NCS Takes Gold in City-wide Civics Competition

On Feb. 19, 2014, student teams from NCS’s 8th-grade American Government classes took part in a “We the People” competition at the Georgetown University Law School. Sponsored by the Center for Civic Education, the competition asks students to work in teams and respond to questions displaying their understanding of U.S. history and the Constitution. This year, NCS took first place among schools from across the city!

 

In the weeks leading up to the competition, students worked in their government class. They were required to answer a complex question within a specified time, and then had to respond to spontaneous questions from a panel of judges. The judges came from a variety of backgrounds and included attorneys, law school students and professors, educators, police and military officers, and government workers. The judges engaged the students and challenged them, and the students had to think on their feet about a range of constitutional ideas. Some of the questions the students responded to were about the limits of government, the rights of students, the extent of freedom of speech and religion, and the constitutionality of same-sex marriage.

 

Eighth-grade American Government has four sections, three taught by Social Sciences Teacher David Sahr and one by Director of Global Outreach and Service Learning Emily Fetting. All 8th grade students participated initially in the classroom-based “We the People,” and were assigned to groups responsible for learning different information. Six of those groups ended up going to the city-wide competition, with representatives from each of the four sections of the class. Those six NCS groups each competed individually, and based on all the groups’ scores from all the different schools, NCS won overall.

 

In the end, the students displayed a solid understanding of the ideas upon which the U.S. government is based. They not only referenced the thoughts of the framers of the government, but they were able to relate those ideas to modern interpretation. We are very proud of our 8th grade for their efforts and we congratulate them!—David Sahr, Social Sciences Teacher

 

“We The People” 2014 Teams

 

Amelia Parizek

Inna Tintchev

Andrea Escoto

Lizzie Wells

Eliza Costello

 

Eva Phelps

Kaday Kamara

Reilly Folsom

Hannah Yazdani

 

Catherine Van Dongen

Lucy Turnipseed

Zahra Thabet

Emma Cordover

Olivia Booth

 

Ansley Adkins

Camilla Ryder

Jordan Gasho

Caroline Van Kirk

Emily Donovan

 

Laia Forns

Alba Cordover

Fran Boyer

Emmeline Leggett

 

Clara Bartram

Naomi Davy

Ally Edge

Katie Skoff