In a classroom at Brown County Junior High School, a group of eighth-grade students are discussing the 10th Amendment to the United States Constitution.

“We have this tug of war between the state governments and the national governments. Who really maybe has more powers?” asks teacher Michael Potts.

“The states,” his students respond.

But what powers do the states actually have outside of federal government control?

“Regulating trade inside the state?” one student asks.

“You have the Commerce Clause on that. What’s the court case?” Potts asks.

A couple of students throw out possible answers.

The correct answer is “Heart of Atlanta.” The “Ah-ha” sound is heard as the students remember.

On Dec. 11, these students will take their constitutional knowledge to the state stage when they compete against 14 other schools at the We the People state competition. The winner will go on to compete on the national stage in Washington, D.C., next spring.

The We the People program teaches students about civic responsibilities. After a semester of study about American history and constitutional issues, including current events and applicable court cases, students testify in mock congressional hearings before panels of professional judges. The contest is sponsored by the Indiana Bar Foundation.

The Brown County Junior High We the People team placed second at the regional contest Nov. 17. Rival Fishers Junior High School placed first, but only by three points.

Last year, Fishers took first by nine points. That was the second year Fishers had topped Brown County at state.

This year was the first time BCJHS competed in the central region with Fishers and other larger schools. Last year, Brown County competed in the southern region, but the Indiana Bar Foundation condensed the regionals to four this year.

“I don’t want to say we were guaranteed to go in our other region, but the competition wasn’t as tough. We knew, ‘We’re going to go.’ Now we’re up against other schools and we have to be in the top three. There’s a lot of good schools. I worried about that,” Potts said.

“We came in second by three points, which is good, but they (Fishers) had different judges. … If we had the same judges it may have been wider, who knows. I say we’re going into in a dead heat. We’re close.”

The top three winners from each region and two wild card teams will be competing at state.

“It’s a good team,” Potts said of this year’s BCJHS group. “About a week or two before the (regional) competition things started to click. Competition went really well. They all exceeded my expectations.”

This team has put the school in a “position to win,” he said.

“They are passionate and super smart.”

Hadley Gradolf said she wanted to try out for the We the People team because she thought it would be interesting to learn about the government and how it works.

“I really didn’t know that much about it except there are three branches. That’s all I knew,” she said.

Gradolf said she wants to make a change in this world and that We the People is good place to start.

“There are some people in the world that are leaders that I don’t see as what I would think a leader should be. I think that I should be able to change that even as an eighth-grader, so learning how to use my voice the right way and talk and have meaning in what I say is really important to me,” she said.

Joey Denison said he was on the fence about trying out of the team because he wasn’t really sure what it was.

“I knew it was a government class … but now that I do know what it is I would volunteer to go again a thousand times over. It’s really fun,” he said.

Denison said he enjoys learning about the Constitution and what’s happening in the government today, too.

“Seeing what we can use from the Constitution and from our own opinions to make distinctions, this is stuff I’m learning now that I will use my entire life,” he said.

“Mr. Potts always says we’re smarter than 90 percent of the general population when it comes to government, and honestly I’d say that’s right, because I can ask someone about habeas corpus and they won’t know what it means.”

He said he decided to try out because of the team’s legacy of winning national championships. In the past nine years, Brown County Junior High School has won six We the People state championships, two national runner-up titles and two national championships.

His mother also encouraged him to try out.

Students who wanted to try out were brought into Potts’ classroom and given a writing prompt. This year’s prompt dealt with diversity and why America is great, Gradolf said.

“If I would have known about the 14th Amendment Equal Protection Clause, I could have applied it, but I didn’t know anything back then,” Denison said of the prompt.

Gradolf said she has enjoyed learning about the various amendments to the Constitution. Denison said he likes learning about what’s happening in the news and understanding it.

“Before I went to this class I didn’t know what was going on in the news. I didn’t know who (Supreme Court nominee) Brett Kavanaugh was,” he said.

“I see people saying, ‘Oh, we have a problem with uninformed constituents.’ I’m like, ‘What does that mean?’ But now that I’ve actually learned about what that means, it’s a lot more interesting to me, and I think that’s going to stick with me for my entire life. I think this is really a life-changing program.”

Gradolf and Denison said the class has allowed them to develop their own opinions about politics and gives them the facts to back them up.

