GARY | Before a panel of judges and attorneys, Munster High School seniors pleaded their cases Friday morning in defense of the U.S. Constitution.
Students from middle and high schools throughout Northwest Indiana competed in the annual We the People event on the campus of Indiana University Northwest. Sponsored by the Indiana State Bar Association and Indiana Bar Foundation, the program simulates a series of congressional hearings during which students testify before panels of educators, attorneys and judges in defense of the Constitution and Bill of Rights. In all, 93 teams from across Indiana's nine congressional districts participated at sites around the state.
Before a panel that included U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen, Munster senior Ben Varnum and others in Mike Gordon's senior government class discussed the merits of Indiana's law requiring voters to have a state ID card.
"I think that contributes to the faith we have in our electoral system," Varnum said.
While Munster has sent students to the event for years, it was the first time students from Portage's Willowcreek Middle School attended, Principal Michelle Stewart said.
Sydney Yingst, an eighth-grader in Jim Wheeler's U.S. history class, said students reviewed principles of government for weeks, in advance of the event, but there were still some jitters once they had to testify.
"It's nerve-racking, being in front of the judges," eighth-grader Mikaela Terry said.
Debating the merits of the First Amendment, judges asked students in Chris Demorotski's eighth-grade history class at Willowcreek how the freedoms of speech and expression should be applied at school. Eighth-grader Max Hammerstein said limits in school should be more stringent than outside the classroom, in order to preserve the learning environment.
Erin Braun, the Indiana Bar Foundation's civic education director, said the program inspires not only the students, but also the teachers and judges who hear their young voices.
"You can't help but be inspired by these students when you see them speak with such confidence and poise about the most important issues of our time," Braun said. "I always leave the competition feeling better about our nation's future and wishing every American citizen received this kind of education."
