High School IPLE Team Wins

After three days of simulated congressional hearings on the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the East Brunswick High School Advanced Placement Institute for Political and Legal Education (IPLE) class placed third in the 24th annual We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution National Finals held in Washington, D.C. from April 30 to May 2.

This is the 23rd out of a possible 24 times that EBHS has represented New Jersey at national competition. The has been in the top 10 every year but one and has placed first four times.   

During the competition, students demonstrated their knowledge of the Constitution before simulated congressional committees made up of state Supreme Court judges, constitutional scholars, lawyers, public officials and We the People alumni. The first rounds of the hearings took place on Saturday, April 30, and Sunday, May 1. On the final day, the top 10 schools competed in congressional hearing rooms on Capitol Hill. The results were announced at an awards banquet on the evening of Monday, April 2, evening before an audience of 1,500 students, teachers, coordinators, judges and other program participants. The class from Maggie L. Walker Governor's School for Government and International Studies of Richmond, Va., emerged as the National winner. Placing second was Amador Valley High School from Pleasanton, Calif.    

The We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution program provides an intensive curriculum offering students comprehensive instruction on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and the principles and values they embody. The program is designed to promote an understanding of the rights and responsibilities of citizens in our constitutional democracy. More than 30 million elementary, middle and high school students have participated in the program since its inception in 1987.     

East Brunswick High School’s participants want to thank the following organizations and individuals who made the trip to Washington possible: the East Brunswick Education Foundation (EBEF), NJ Center for Civic Education, Wilkin and Guttenplan, Huaxia East Brunswick Chinese School, Holly Howard as well as student fundraising efforts and parents.