We the People: The Citizen and The Constitution Program is a constitution-based competition. The program follows a curriculum that encourages students to further develop their understanding of civics and civic responsibility. Charles N. Quigley, the former Executive Director at the Center for Civic Education, states that the purpose of We the People is to “provide students with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that are required for confident and responsible participation in the American political system.” Formed in 1987, over 30 million students have participated in this program. 

We the People is one of the longest-standing programs at Maggie Walker. It is a class primarily focused on the civics curriculum produced by the Center for Civic Education. Its current teacher, Mr. Samuel Ulmschneider, a former student who took We the People during his high school experience at MLWGS, describes the class as provoking “undergraduate and graduate-level intensity of thought, contemplation, quality of work, and research from students.” Ulmschneider emphasizes how the program holds a legacy of being one of the most challenging things one can participate in as a student at MLWGS. 

This year, MLWGS made it to the national competition and placed 5th out of 52 teams across the country. However, this is not a rare occasion. Throughout the years, the governor’s school has repeatedly placed nationally. At Maggie Walker, teams—referred to as “units”—are formed consisting of three to four members, and each group has a topic they are to study. Team member Lexi Pasternak (‘22) described the competitions as simulated congressional hearings structured around the three main competitions: states, regionals, and nationals.

The six different units receive a multi-part question and immediately start researching, writing statements, and preparing for the question and answer session. The rounds are structured with four minutes as allotted time for a prepared statement, followed by six minutes of Q&A. Pasternak says that the times for questioning do vary depending on the competition. When reflecting on the Q and A section, Pasternak mentioned, “You would be asked these broad questions when you look at them in their entirety, which was one of those things that were very challenging but also interesting about WTP. We have to prepare to answer any sort of question.” As the Q and A portion follows the prepared statement, judges ask questions pertaining to the statement, general questions relevant to the topic, or even questions extending into other group’s topics. 

“It is not possible to know what question you will be getting, so it is necessary to tackle the questions head-on and push your thinking and make you apply what you’ve learned in new ways,” detailed Pasternak. She explains that, in terms of preparation, this means that units immediately start researching and writing. One strategy the class practices is making encyclopedic study guides filled with important information. Another helpful activity is canned answers: “We basically get together on Zoom calls or school and just talk about potential questions we might have and then we come up with multipart answers for them. Once we got to nationals and had been working for months and months together, when we were in the round, it was like everyone knew what the next person was going to say.” These metrics are what participants are graded on, so this practice technique is helpful, since everyone joins in to create comprehensive, multipart answers. Pasternak emphasized that We the People is a lot of hard work, also involving time to be spent outside of school researching, working, and practicing, as students start learning the curriculum over the summer. Additionally, the pressure of maintaining Maggie Walker’s reputation adds stress. 

“Each team is responsible for spending months extensively researching the assigned topic and becoming sufficiently prepared in the topic before presenting a speech and being tested on their knowledge in a Q&A session by a panel of judges,” stated Nikki Kumar (‘22). In particular, Kumar focused on the Federalist and Antifederalist debates during the ratification of the Constitution. In addition to learning about the debates, she was also able to better understand the ideas and reasoning behind each article, clause, and amendment included in the document. Kumar, who is embarking on the pre-law track, credits this class for being incredibly impactful in helping her find her passion. 

At a school for government and international studies, We the People offers MLWGS seniors opportunities to build research skills and confidence, as well as improve writing and insight into policy. Many seniors, similar to Kumar, have taken the class, leaving with crucial skills to apply in various aspects of life. Kumar described the specific research skills she learned, stating, “I read a lot of primary source documents and listened to so many political podcasts this year, and I improved my note-taking abilities.” Additionally, she lists learning how to keep up with current events as a necessary skill, as she believes that “being an active and engaged citizen is vital to fulfilling one’s civic virtue. Especially since most seniors are at the age where we can vote, I believe it’s so important to stay up to date with what’s going on in our community.” Pasternak shared. “Many don’t understand how important of a role the government plays in our lives.” Pasternak, who joined We the People in hopes of pushing herself, thought of herself as more of a writer and less of a public speaker. Now, from the civics class, she’s gained a level of confidence from being thrown into these situations and getting asked questions one might not expect. Looking back, she said, “The person I was a year or two ago wouldn’t be able to recognize the way I’m debating constitutional law. It’s given me soft skills like confidence and communication that are useful.”  

