The annual We The People competition took place virtually this year, including the awards ceremony. Westfield Academy and Central School students took fourth place overall and one unit took first place. Photo courtesy of Inter-State Studio

WESTFIELD — Greg Birner, Westfield Academy and Central School faculty member, who has coached teams for the We the People competition since 2007, is particularly proud of his students this year.

Despite having to do much of their work remotely, and competing with much larger schools from eastern New York state, Westfield students took fourth place overall, and one team placed first in their unit. “I told them COVID has been tough on them, but it can’t be an excuse,” Birner said. “They need to be able to overcome challenges, not use them as a crutch or a safety blanket. By the end of the semester, I saw some of their best performances and it was fantastic!”

In the We the People competition, participating students make up six teams which research areas of the U.S. Constitution.

“The class culminates in a ‘Congressional Hearing’ where our students face off with experts on the Constitution and have to defend the Constitution and how it functions today,” Birner said.

One could imagine that this sort of competition would make anybody nervous. According to Alany Rivera, there was definitely plenty of anxiety going in.

“Throughout the time in class and the start of the competition, nerves were definitely racking up. Though I was stressed and a bit anxious before starting, when the competition had begun, I felt comfortable and it also came naturally,” she said. “All the preparation and practicing in class set me and my partners up nicely for our unit.”

Most of Rivera’s teammates expressed similar thoughts. “I wasn’t too nervous,” said Isabella Bratton. “I felt like we had done enough work that, at that point, there was nothing else we could do. I was a little worried about getting bad follow-ups, but I felt fine, overall.”

Bianca Seger said the extensive preparation she and her teammates had done enabled her to overcome her nervousness.

“My emotions throughout the competition were very stressful and anxiety filled without a doubt,” she said. “I calmed down because I remembered all the time, effort, and hard work I have been putting into this class. That quickly got my heart rate down, and if it weren’t for all the preparations my team and I had made then I feel the outcome of our speech would’ve taken a different turn than it had.”

As Birner pointed out, preparing for this year’s competition posed various challenges for the students. In addition to those challenges, the pupils faced personal obstacles.

“The hardest task in preparing for the competition was learning enough material and examples to use in follow-up questions,” said Joseph Smith. “Writing and delivering the speeches wasn’t too hard but answering six minutes of follow-up questions was the most difficult part.”

Rivera also said that the follow-up questions posed a great challenge. “The hardest task when getting ready for the competition was mentally preparing myself for the follow-up questions,” she said. “The randomness of the questions was stressful and the scariest part of the class.”

Laura Quisenberry and the members of her unit faced a particularly difficult obstacle.

“My topic was actually switched halfway through,” she said. “No one in my new group had had the topic before either, so we were all starting from scratch together. Everyone else’s group still had at least one person who knew what they were doing, since they had that topic originally, so we were very behind and very lost.”

Rachel Eggleston also shared this challenge.

“The hardest task of the year would be when I was halfway through the class, I had two of my teams lose classmates because of dropping out. I had to then join two whole new units and learn about them and more,” she said. “It was hard because we were working on question 2 but in the competition both my groups had to do question 1, which I had never really seen before.”

By and large, the students were pleased with the outcome of the competition.

“After being awarded first place for unit six . . . we were at a loss for words,” said Lauren Bills.

“These past few years have been difficult so it was nice to have something to celebrate. It was really nice to hear that Westfield also had been awarded fourth place out of the entire competition.”

Rivera said she was pleased with the outcome, as well.

“I can honestly say that I am proud of myself,” she said. “When first joining the class, I was enormously nervous and not sure we could do it, but I am genuinely proud of myself and my classmates.”

Eggleston said she was ecstatic.

“The outcome of the whole class for me was great. Me and my unit team had won the Unit 6 award. And over all my class got fourth place,” she said. “I was happy that all the hard work my classmates and I put into the class got us an award in the end.”

Brenden Wood said he was not entirely happy with his performance in the competition.

“The overall outcome was very solid, even though I feel I could have done a bit better,” he said.

Birner emphasized that the competition can benefit the students in profound ways.

“The class is designed to work on public speaking, civil discourse and analytical thinking skills,” he said. “Three skills, I dare say, that are sorely needed in today’s turbulent, and, in many cases, misinformed political environment.”

Darien Swanson agrees with Birner.

“It helped me with my public speaking, as I really don’t do well talking to a bunch of strangers on a topic they know everything about,” he said.

Wood said he felt the class would give him the ability to engage others in conversation.

“This competition will help me in the future because it helps illustrate how to have a respectful political discussion,” he said.

Bills said she learned a tremendous amount about the government.

“Diving so deep into the Constitution this past semester, has benefitted me in the sense that I now know and have learned so many new things about our government and society,” she said. “This class has also proven to be beneficial in helping me with my AP government course.”

Perhaps the best result of We the People is that it has the potential to help students become better citizens.

“It has helped me better understand our country and how important it will be to vote when I turn 18,” said Swanson.

According to Bratton, “To learn about our rights as American citizens is important by itself. To study the constitution is to see how far we have come and how the United States has become such a great country.”

Quisenberry said the communication skills she learned are critical.

“Our world is so divided right now. Everyone thinks ‘I’m right because I say so,”” she said. “This competition doesn’t let you do that. You actually have to defend what you’re saying with the Constitution. It makes you really sit back and think about both sides of the argument, and we need that more than ever in our world and government right now.”

Birner echoes the sentiments of his students.

“I have always loved the We The People program,” Birner said. “More than anything, it gives my students an intense research-based class that focuses on how the Constitution was formed, how our nation worked with this government over time and how the Constitution applies to this very day.”