Eighth grade students at Sacred Heart School in Bellevue spent weeks preparing for Sacred Heart’s annual Congressional Hearings competition that took place on Thursday, Dec. 10. To grasp a full understanding of the U.S. Constitution, the students studied the in-depth curriculum, “We The People”, typically reserved for high school level.
“Sacred Heart Middle School teacher Zack Cunningham does an exceptional job of presenting this sophisticated material to the eighth-grade students and preparing them for the competition,” according to King County Senior Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Scott O’Toole, a Congressional Hearings judge for many years. “The ‘We the People’ curriculum is quite impressive and the students display remarkable poise and competence with challenging subject matter.”
During the mock Congressional Hearings at Sacred Heart, the students form teams of three to four, and focus their studies on one part of the Constitution – it’s historical framework and founding documents of the nation. The teams then face a panel of adult experts, local judges, lawyers, authors, professors and business leaders. Each team has the opportunity to display their expertise on a particular section of the Constitution and its historical development.
This year, students presented their knowledge of the Constitution before a panel including O’Toole and Congressional Hearing judge and attorney Bob Dugoni.
“Any time you have a young person stand up and debate an issue, you are teaching them life skills, how to present themselves professionally, how to take an issue and support it with facts and reason rather than by force, and taking the time to understand differing opinions,” Dugoni said. “I was very impressed with how prepared all of the students were knowing the material, but even more impressed at their ability to take the material, such as the First Amendment, and apply it to situations that impact their daily lives.”
In the Congressional Hearings competition, team members give opening remarks about their topic in response to a general question from the judges. The team is then asked follow-up questions that call upon the students to display what they have learned in both a historical context and by applying their constitutional and historical expertise to present-day issues in our country.
“Having to think on my feet was intense, but also really fun,” said Katie Franke, a Sacred Heart student who competed in the Congressional Hearings. “I was really nervous at first, but by the end I found that I enjoyed it so much that I would like to do it again.”
Lindsay Larin can be reached at 425-453-4602.