To participate in this innovative course, there is an application process that has evolved over the years. As there is only room for one class each year, the process is selective and happens during junior year. At MLWGS, We the People has been passed down to three teachers, each of who have added a component to refine the application process. Mr. Phil Sorrentino, the first to teach this course, developed an initial application. Next, Mr. Matthew McGuire added a teacher recommendation form and interview. He was followed by Ulmschneider, who included a set of prompts to evaluate writing ability. 

The We the People room at MLWGS is dedicated to Mr. Sorrentino, who was known to leave a lasting impression on his students. In 2002 he taught Ulmschneider, who describes him as “on the surface level, a very striking man who was hard-talking and hard-combatting.” However, Ulmschneider later noted that the “pugnacious atmosphere that he projected concealed someone who had a gifted mind for churning out good arguments.” Sorentino was able to make students justify the things that they believed and force them to confront their unexamined assumptions. 

According to Ulmschneider, Sorrentino, who comes from a special background as a veteran of the United States military, was able to bring a certain “specific ability to talk in an authentic way about what it means to sacrifice something important like the potential for your own life for your own country.” Another quality Sorrentino brought to the program was his willingness to bring people in from other areas of expertise. Ulmschneider detailed, “He’d [Sorentino] have us email professors, back when email was in its infancy…he would hand us a book and say 'look at the bibliography and find three or four people who are important and see if you can find anything about them.’” He encouraged students to go out into the field, beyond the textbook and official resources.

Ulmschneider states that it is important to understand that the program and the class are not just about the various competitions; as a class, We the People goes beyond preparation for a competition. Students take time to learn habits about good citizenship, specifically, as Ulmschneider mentions, “what it means to think like a citizen, both critically and about the government, the constitution, the way it works, what it is that we as Americans value.” We the People provides Maggie Walker seniors with a place to learn about policy and politics and focus on democracy and democratic values. It isn’t uncommon to see MLWGS alumni participate in the wider WTP network after graduating. In the past, they have volunteered as judges, timers, and participants in other contexts.

Former We the People participant Parth Kotak (‘17) refers to We the People as one of his favorite activities over the course of his high school career. Kotak, who was part of Unit Four, focused on constitutional interpretation as it matters to the government today. Considering the rigorous and thought-provoking nature of We The People, he believes that passing up on this opportunity would be a “phenomenal mistake.” The process of refining statements and working with the same group of people over and over again to “create the best product we could and putting aside individual differences to go to the competition and do incredibly well was cool to see.” Ultimately, Kotak’s class ended up winning the competition in 2017.  

Kotak went to George Washington University, majored in International Affairs and Economics, and plans on going to law school at Harvard in roughly two years. He credits having We the People in his high school experience with providing him the ability to make more opportunities for himself. In university, he found it easier to get an internship earlier compared to his peers, as he learned so much about government and policy through this class. Not only was the knowledge helpful in finding learning opportunities, but being able to write concisely and well was another large benefit. Kotak compared the Question and Answer portion to life: “You take what you already know and apply it to what you've learned.” He further elaborated how, with We the People, students do not necessarily need to have a large expanse of preliminary civic knowledge. In fact, the program is a way to become better and gain that knowledge. “Mr. U [Ulmschneider] does a phenomenal job coaching his students, and over the year, you learn so much from him and how much absurd [stuff] he knows.”

Sharing a similar opinion, Kumar also emphasized, “Mr. U is honestly what makes the class so outstanding.” As someone who is taught by Ulmschneider for both We the People and AP Government, she sees him every day and finds him to be a driving factor of motivation to want to learn more. Kumar describes Ulmschneider as “passionate and dedicated to the subject of government and politics” and is grateful to him, as he “spends hours prepping the We the People team.” Kumar also stated, “He’s so knowledgeable about such a wide variety of subjects, and I hope to get to that point one day.”

From Ulmschneider’s perspective, his favorite part about teaching We the People heavily leans on the students. From a more profound point of view, he finds it exciting to be able to witness a transformation where students' mentalities change when answering questions. He describes the process as starting by watching students try to find the correct answer, to “realizing that there is no correct answer, but it’s about your values.” In addition, he’s able to see students get to confront complicated questions “where there's not a clear answer and develop their own opinions and become confident at defending those opinions.” As a teacher, when thinking about his favorite part, he states that it is when the students become very close and form connections that sustain for years. 

We the People as a program goes beyond Maggie Walker. It has shaped the lives of many, from learning about the principles and history of the United States government to gaining life skills like confidence, and it will continue to be an emblem for what Maggie Walker stands for.