Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowAn Indiana junior high school team has brought home the crown from a newly created civic education competition held in Washington, D.C., May 3 through 7.
Brown County Junior High School topped four other middle schools and two high schools from around the country in the inaugural We the People National Invitational for middle schools.
Robert Leming, director of the We the People Programs at the Center for Civic Education, praised the Indiana team. “Brown County did very well. They were very impressive,” he said.
Like the We the People competition for high school teams, the national invitational tests the students’ knowledge and understanding of the U.S. government as well as the Constitution and its application to current issues.
The event is in response to middle schools who wanted to compete in a national competition. The two high school programs participating this year asked to attend, but only competed against each other.
“We are thrilled to see the middle school students at Brown County Junior High School succeed on a national stage,” Charles Dunlap, executive director of the Indiana Bar Foundation, said in a press release. “We think Indiana’s students are great civic scholars. This just affirms it.”
The IBF organizes Indiana’s We the People civic education program.
Brown County Junior High School’s team won Indiana’s state final in December 2012.
In April, Cathedral High School in Indianapolis and Plainfield High School in Hendricks County earned spots in the championship round of the We the People national competition. Cathedral finished 5th best in the country and Plainfield ranked 10th best.
On May 17, Gov. Mike Pence will address more than 350 fith-grade students studying the U.S. Constitution, who will participate in a showcase of their knowledge before panels of attorneys and community leaders. The elementary showcase will occur at the Indiana Government Center in Indianapolis; the governor will address the students at 2 p.m. in the north atrium of the Statehouse.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.