Stevensville students win state ‘We the People’ competition, headed to nationals

by John Dowd

Education puts a heavy precedent on reading skills, math skills and the sciences, but according to one educator, social studies is where it’s at. Wes Wells, the department chair of social studies at Stevensville High School, has been holding an elective class for the last several years that goes far beyond a passing understanding of the Constitution and government. 

Wells’ class participated in the “We the People” competition, a nationwide civics contest that has been going on for over 40 years. His students competed at the state level, and won. Now, they are looking at nationals and spoke about what it took to get to where they are now, and what they expect on the national stage.

The program is run by the Center for Civic Education, and “We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution” is their flagship program. It includes a comprehensive curriculum that spans elementary, middle and high school levels and covers the history and implementation of constitutional democracy in the United States. 

The program culminates in a constitutional competition which takes the form of a mock congressional testimony, where students collaborate, plan and engage as if they themselves were testifying before Congress. 

It is taught out of a “We the People” textbook, and the contest challenges students to tackle six units, where they are judged on their responses to each one, from which they are questioned randomly. 

As a team, they must prepare and develop three responses for each of the six units, totaling in 18 potentialities. When on the stand, they are given four minutes to give their response.

According to Wells, “What has made Stevensville so special [this year] is that I’ve only had four students.” Most schools, and even the Stevensville program in the past, have regular sized classes of 10 to 20 students. In those cases, the students break up and specialize in certain units, spreading the work among the class. In the case of Stevensville’s class this year, Wells gave his students the option to pick a few units and work on just those. However, the students of the class chose to do all six units and create all 18 responses.

Wells said it took all semester to write the prepared responses, but the real difficulty is the follow-up spoken responses students are required to give. Wells said this requires the students to think on their feet, and showcase a true understanding of the material, and their reasoning. This occurs during a six-minute period where judges can ask more about root responses.

This is no easy feat, as Wells added that the judges are attorneys, retired teachers, district court judges and more. “These are people that know a lot of stuff,” said Wells. “Our kids did crazy good.”

Stevensville’s team was selected as the top team during the state competition. Very few schools in Montana compete because the process is extremely rigorous and challenging. Wells said only Laurel, Glacier and Stevensville participate, entering four teams into the state level competition. According to Wells, “The quality of the competition is very intense.”

Wells said his students “really worked tremendously well together,” and they enjoyed it. The We the People program takes place in the fall semester, then leads into an AP government class in the spring which includes the AP Government exam. Some of the students of the We the People class plan to attend the spring AP government class.

The students in Wells’ class were all seniors and included Emma McKoy, Anton Miller, Cole Stuber and Jacob Wallace. They all spoke highly of the experience. 

Miller said his favorite part was collaborating and the background research as well as “just being more knowledgeable about the Constitution and civics.” He added, “Figuring out how to form arguments and put my thoughts into words that are more convincing,” is something he knows will benefit him for the rest of his life.

As for Stuber, to him the most challenging part of the process was “not knowing what you were going to be asked in the follow up questions.” He said each student read individually and they were awarded points on how they divided the work.

Wallace spoke about the benefits of the class, saying he left with a much greater understanding of his government. “There was so much that you’ll end up taking away as a result of this class, and how that is going to help, becoming an adult, seeing how government works,” he said.

McKoy echoed those thoughts, and had an interesting take on it. She was the only female in the class and said she had a friend that was going to do it with her, but changed out into another class at the last minute. McKoy almost did not stay, and in fact did not realize the class included a competition. However, “the content of the class and the competition really interested me,” said McKoy. She was impressed by the number of life skills she gained and said it is “important for students of this generation.” For her, the We the People class taught her to understand, be non-partisan and to not trust everything she sees, even in the major media. 

McKoy added that she really did not understand government before. “I was impressed with how participating in those conversations helped me understand and grasp those concepts that I probably would not have, only reading a textbook.”

All four students encourage others to take the class, and say it is packed with real-world lessons. 

Because there are so few teams in Montana, there are not enough competitors to hold regionals, so only the state level competition exists. The winners go directly to nationals.

Because Stevensville won this year, they are eligible to attend and compete in nationals in April. The national contest will take place at the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel and Conference Center in Rockville, Maryland April 15th through the 20th. 

Thousands of students will be there from all over the country. Wells said many also take the chance to visit Washington D.C. Wells said they plan to visit the Capitol, museums and more in order to “take in as much as we can.” He added, “We don’t get a chance to take kids to do that very often, especially from western states, especially from rural areas.”

At nationals the teams will have 18 new responses to prepare for, so they have their work cut out for them.

Wells wanted to give a shout out to the Stevensville School District, Superintendent Jon Konen and Principal Zeke Kaney. Konen and Kaney were supportive of the program and even took part as judges for practice runs.

“Our school has been very supportive of this program,” said Wells.

The team now needs to raise $27,000 to take all four students, Wells and their assistant program coach, the school librarian Heidi Cowan, to nationals. So far, they plan to ask local businesses, and state and local elected officials for assistance, as well as set up a GoFundMe. A few have already donated or pledged to.

For those interested in helping the Stevensville High School “We the People” class, donations should be directed to Stevensville Public Schools, designating “We the People” as the beneficiary.

More info on the Center for Civic Education can be found at civiced.org.