By Staff Writer: Rachel Cichon

We the People is a class offered at Howell High School in which students study constitutional law and take their knowledge to competitions. The class takes an intense amount of hard work and dedication for all students and teachers involved, as it requires constant preparation and studying of the constitution.

This year marks a new era for the class, as it is being headed by teacher, Ms. Kristine Shantry, who is determined to achieve great things with her new position. Ms. Shantry has been teaching for Howell Public Schools for ten years.

At competitions, which occur at district, state and national levels, the team presents a prepared statement to a panel of judges (who are actually real judges and attorneys). After the presentation, the judges can ask the students any question about constitutional law.

“There is a wide range of questions and the students have nothing prepared, so they have to know the constitution,” says Ms. Shantry.

The group is divided into six units, each of which is given a set of three questions to answer. Typically, Unit 1 revolves around the Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, and the historical concepts that involve them. Unit 2 deals with Federalist and Anti-Federalist arguments. Unit 3 focuses on the living document that is the constitution, and how the Bill of Rights has expanded over time. Unit 4 looks at the way that government works and whether or not it should work differently. Unit 5 is centered on case law and Unit 6 is the modern interpretation of the founding documents.

Last year’s class reached an impressive feat when they won the annual state championships and went on to nationals, where they came in sixteenth in the country. The accomplishments of these students did not end when they graduated. Instead, the experience of being in We the People has only given them more experiences in life beyond high school.

“We the People still plays a massive role in my life. It was the highlight of my senior year and I’m still reminded of it daily. I feel like I’m analyzing news of the government daily from what We the People has taught me. It has also opened the door to numerous opportunities. Now I am an intern at the Democratic Party here in Grand Rapids, along with a dual major in Finance and International Relations at Grand Valley,” says former We the People member and HHS class of 2013 graduate, Adam Hukkala.

This year’s team, who have already won districts, certainly has big shoes to fill, but is off to a great start, despite being a small class due to an abundance of priority classes being scheduled at the same time.

“They scheduled a lot of AP classes for certain hours, including second hour which is when I teach We the People, so kids had to make choices, which was unfortunate,” Ms. Shantry says.

Despite this, on November 12, the group recently won districts and came back with mainly positive feedback from the judges, who gave them their professional input on the group’s strengths and weaknesses.

“They said the kids were well-versed on content and one judge actually said that they learned something from the kids – since they’re both attorneys, that was really cool,” Ms. Shantry says. “The one thing we need to work on is citing more court cases.”

The former teacher of We the People, who held the position for the last eleven years, was Mr. Mark Oglesby. He and the history department both advocated the nomination of Ms. Shantry as the new We the People teacher upon his departure, as she has helped and worked with We the People for the last few years.

“I’m not gonna lie. I was nervous, although I think anyone would be,” Ms. Shantry says about her new position. “And I honestly don’t know where the team is going to go this year, I really don’t. I don’t know the strengths of the other teams since I’m new. All I know is: East Grand Rapids, that’s the team to beat.”

Despite the nerves, Ms. Shantry is enjoying her position and working hard to prepare the team for the upcoming state competition. She is hoping to continue teaching the class in upcoming years.

“I think she’ll do great! She’s showed a lot of dedication and enthusiasm in getting these students through districts. Oglesby left behind a huge legacy, but I think she’s done an amazing job so far preparing the team to compete against East Grand Rapids and East Kentwood,” Hukkala says about Ms. Shantry

We the People is a semester-long class, unless the team makes it to nationals, in which case the class lasts the entire year. The class takes a great deal more than just showing up for forty-five minutes a day. The kids in We the People spend hours of their free time pouring over the constitution and preparing for competition.

“We dedicate a couple days after school at this point because we were worried about districts. Now for Thanksgiving and Christmas breaks we will be going into the school and talking to We the People alumni to prepare for states.” says senior Briana Resinger.

State competitions take place in early January, and there is no question that Howell’s We the People class will be devoting the time between now and then to master every aspect of the constitution.

“We the People is definitely a hard class, and you’ve gotta work really hard, but it is definitely worth it in the end,” Resinger says.