‘It makes me appreciate being an American citizen’

By Deborah Ziff

For the Illinois Center for Civic Education

CHICAGO – If Aalia Vhora is nervous, she doesn’t show it.

Wearing a white blazer, the 17-year-old Thornton Township High School student is sitting in front of a panel of judges on the 18th floor of the Everett McKinley Dirksen U.S. Courthouse, calmly fielding questions on her knowledge of feudalism and the rise of capitalism.

She was one of about 90 students from four Chicago area high schools who traveled downtown to take part in the Illinois state finals of the We The People: The Citizen & The Constitution competition on Friday, Dec. 5, hosted by the Illinois Center for Civic Education.

“The hardest part of the competition is the six minutes where they ask you the questions because you’re so nervous,” Vhora admitted later. “You’re just like, ‘what do I say where do I look?’ But at the end of the day you feel good about it. It’s a really good experience.”

Through simulated congressional hearings, teams of between two and six students are asked to prepare a presentation about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and then answer impromptu questions by a panel of judges. The questions ranged from the Constitution’s religion clauses, to immigration reform, to the differences between feudalism and the Renaissance.

Illinois Center for Civic Education Executive Director Allie Niese said the program allows students to take ownership of their civic identity by studying successes and failures in past and present.

“The We The People program offers the invaluable opportunity to engage in a thorough investigation of the status quo in our country,” she said in a statement. “The Constitutional questions raised prompt reflection of what we want, need, or expect from our government and our fellow citizens.”

Judges included attorneys, professors, civic educators and constitutional scholars.

In addition to students from Thornton in Harvey, near the Indiana border, students also came from Illiana Christian High School in Lansing, John Hancock College Preparatory High School on the southwest side of Chicago, and Maine South High School in Park Ridge. The winning team, Maine South, will go on to the national competition in Washington, D.C. from April 30 to May 2.

Dan Hopkinson, 18, a senior at Maine South, said the most challenging part for him is having enough background knowledge to address the questions that judges choose to press him on. As a student in Advanced Placement Government and Comparative Politics, he and his classmates spend the entire year studying the Constitution and preparing for the competition.

“I like the fact that we get to think on our feet,” he said.

Joe Janowiak, who teaches Advanced Placement Government and Politics at Thornton, said the competition brings what can be a “dry document” – the Constitution – to life for his students. He’s been requiring his advanced placement students to participate in the program for five years.

“As a teacher, education is about, of course, learning,” he said. “But then, what are you going to do with what you’ve learned? So this gives the kids a chance to talk and discuss with adults and professionals about what they’ve learned in the classroom means in the real-world. Which is intimidating for them, but really it’s about what life’s about.”

Sacora Williams, 17, a senior at Thornton, said when she started the We The People program, she thought she wanted to be a pediatrician, but now she’s considering becoming a lawyer. She said she likes the feeling of presenting as if she’s at a real congressional hearing and being able to talk about the Constitution.

“It makes me appreciate being an American citizen,” she said.