Support The We The People Team

Recently, students from earned the right to travel to Washington, D.C., where they will represent New York State in the We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution National Finals, the highly prestigious academic competition on the U.S. Constitution.

David Pitman, the the students' AP government teacher as well as the advisor for the team, said, "The team now faces the monumental challenge of raising the funds required to finance the trip to Nationals and will be hosting several events in the community including dinners at Chili's and Applebee's.  Additionally, a fund has been set up to help pay for the approximately $1,000 needed per student for accommodations, food, ground transportation, and other competition requirements while in D.C."

The Applebee's fundraiser is next Monday, March 28 and the Chile's fundraiser is the following Monday, April 4. See attached fliers. 

HS East's We the People Team accumulated the best score out of the nine high schools that attended the NYS finals in Albany. The students studied for months to prepare for their roles as experts testifying on constitutional issues in the simulated congressional hearings. Panels of judges, 18 in all, rated the students on their knowledge of the Constitution and their ability to relate today’s news and court cases to their knowledge of the Constitution.

Ashley Reicher, the secretary of We the People, said, "It was an exciting and victorious day for the We The People team.  After an intense day of presenting well- prepared four-minute speeches and fielding six minutes of follow-up questions, the team came out on top. The members had been working extremely hard in an effort to prepare for the state competition since they earned a second place award at their regional competition in mid January."

Pitman spent several months working closely with the members in order to help them revise their speeches, analyze current events, and make applications and connections to American history connecting them to the concepts and principles outlined in their speeches and unit tasks. The members participated in two mock trials in an effort to better prepare them for the state level competition.

Pitman said, "The team battled their nerves and remained focused to win. Special recognition should be given to the members of Unit Three (Steven Saltz, Samara Badash, and Arielle Koppell) as well as Unit Five (Ben Spiegel, Maya Aguilar, and Samantha Caen) for earning the top scores in the respective units. The weekend served as a truly unique experience for the team as the members feel that the program has helped to spark an interest in the Constitution and its modern impact, while creating an environment where the students learn to function as a team and express themselves with courage and confidence."

The first round of the national finals will be held at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, Virginia, April 30–May 1. The competition involves entire classes making presentations and answering questions on constitutional topics before a panel of judges recruited from across the country. Constitutional scholars, lawyers, and government leaders, acting as congressional committee members, will judge the students' performances.  The combined scores from the first two days of hearings will determine which ten classes will compete in the championship round Monday, May 2, in Senate hearing rooms on Capitol Hill. That evening, the winning classes will receive awards at a special ceremony at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C.

The annual three-day final competition is the culminating activity of We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution. The New York State Bar Association’s Law, Youth and Citizenship Program (LYC) administers the nationwide program in New York State. LYC is the third-largest civics and law-related education program in the country.

Implemented nationwide in upper elementary, middle, and high schools, the We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution program has reached more than 30 million students and 81,000 teachers since its inception in 1987. The program is funded by the U.S. Department of Education under the Education for Democracy Act approved by Congress and directed by the Center for Civic Education in Woodland Hills, California.

Donations should be mailed to David Pitman, Half Hollow Hills High School East, 50 Vanderbilt Pkwy., Dix Hills, NY 11746. Please make checks payable to Half Hollow Hills High School East and list “We the People” on the “memo” line.