A group of students from Happy Valley High School will soon be headed to a national competition in Washington, D.C., to demonstrate their knowledge of history and civics.
Students in Happy Valley’s “We The People” program will be taking part in a national contest directed by The Center for Civic Education.
HVHS teacher and program sponsor Kaylor Willis is familiar with the contest, having competed in it herself while attending Happy Valley High School. The program disappeared for a few years from the school but Willis has worked to bring it back because she knows how beneficial the program can be to students.
“I was in this in high school,” Willis said. “Terry Morley, the principal at Central Elementary, was my AP History teacher here at that time. He called me and said the school was wanting to bring this back and I said wonderful. He’s still helping us with this.”
The program is designed to be a class for students to teach them about the history of the U.S. government, the structure of the Constitution and how the three branches of government are designed to work.
“It was supposed to be a class because I have to give them 40 hours of instruction and I have to go through 40 hours of training,” Willis said. However, due to the way the class schedule changes, Willis said it turned into an after-school club with the students dedicating their off-time to the program.
Preparing for the national competition has been a lot of hard work and Willis praised the students for their commitment.
The team is divided into six different units, each with three students. Each student in the unit must them prepare three four-minute presentations on three assigned topics in the unit.
“They don’t know which one the judges will pick at the competition,” Willis said. “They prepare for all of them then the judges pick one topic.”
The students are graded on their presentations and the team with the best score will win, Willis said.
The Happy Valley High team has 15 students, which means in order to have three students in each of the six units, some of the team members had to double up on the work.
“Some of them are having to write six presentations,” Willis said.
Among the topics the team will have to tackle in their presentations are: the philosophical and historical foundations of the American political system; freedom of the press and free speech; and the right to keep and bear arms as defined in the 2nd Amendment and the controversy that still surrounds the issue.
“When I was in it, they asked me what I thought about a reporter throwing a shoe at President Bush,” Willis said with a laugh.
The team from Happy Valley will be the only Tennessee team competing at the national event, Willis said.
“When I did it, we only got to go to Nashville to compete, so for them to get to go to Washington, D.C., is a huge opportunity,” Willis said.
The students will not just be competing while in the nation’s capital, they will also get the opportunity to add to their knowledge while there.
“The organization has set up tours for the group, including a tour of the Capital and a wreath laying at the 9/11 memorial,” Willis said, adding the Center for Civic Education said they would also work to set up meetings between the students and their elected representatives in Washington, D.C.
The students will take part in the event from April 22 through April 26.
Willis said the team has been working on fundraisers to help fund the trip. More fundraisers may be planned, she said, but right now the team is looking for sponsors to help them raise the cash to pay for the competition trip. Anyone wanting information on sponsorship can call Kaylor Willis at Happy Valley High School at 423-547-4094 or by e-mailing her at kaylorwillis@k12tn.net.
We The People team members are: Jacob Marshall, Bailey Coomer, Sam Blevins, Austin Hicks, Seth Chesser, Raven Blevins, Paition Chambers, Lillie Perez, Sarah Vance, Amanda Howland, Harmoni Mithcell, Cheyenne Snyder, Brittany White, Hunter Malone and Kristen Lyons.