Cleveland’s Constitution Team is ready to go to the state competition. After about half a year of preparation, the team made it past the regional competition Jan. 27 and will compete this weekend, Feb. 3, for a chance to go to nationals.

The other five teams going to state from the region are Lake Oswego, Central Catholic, Lincoln, Grant, and McDaniel. The regional competition was postponed a week due to the ice storm, requiring quick preparation before the state competition.

The Constitution Team started at Cleveland in the 2016-2017 school year. Led by Sadie Adams, a history teacher at Cleveland, it has quickly become a strong team in the state, getting fourth the past two years, and reaching the national competition in 2020-21, earning 17th overall and the title of best in the nation for Unit 3.

There are six total units and generally include six people. There are also two coaches and they all have extensive background in law. Cleveland is unique, though, in that it has a mentor program that allows seniors to help teach the sophomores about law and prepare them for competitions.

“That’s one of the things that has helped us do so well,” Adams said.

Other schools don’t have mentor programs or have seniors participate on the team, such as Grant, one of the favorites to win. Every year three questions are created for each Unit relating to their topic. Each Unit covers different parts of history and of the U.S. Constitution and connects it to today. Team members create a prepared response for two of the questions and memorize them. In a competition the Unit gives their prepared response and then answers follow up questions from a panel of judges for about five minutes.

The state competition will take place at the Hatfield Federal Courthouse, 1000 SW Third Ave., starting at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 3. The award ceremony is expected to take place around 4:15 p.m. 

If Cleveland does not make it to nationals, the students will start an Honors Econ class for their second semester. Students have high hopes to make nationals.