Constitution Team Wins State and is Headed to DC
The tension could be cut with a knife as students from Grant and Lincoln strode to the front of the room. When judge Ann Brown prepared to announce the second-place finisher in state competition on the Constitution and Bill of Rights, the room grew silent.
“Grant,” she said. And with that, the back of the room erupted in screams and cheers, and the Lincoln students in the front sighed in relief, knowing that they had just won the state championship and will represent Oregon in national competition in April. Senior Angie Morillo accepted the trophy and held it proudly above her head.
Judges called units a “tour de force.” One judge said that students “dove deep and swam hard.” Lincoln was one of six teams from around the state in the competition. Franklin placed third, followed by Lake Oswego (4th), Central Catholic (fifth), and Sisters (sixth). The team will be headed to the national competition on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. on April 26-28.
The team is comprised of 36 students who have been preparing for the “We the People” Constitution competition since last spring. Thirty of the students are sophomores, three are juniors, and three are seniors. The students are broken into six units with six members each and coached by volunteers under history teacher Tim Swinehart.
Complete list of Constitution team members and unit coaches:
Unit 1: Colin Phipps, Jackson Brim-Edwards, Ben Hofmann, Elizabeth Weeks, Hawii Boriyo, Sophia Mautz
Unit 2: Brendan Carey, Julianna Mazziotti, Zoë Parkel, Maddie Lee, Sandra Hong, Leo Wiswall
Unit 3: Miles Stepleton, Caroline Friesen, Catherine Anderson, Ruhika Prasad, Celia Diffely, Jeffrey Lynch
Unit 4: Orion Cleaver, Grace Rubenstein, Kimberly Kuhn, Noah Hoffman, Mai O’Neill, Ayeza Bajwa
Unit 5: Anna Blakley, William Brickowski, Kate Richardson, Emma Rhodes, Alex Zhang, Madison Kenney
Unit 6: Hannah Rose, Elliot Ballato, Angelita Morillo, Will Leo, Daniel Lawrence, and Clara Greenstein
Volunteer coaches: Stephen Griffith, Jeff Edmundson, Christy Splitt, Misha Isaak, Darin Sands, Jennifer Hill, Alison E. Brody, Jonathan Pulvers, Rachel Weisshaar, and Benjamin O’Glasser
