After clinching a third place victory at the district to qualify for the state competition. members of the “We the People” team finished in fifth place this past weekend.

“Ultimately, it’s about students gaining understanding about citizenship and at this point in time, it’s important for Americans to know what is going on in the government,” Government teacher Joseph Juliano said. “I wanted them to work really hard to improve based on where they are and what they know and to use that competition to shine and bring out all of the hard work they put in.”

‘We the People’ is a national congressional hearing competition in which students prepare testimonies and are questioned on issues related to constitutional democracy. During the state competition at UNLV, members competed against nine other teams from Nevada.

“I learned a lot about how civic education benefits [us] not just in high school, but also within the real world,” senior Casey Joseph said. “Being politically active citizens and making change in society is integral for us to move forward as a nation, and I wouldn’t have valued the importance of government had it not been for ‘We The People.’”

This was the fifth consecutive year ‘We the People’ members have qualified for state. Last year at state, members placed seventh. 

“I have learned so much about how my government functions and the importance of civil discourse,” senior Samer Youssouf said. “My favorite part was at the very end where I was able to give it my all in our hearing at state and finish strongly for our school.”

Now that the competition season is over, seniors will now be focusing on political science in class.

“Students really learned that the more you put into something the more you get out of it and  that our Constitution and our government is ours and if we don’t participate in it, we are going to have to do what other people want us to do,” Juliano said.