Winning Back the School Year

Denied a Trip to D.C. Due to Coronavirus, Students Tackle Tough Issues in Nationwide Online Civics Competition

LOS ANGELES — The end of April traditionally marks one of the largest competitions on the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights in the country. The annual We the People National Finals, administered by the Center for Civic Education, was scheduled to take place April 26-28. In a normal year, more than a thousand high school students along with their teachers, administrators and families gather in Washington, D.C., for the competition. 

This is no ordinary year, thanks to COVID-19. Rather than converging on Washington, D.C., more than 600 students will meet on Zoom in the rebranded We the People National Finals Challenge. The students, who represent 30 schools, will be competing from their homes in every region of the country, from Alabama to Oregon. The National Finals challenge is giving them hope, a reason to stay engaged and motivated in a world abruptly redefined by social distancing and stay-at-home orders. 

The National Finals Challenge will be held on Saturday, April 25, and Sunday, April 26. Students will demonstrate their knowledge of constitutional issues before competition judges composed of constitutional scholars, lawyers, historians and public officials. Students completed a comprehensive course of study on the Constitution to qualify for the competition, and most schools won their state competitions. 

Results of the competition will be posted on Monday night, April 27, at 8:00 pm ET on Facebook at
https://www.facebook.com/CenterforCivicEducation/. 

More information about the We the People National Finals Challenge is available at
https://www.civiced.org/2020-national-finals-challenge. 

More information about the Center for Civic Education is available at https://www.civiced.org/ 

Open for News Coverage 

To avoid disruption of the hearings and facilitate news coverage, please contact Robert Leming at 805-890-4059, Rebecca Reeder (260) 615-7745 or Maria Gallo at 805-904-7411 to arrange entrance into an online hearing room.