Cleveland’s Constitution team has been a core part of the school for nine years now. The 2024-2025 team made it past regionals on Jan. 11, and moved on to the state competition, which was held at the Hatfield Federal Courthouse on Jan. 25. After a long day of competing and showing off their knowledge of the U.S. Constitution, these students placed fifth in Oregon.
In the past, the students at the state competition would present their knowledge in front of the judges with the team, their teacher, coaches, mentors, and family in the room right behind, supporting them. This year though, things changed. Instead of the judges knowing what school the students were from, each team had a secret name, such as “JD.” Additionally, nobody except for the students presenting were allowed to be in the hearing room with the judges. All supporters watched from a live video streamed and projected on the wall in a shared viewing room.
Historically, Grant and Lincoln have dominated the state competition, with Central Catholic and Cleveland breaking through to the top four in the last several years. This year, one school surprisingly rose above. Sprague High School earned second place, and beat both Grant and Central Catholic. Sprague’s team consisted of only two people. For scale, Cleveland’s team has 35 members. Sprague is a small, but mighty team that earned the second place wild card spot and will join Lincoln, who placed first, in representing Oregon in Washington, D.C.
Since Cleveland has typically placed fourth in the past, getting fifth came as a bit of a disappointment to some. But winning is not always the end goal, and Constitution team teacher Sadie Adams said, “This has been a great team to work with! Everyone took it very seriously, though they seemed to have a lot of fun. I am incredibly proud of all of the hard work that they put in, and in their performance at the competitions.”
Although Cleveland won’t be going to the national competition this year, the team’s Unit 2 won a special distinction award for their performance at state. This award means that out of all the Unit 2s in the state who didn’t move onto the national stage, Cleveland’s Unit 2 had the best performance.
“I think our award was a reflection of all our hard work and I couldn’t have done it without the community I built while being a part of Constitution team,” said Wynnie Posedel, who is a part of the winning Unit 2.
Students who have participated on the Constitution team talk about how much they appreciate participating on it by becoming more informed and a properly educated U.S. citizen.
Sophomore team member Maria Caudillo said, “Con Team is more than just a class, it is a community in which you all learn, grow, and struggle together which connects us all in so many ways.”