“The President, he used to say things I didn’t understand. I would just be like, ‘Oh, I don’t know,’ and I would just side with my parents on whatever he said. But now I can interpret them for myself and I understand what he’s saying, what he’s trying to do,” she said. “Before, I couldn’t form a good opinion about it because I didn’t know what it was saying.”

Denison said sometimes, he now has different opinions than his parents.

During the regional competition, Denison’s unit gave a speech about citizenship and the right to vote.

“I wouldn’t say just African-American rights, but I think that’s a big focus in what we’re doing — taking what has previously been done to discriminate against African-Americans and seeing what it is in today’s vantage,” he said.

“I’d say voter ID laws could be an example of that. … It’s $20 because you have to pay for some form of ID, but if it’s paying for an ID or paying for your food, what are you going to choose?”

Gradolf’s unit spoke about freedom of speech and expression.

She said she’s feeling confident about the state competition.

“I want to go and do it so that I can prove to myself that I am better than I thought I was,” she said.

Denison said he thinks his team will win state for a spot in the national competition.

“It’s a lot of work, but I would recommend it to anyone and everyone who has an opportunity, because it’s really a life changing thing. You have to be motivated by it, because if you don’t, you’re going to slip in the grades,” he said.

Gradolf said the class keeps her on her feet with pop quizzes. “We never know what’s going to happen. We always have to be prepared,” she said.

“It really pushes you.”

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Beginning this school year, fifth-graders at Brown County Intermediate School will have a chance to compete as a We the People team.

The Indiana Bar Foundation now has a We the People program for the fifth grade. Its state competition will take place in May. BCIS teacher Trisha Ulrich will coach the team, Principal Trent Austin said.

Last year, Austin and Ulrich were approached by Brown County Junior High School We the People teacher Michael Potts about starting a program for fifth-graders here. The three went to observe the state competition for fifth-graders.

"It was something that we absolutely wanted to be a part of, so Mr. Potts pulled some strings and we’re going to competing in May up in Indianapolis with some of our fifth-graders," Austin said. "I really, really appreciate Mr. Potts. He’s been a great advocate for this program. Honestly, we’re fortunate at Brown County Schools to have a teacher like Mr. Potts. He’s phenomenal."

Austin said We the People at BCIS will be more of a club and not an actual class. Students will meet for 30 minutes during study hall at the end of the school day and will also meet after school.

"It will be a little bit during the day and a little bit after school. The good news is we have from now until May to get ready for the competition," Austin said.

The team has not been picked yet. Austin said the goal is to have a team in place before Christmas break and that applications will be distributed to students soon.

Unlike the junior high level, where students prepare multiple speeches and then give one which the judges pick at the competition, the fifth-grade students will prepare only one speech and then will have to prepare to answer follow-up questions based on the unit of study they are in.

"It’s a great experience for our kids, though, because any of our students who are interested in being part of the junior high We the People team, this will give them a little bit of an experience of going through the same format, the same process as what the junior high We the People kids are going through now," Austin said.

"It’s shaped as a congressional hearing. The students will be in front of two or three judges. … They will have to give their prepared speech, prepared opening statement to the judges. … Then the students are required to use their base knowledge to answer questions from the judges based upon their unit. It’s exciting."

There is no national competition for fifth graders, Austin said. Gold, silver and bronze scores will be given at the state level.

About 20 students will be picked for the BCIS team.

"We’re just excited to be a part of this," Austin said.

"If we were still at four elementary schools, we couldn’t do this program. By having all of the fifth-graders on campus in one spot, these kids are together, and now we can hold these kinds of programs for our kids. … It’s five years of work coming together to be able to provide this kind of programming."

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Unit 1: What were the Founders’ basic ideas about government?

Aidan Schilling, Christopher Grimes, Olivia Tincher

Unit 2: What shaped the Founders’ thinking about government?

Naje Bedja, Alyson Pennington, Jade Hoffmeister

Unit 3: What happened at the Philadelphia Convention?

Milly Patrick, Katie Tipton, Savannah Oden

Unit 4: How was the Constitution used to establish our government?

Ethan Speice, Chase Austin, Rafe Silbaugh, Garrett Braden

Unit 5: How does the Constitution protect our basic rights?

Elizabeth Roush, Londyn Koester, Hadley Gradolf, Abigail Watson

Unit 6: What are the responsibilities of citizens?

Joseph Denison, Bradley Arndt, Cole Bowman

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