With only two more days left to prepare, students dive into their fourth consecutive We The People competition. Joseph Juliano’s AP Government class are almost ready for their competition against  Sierra Vista High School on Dec. 15.

“In order to prepare for the upcoming competition, I’ve been making sure to attend each after school meeting and working with friends to get ready for the possible questions that the judges could ask at the competition,” senior Min Kang said.

To prepare for this upcoming event, students have been staying after school to practice with Juliano, mainly focusing on cross examination and having them distribute on-demand responses.

“There is so much information that my students have to be accountable for to be able to answer cross examination questions,” Juliano said. “That’s really what you have to do to win, you can’t just show up to class and do the bare minimum, it’s not good enough for this.”

Students are currently studying specific subjects such as the Bill of Rights, checks and balances, citizenships and voting. They will prepare speeches and judges will then cross examine them with questions from all approximately up to 30 real federal and supreme court judges.

“If we make it past the state competition this year, we will then be moving onto nationals,” senior Ally Chan said. “It would be a crazy experience since Southwest’s team has not ever made it quite that far.”

If the students pass the district competition, they will move on to state and then nationals, which is held in Washington DC in actual hearing rooms on Capitol Hill.

“So far, we have never made it to nationals, but Class of 2017 won two unit awards and came really close,” Juliano said. “It seems like both West CTA and Southwest CTA are fighting for first place.”

Aside from the yearly event, We The People is a year-round program that allows students to learn about politics, leadership, and the US government.

“I think this program is a really good opportunity to express your beliefs and views in a non-judgemental way and learn about how an American government was formed and how it has changed throughout the years,”  Chan said.