By Harlan Rose

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On Jan. 31, 15 AP US History students participated in the annual We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution state showcase at the Honolulu Federal Courthouse. After spending three weeks researching and analyzing the Constitution, the students presented their findings to a panel of judges and attained a unique experience that can be applied to real-life situations.

“I think it was a really good experience,” said Junior Lindsey-Reece Gano. “Being in a courtroom and a real formal setting with real adults with top occupations, it kind of puts you in the real world, like seeing what they expect and then trying to meet those expectations.”

We the People is a national competition and curriculum that requires students to study and analyze the philosophical foundations and importance of the United States government and Constitution. “(The curriculum is) designed to help students think about civics and government from a political and historical perspective,” said Social Studies teacher Dr. Amy Perruso. “The students have an opportunity for about 10 minutes to engage with people who are very involved in political life and civic life in the United States.”

Normally, Perruso has students enrolled in the AP Government and Politics course complete the We the People curriculum; however, since AP US History students were not required to complete National History Day this year, she had them participate in the showcase instead. “I felt like this might be the only chance that these students would have that opportunity, because most are not taking AP (Government) next year,” explained Perruso. “So it is an interesting situation where I don’t feel confident that they’ll have that kind of experience that I think is so important for civic literacy, and I wanted them to have that.”

To prepare for the showcase, the students were broken up into six units and were assigned a certain topic to research and create a presentation for. “(It) pretty much (involved) just working with our group, researching, finding information to answer our questions thoroughly,” said Junior Eden Sun. Gano added, “Just doing a lot of research, because a lot of the questions we might not have covered in our classes, and making sure that we’re answering the questions and that we’ll be prepared for the actual event.”

At the showcase, the students presented their responses to a panel of judges and were then required to answer a series of follow-up questions. “At first I was (nervous), but after seeing the other groups go and actually sitting up there, it wasn’t as nerve-wracking as I thought it would be,” said Sun. “Watching the other groups go and kind of like making eye contact with the judges, you kind of see that they just wanted to talk and it’s not really bad.”

After the presentation and questioning period was over, the students received insightful feedback from the judges. “The advice that they gave us had to do a lot (with) our speaking, and that will help me a lot when I do public speaking,” explained Gano. Sun added, “I think that their advice was really good. I feel like we do need to expand on what we have seen and what we’ve done because we could go more in depth about our understanding.”

Additionally, Perruso felt that the presentations went well and she was pleased with the turnout. “I think that given the level of attention that we paid to it, the team definitely did well,” said Perruso. “The judges afterwards had really positive things to say about the students of MHS and had some great feedback.”

The students also felt that this was a unique learning experience that many don’t normally get a chance to take part of. “(We the People is) normally for the AP (Government) class and we’re just the AP US (History) class, but it offered us another opportunity to actually do something,” said Gano. Sun added, “I think that understanding of how different hearings go and that experience of having a judge and asking questions (and) kind of understanding how to be prepared for those types of situations.”

Next year, Perruso hopes to have students enrolled in the Pre-AP Modern Hawaiian History and Participation in Democracy course compete in the We the People showcase, while those taking AP Government will compete in the competition.