EASTHAMPTON — The capital of the United States awaits the arrival of the Easthampton High School’s We the People team this April when it travels to Washington, D.C. for a national debate competition after winning its ninth consecutive state championship late last month.
However, the team faces a significant fundraising challenge and is seeking donations to make the trip happen. To send the 37 students on the team to the nation’s capital to represent Massachusetts, the group seeks to raise $60,000. As of Feb. 4, they had raised $6,740.
“I’m pumped,” said We the People team member Ryan Guyette Jr., about going to nationals. “It’s going to be such an experience.”
The Gazette joined a recent We the People class as students begin preparing for nationals, called the Center for Civic Education We the People National Competition. At its core, the competition acts as a simulated congressional hearing where judges question the students on topics related to the United States Constitution and government.
Kelley Brown, who teaches and leads the EHS team, said that after winning the state competition for nearly a decade, she feels confident going to Boston each year. The national competition, however, makes Brown feel a bit like the underdog, competing against top schools from states with much larger student populations.
“When we go to nationals, you have all these like very elite schools with thousands of kids,” Brown said. “But I’m like, you know what? They’re just 16 and 17 year old’s like you are. So you can work harder. Work hard at this, ask for help, figure out what you need. I will work just as hard as you.”
The team is currently preparing statements for a new set of questions they received after winning the state competition on Jan. 31. The class splits into six groups, called units, of four students each, and with one or two mentors who have already taken the class.
During the Feb. 4 class, while Brown took each unit aside for one-on-one preparation, Taylor Dadum, a former We the People team member now an EHS history teacher, walked from unit to unit helping students.
Dadum feels students who take or have taken this class are not motivated by a grade stamped on a report card, but are intrinsically motivated to do their best for themselves and their team. She, along with many of the students, said this class requires more homework time than others.
“I think it’s a lot of the community that we build,” Dadum said. “You know, they’re not only working hard for themselves, but for the rest of their team.”
Dadum explained that at the competition, each unit from each school is questioned individually, first giving a prepared response. The groups know certain questions ahead of time, but then judges ask blind questions related to a unit’s topic.
The topics given to each unit generally relate to the political and historic foundations of the U.S., such as the Constitution. For example, Unit 5’s question asks, “What rights does the Bill of Rights protect?”
Unit 2’s question is “How did the framers create the Constitution?” Though for many students like Unit 2’s Alex Zaret, teamwork comes into play when judges ask questions students don’t know beforehand. Students can jump into each four-person panel to answer questions, ultimately trying to earn the most points from the judges.
Several students said that depending on the unit, during this time they often relate historical events to current governmental and political topics. For example, Unit 2 members said they discussed how social media has changed modern day politics.
For Unit 6, the question asks, “What challenges might face American constitutional democracy in the 21st century?”
Students from that unit said they often have to look back at history; one of their questions asked, “Which plays a more vital role in shaping a nation’s identity today: continuity with its founding ideals or the capacity for change and adaptation?”
Unit 6 member Bryce McGinn-Stevens said he was drawn to the We the People team after hearing about it throughout EHS.
“I feel like just being in the same high school, you hear so much about it,” McGinn-Stevens said. “It’s just kind of like a big influence, I guess.”
When asked why it is important for students to learn about the Constitution, Brown said, “I think part of it is about preparing young people to be citizens in a country that is based on popular sovereignty. We have to actually understand that we do live in a country where all power does directly come back to the people in one way or another. And so a republic requires a level of participation in some way, shape or form, if you want it to function.”
But for Brown, the class as a whole has turned into much more than just a course in government and history.
“For me, it’s so much about the soft skills for students,” Brown said. “I want them to understand what it takes to develop expertise in something and to be self disciplined, to work hard.”
Brown said she first brought the We the People program to EHS in 2011 as part of advanced placement classes, later becoming its own class in 2018.
Long before the students even get a glimpse of nationals, Brown says she starts the class by teaching a lesson on classical virtue. “Aristotle, Plato and Socrates all believed that was the key to human happiness, living a self-disciplined life.”
As it is written in the Declaration of Independence — “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” — Brown said this is part of what the class teaches.
“We could talk about the government, but why don’t we talk about happiness,” she said. “What does it mean to live a discipline life? So virtue becomes a big part of this class and that’s part of all kinds of things I say to them on a daily basis.”
“I’m looking forward to going to Washington, D.C. and seeing the goats because Ms. Brown promised us we’d do that,” said 11th grader at EHS and We the People team member Lily O’Connell.
O’Connell and her fellow Unit 1 members said Brown always drives them to “reach for the goats. They said the statement is both literal, hoping to go see the goat farm on Mount Vernon in Virginia. But it has also transformed into a euphemism for the popular saying “Goat” — Greatest of all time.
“Our motivation is to reach for the goats,” said student Jack Skowron.
For more information and to donate, visit the EHS We the People team’s website.
