Eighteen WACS seniors took third place in the We The People competition and also had the experience of seeing New York City at Christmastime.

“Our students did Westfield proud!” said Westfield Academy and Central School faculty member Greg Birner, who has coached teams for the “We the People” competition since 2007.

The Westfield team finished third place in the state and achieved two unit awards. “We are evidently doing something right here at Westfield,” Birner said. “This group has a great deal to be proud of.”

Students who take part in the “We the People: Bill of Rights and Constitution” program participate in a mock congressional hearing, Birner said. Teams prepare a four-minute presentation and must be prepared to answer six minutes of follow-up questions, he said. Judges for the competition include lawyers, politicians, and professors.

The New York State competition was held at the Justice Resource Center in NYC on Dec. 14. “I told our students that we came here to show the judges of the We the People competition what we can do, and boy did they do that. . . again,. We took third place,” exclaimed Birner. “Also, New York City is packed at this time of year and that, in and of itself, is an education for our students. The kids were able to do a walk through of Times Square and see the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center, but not much else.”

Birner said 18 students participated in the program this year. “That’s the most we’ve ever had,” Birner said. “Since we had so many students, the great thing was that each student was truly responsible for presenting once, which lightened the burden I had to place on past year’s teams.”

Birner elaborated on the impressive performances of the Westfield students, noting that “we are hitting out of our weight class,” since most of the schools in the competition are much larger than WACS. “The number of students that did not believe they could do this was very high, and I think they impressed themselves with what hard work and teamwork can do,” he said.

Several students commented on the work and preparation required for the competition. “My teammates and I worked for months perfecting our speech, memorizing supreme court cases, and connecting with each other on a level of friendship, rather than just academically,” said McKenna Campbell. “After several months of hard work and commitment, I wouldn’t have wanted to make such an accomplishment with any other team.”

Alina Franklin said the preparation was very difficult. “It took multiple hours, days, weeks, and months to perfect my team’s presentation,” she said. “Memorizing my speech and other court cases was the most difficult part.”

Sophie Smith said the experience made her a better person and a better citizen. “I now know more about current issues and how our country operates,” she said. “I feel like I can confidently weigh in on important federal issues.”

Franklin said her favorite part of the whole experience was the competition itself. “It made me realize how confident I could be under pressure and showed that all my hard work paid off,” she said.

Campbell added that the We the People experience will help her remain educated about the government throughout her life. “My topic educated me on the courts and other people’s topics educated me on things like the Articles of Confederation, the Magna Carta, gerrymandering, the Olympics and women’s rights,” she said. “All of these topics will leave me with everlasting education on our government mandates and its policies.”

While the group took third place overall, Birner noted that the individual units also scored very high. “For the first time, we had two unit winners: Unit 4 (Addie Luce, David Hoebener, Alina Franklin) and Unit 5 (Zach Macguire, Yadhira Ortiz, McKenna Campbell),” he said. “We also had a unit that scored perfect by two of their three judges, and that was Unit 1 (Mason Baum, Danny Bratton, Zach McGuire).”

Birner said the competition seems to be getting more popular each year at Westfield. “Based on the fact that it is creating quite a buzz, and that 18 students signed up for this year, I would say interest is increasing,” he said. “The seniors from this year are already telling juniors how cool the experience was.”

Birner said the experience of We the People prepares the students for life in a unique way. “The teamwork, research skills and public speaking skills, along with understanding their government and their role in it can’t be overstated,” he said. “These students walk out of this class and, later on, to graduation, ready to start the next chapter of their lives.”