Bridgette Adu-Wadier and Julia St. John
“It’s one thing to know the Constitution. It’s another to know the Constitution and look at how they [lawmakers] have neglected to follow their own laws,” explained Ra Alim Shabazz, the coach and sponsor of the We the People team.
T.C. students placed first in the We the People regional competition at Woodgrove High School in Purcellville, Virginia.
This is not the first time T.C. has won in the competition. The We the People team has existed since 2013 and has been winning competitions since its first year. It has been recognized as one of the top two teams in the state.
We the People, an honors-level competitive mock congressional hearing course, has won district and regional championships previously and received a Certificate of Recognition from the U.S. House of Representatives.
The course covers six themes of study, including the foundations of constitutional government, the creation of the Constitution and its impact on American institutions. Students use historical examples, quotes, Supreme Court rulings, current events, personal experiences, and the Constitution to form their analysis. The students in the class divide into groups and are responsible for answering three questions in depth for one of the 6 themes. Each of the three questions is answered in a four-minute testimony.
Students learn to look at government more critically and form their own political philosophy based on the outcomes of laws on issues such as civil rights. Instead of merely learning about the government, they become the government through the decisions they make in their analysis.
“African Americans had the right to vote by 1870 through the 15th Amendment. So what was the Voting Rights Act of 1964? Why was it necessary if we could already vote? These are the questions that they [students] have to deal with,” said Shabazz,“[The We the People competition] is an intellectual blood sport.”
After several months of extensive research, preparation and practice, the team competes against other high schools to defend their testimonies against the cross-examinations of judges, lawyers, history professors, and former Congresspeople.
To win, the team must score in the upper fifth percentile. Teams are judged on how well each member responds to questions and constructs their argument. Students must be able to adequately develop and defend their argument with multiple cases and examples while being aggressively questioned as if they were in a Congressional hearing.
“One of the reasons why my teams are so successful is because I always tell them to find their passion in the question,” Shabazz said. “So when my teams go up, this not about ‘we are simply answering a question’. They get to address their passion through research.
“If it is about police brutality, I am looking at my minority students for their experiences,” he added.
According to Shabazz, T.C. is the most diverse school at their competitions, which has made other schools skeptical at times.
“I remember in my 2016 championship, a couple of my students were rapping before the hearing started… just getting ready. So somebody hit a beat and they were rhyming… So, I hear, [from someone from a different school] ‘Who are they?’ Then a coach of another team said, ‘Oh that is T.C.’ And the girl said, ‘Oh, well, they will obviously lose; they are not taking this seriously.’”
Despite the rigorous competition, the We the People event instills teamwork, research, analysis, and public speaking skills and a strong work ethic skills that participating students will take with them to college and the workforce. Shabazz encouraged his students to put in their best effort starting their first year when most of his students did not believe they would win.
That time, T.C. won first place, challenging the reputation T.C. has outside of Alexandria. “We are actually breaking down barriers and changing the way people view our high school,” said Shabazz.
“When students engage in this, they are never the same,” Shabazz said. “There is nothing more affirming of your effort than staying up late briefing cases, reading, defending practicing, the elocution, the eye contact — all of these things that you really need for job interviews….and at the end of that, to be declared the winner. You beat all of these other high schools.”
The Titans finished in the top five in the Finals at the state competition, earning an Honorable Mention Award and a Regional Championship Award for their December win.
