Release Date: 2/9/2009 Contact: Diana L. Spencer
410-887-4243

Randallstown High team wins statewide "We the People" competition

Program challenges students to analyze and apply constitutional principles

TOWSON, MD. (February 9, 2009) - A team of 12 students from Randallstown High School won first place in the state level "We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution" competition, held February 5 at the Maryland Center for the Arts in Annapolis.

The team will next compete in the national finals to be held in April in Washington, D.C. Team members - Egochi Achinonu, Ashley Ball, Nicole Bhatia, Adrian Collins, Melanie Cooper, Erica Holmes, Parminder Daur, Roland Rubin, Rachel Santos, Alexis Smith, Rodney Wardlaw, and Yonus Woldu - are coached by their Advanced Placement government teacher, Gerald Oehler. All of the team members are seniors except for Holmes, a junior.

In "We the People," students study for months in order to portray experts who must testify on selected Constitutional issues in a simulated Congressional hearing. For the state finals, students were challenged to develop statements related to six issues and to answer questions from a "Congressional" panel.

Reacting to her students' win, Principal Cheryl Pasteur said, "I am so incredibly proud of these young people and their teacher Mr. Oehler, not just because they will be representing the state of Maryland but also because they embody the type of student we have [at Randallstown High School]. This is what Randallstown is about: students who want to learn and who excel in learning and teachers who are dedicated to working with them."

"We the People" teaches students the principles and values reflected in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Students address topics such as the history and philosophical ideas underlying the Constitution, the development and expansion of the Bill of Rights, and the roles of citizens in American democracy. The program asks students to analyze constitutional principles and apply them to day-to-day life.

Administered by the Center for Civic Education, the program is funded by the U.S. Department of Education. When combined with the noncompetitive elementary and middle school levels, more than 26.5 million students have participated in the program since its inception in 1986.

To advance to the state competition, the Randallstown team won the first ever Congressional District 2 competition in November 2008 before a panel comprised of State Senator Delores Kelley, State Delegate Adrienne Jones, County Council member Kenneth Oliver, and many others including representatives of the Baltimore County Board of Education, Baltimore County Public Schools Social Studies Office, and the Maryland State Department of Education.

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