crowne Plaza Indianapolis-Downtown Union Station.
Tim Kalgreen, director of civic education for the foundation, said the students have studied questions related to aspects of the Constitution.
“They will be presenting their findings, their arguments, in small groups, usually in groups of three to five students. And they will showcase that to a panel of judges and evaluate their argument that they give. Kalgreen said. “So, they will be able to be judged on things like constitutional application, their participation, the supporting evidence that they use the responsiveness to the question.”
The program is based on materials developed by the Center for Civic Education and is nationally acclaimed by educators.
“They are real experts in all aspects of the Constitution, the philosophies behind it, the creation of the Constitution, and what government actually is,” Kalgreen said. “And it's really fun to see them present this at the competition as they've been doing.”
Classes from each school qualified through regional competitions held in Evansville, Fishers, Fort Wayne, Gary, and Plainfield.
Middle schools competing on Dec. 5 include:
Brown County Middle School, Nashville
Carroll Middle School (Team Culbertson), Fort Wayne
Carroll Middle School (Team Smith), Fort Wayne
Castle South Middle School, Newburgh
Fall Creek Junior High School, Fishers
Fishers Junior High School, Fishers
Helfrich Park STEM Academy, Evansville
Hobart Middle School, Hobart
Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School, Fort Wayne
St. Malachy Catholic School, Brownsburg
Sidener Academy, Indianapolis
Union Township Middle School, Valparaiso
Woodside Middle School, Fort Wayne
High schools competing in the Dec. 6 include:
Castle High School, Newburgh
Evansville North High School, Evansville
Fishers High School, Fishers
Franklin Central High School, Indianapolis
Hamilton Southeastern High School, Fishers
Hobart High School, Hobart
Homestead High School, Fort Wayne
Jasper High School, Jasper
New Palestine High School, New Palestine
North Posey High School, Poseyville
Plainfield High School (Team Hamilton), Plainfield
Plainfield High School (Team Madison), Plainfield
Randall T. Shepard Leadership and Law Academy, Evansville
West Lafayette Junior / Senior High School, West Lafayette
Contact WFYI Morning Edition newscaster and reporter Taylor Bennett at tbennett@wfyi.org.
