Several Portland Constitution teams went to the state tournament Feb. 5. The six state finalists were Central Catholic, Lake Oswego, Lincoln, Grant, Franklin, and Cleveland high schools. Each team is made up of six units, each of which focus on different aspects of the United States Constitution. There are several different categories for teams to be scored, one for each of the six units.

During the regional competition, McDaniel High School took Units 1, 2, and 5. Parkrose’s first team took Unit 3, and Franklin’s Demo team, which can’t advance past regionals, took Unit 4. Unit 6 went to Aloha High School.

Two weeks later at the state competition, Parkrose, led by teacher Richard English, won the John Lewis Award, which is a brand new award, and put them in third place. Central Catholic led by Geoffery Stuckart, took the Wild Card Award, which put them in second place. Both Central Catholic and Parkrose will be going to the national competition for the first time this year. The new state champion is Grant, led by Angela DiPasquale.

Unfortunately, Cleveland’s team did not make nationals this year, coming in at fourth place. The team is now transitioning away from being a Constitution team, and into an economics class. Two of the students are in the process of designing hoodies for the team, and several others are planning to return to the team as mentors.