Hundreds of students will showcase knowledge of the U.S Constitution.

More than 900 Indiana students representing 14 middle and 14 high schools will gather in downtown Indianapolis next week to showcase their knowledge of the U.S Constitution.

The Indiana Bar Foundation will host the state finals in the “We the People: The Citizen and Constitution” competition on Dec. 5 and 6 at the Crowne Plaza Indianapolis-Downtown Union Station.

Tim Kalgreen, director of civic education for the foundation, said the students have studied questions related to aspects of the Constitution.

“They will be presenting their findings, their arguments, in small groups, usually in groups of three to five students. And they will showcase that to a panel of judges and evaluate their argument that they give. Kalgreen said. “So, they will be able to be judged on things like constitutional application, their participation, the supporting evidence that they use the responsiveness to the question.”  

The program is based on materials developed by the Center for Civic Education and is nationally acclaimed by educators.

“They are real experts in all aspects of the Constitution, the philosophies behind it, the creation of the Constitution, and what government actually is,” Kalgreen said. “And it's really fun to see them present this at the competition as they've been doing.”

Classes from each school qualified through regional competitions held in Evansville, Fishers, Fort Wayne, Gary, and Plainfield.

Middle schools competing on Dec. 5 include:

• Brown County Middle School, Nashville
• Carroll Middle School (Team Culbertson), Fort Wayne
• Carroll Middle School (Team Smith), Fort Wayne
• Castle South Middle School, Newburgh
• Fall Creek Junior High School, Fishers
• Fishers Junior High School, Fishers
• Helfrich Park STEM Academy, Evansville
• Hobart Middle School, Hobart
• Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic School, Fort Wayne
• St. Malachy Catholic School, Brownsburg
• Sidener Academy, Indianapolis
• Union Township Middle School, Valparaiso
• Woodside Middle School, Fort Wayne

High schools competing in the Dec. 6 include:

• Castle High School, Newburgh
• Evansville North High School, Evansville
• Fishers High School, Fishers
• Franklin Central High School, Indianapolis
• Hamilton Southeastern High School, Fishers
• Hobart High School, Hobart
• Homestead High School, Fort Wayne
• Jasper High School, Jasper
• New Palestine High School, New Palestine
• North Posey High School, Poseyville
• Plainfield High School (Team Hamilton), Plainfield
• Plainfield High School (Team Madison), Plainfield
• Randall T. Shepard Leadership and Law Academy, Evansville
• West Lafayette Junior / Senior High School, West Lafayette

Contact WFYI Morning Edition newscaster and reporter Taylor Bennett at tbennett@wfyi.org.