It’s no fluke that East High School has won the national Constitutional scholar competition three years in a row.
It’s because of the huge commitment and amount of time the students spend learning the Constitution, its history and philosophy, said East teacher Mark Thalhofer, who coached the students this year to the 22nd annual We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution National Finals Award last week in Washington, D.C.
He said next year’s students already have signed up and will spend the summer researching and writing essays about the Constitution.
“During the year, they’ll have many, many meetings after school, in the evenings and on weekends,” he said.
“They have coaches and volunteers who help them. They’re at this from April to April. It’s far more intensive and more of a commitment than playing sports. One girl who signed up told me ‘Constitutional law is my boyfriend this year.’ ”
Volunteers include practicing attorneys, sitting judges, university professors and retired teachers, many of whom had kids graduate from East.
Thalhofer said he grades the summer essays “as harshly as I can, to see if they still want to go at it after being brushed back. A few have second thoughts. My challenge is to make those few believe they’re still smart if they don’t take the class.”
“We put thousands of hours into this competition,” said junior Joseph Lassen, a member of this year’s winning team.
The class divides into six panels, with specific areas of expertise. Those include:
• The philosophy and history of the country prior to the Constitution.
• The writing of the Constitution.
• The impact the Constitution has had on American history, which this year focused on Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War, secession and emancipation.
• How the Constitution has molded the three branches of U.S. government.
• The Bill of Rights, with heavy emphasis on case law.
• Current issues involving the Constitution, which this year include diversity and citizenship.
A district competition is in November, and the state championship is in December. Students must give a four-minute opening statement, then field six minutes of questions from the judges.
In January, the national championship questions are sent to each state winner. Some of this year’s questions included: In what ways does the Declaration of Independence reflect the social contract theory of John Locke and other social contract philosophers? For the Lincoln scholars, who won a special award this year, “On what constitutional grounds did Lincoln issue the Emancipation Proclamation? And how and why did the Emancipation Proclamation reinforce American’s founding principle of liberty?”
Heady stuff for high school students.
“We’ve heard many jokes that practicing lawyers probably don’t know the Constitution this well,” Thalhofer said.
It’s believed, but not confirmed, that East is the only school in the nation to win it three years in a row. East has won the national title a total of six times and has missed the state championship only once, Thalhofer said.
To win, the 26 students — 10 boys and 16 girls — beat out about 1,100 students from 50 states and the Northern Mariana Islands.
This year, the competition took place in the House Appropriations Committee Hearing Room, which was arranged by Democratic U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette of Denver, who joined last year’s winning team in celebration. This year’s team saw the office of Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar for a visit arranged by Interior Undersecretary Tom Strickland. His daughters graduated from East and participated in the competitions.
“We have terrific kids who come through here,” Thalhofer said. “They decide that this is important, then get great support from very smart and experienced adults.”
Mike McPhee: 303-954-1409 or mmcphee@denverpost.com
