Tri-City College Preparatory High School Newspaper

Honors Civics Holds Their Own at Competition

By Sarah Cramer
      On December 5th, 2009, Honors Civics participated in a regional civics competition at Prescott High School. Their only competitor was PHS who won the overall competition. Jeremiah Reynolds, Arianna Scott, and Emily Wheeler were on the winning team for Tri City.
     The competition was based on the “We the People” curriculum the Honors Civics class has been following. In some schools, this program isn’t offered as a class, but as a club instead. Another school participated in the annual competition last year, but due to the economy and budget constraints, it is said that it cut the program all together.
     “I thought it went really well.  All 18 of our students participated in the competition and I was very proud of all of them.  They had a chance to make their presentations in front of three new judges they had never seen before and they did very well and got good feedback from the judges,” says Mr. Evans, who teaches the Honors Civics class. The setting (of the presentations) was a mock congregational hearing in which they were presenting their information to the judges as if they were in a congressional hearing, having to be ready for spontaneous questions that would come after their presentation, says Mr. Evans.
     He continued, “They had worked a month on preparing for their competition and had done a lot of research and had done a lot of practicing.  They had to prepare for three different questions from members of different teams, so that was almost three times the amount of preparation that they normally have.  In addition to their research, they worked together as team members in order to be ready for any one of three questions that could be asked of them by the judges.”
    The judges included two teachers from Adobe Mountain Juvenile Detention Center and a local who has run for city council in the past. “I thought they had good energy and had interesting backgrounds, not necessarily being teachers or school employees but came from different walks of life in terms of their vocations so I thought that was interesting.  And I admired that they gave up that much volunteer time,” Mr. Evans said.
      As for time, the competition ran for five hours during that Saturday. Originally, six judges were supposed to come in order to let the competition run quicker, but only three showed. “I’d like to see them move faster as I think one of the hardest things for the students is to wait for their presentation time,” says Mr. Evans. “If they were able to do it in two and a half hours instead of five hours, I think it would be much more effective.”
     A common favorite part of the day was the deaf puppy owned by the core leader of the Regional Competition. Between presentations, the students had a break to relax and practice. During this period, the puppy was sometimes let into the room, where the students could play and pet him. “The dog was awesome,” says Jesse Blume. “The best part was the dog,” says Blake Embree.
     The core leader mentioned the possibility of TCP continuing on to the State Competition. The invitation is still a pending matter.

Times

New Parking Policy: Original parking permit will cost $65.00 which will last for three years. If you lose your sticker, there will be a $20.00 fine for replacing it.

TCP February School Schedule

TCP February Sports Schedule

No Sports Planned

John Dery's Cartoon

"The views expressed in articles published in Denobis are those of the authors alone. They do not represent the views, policies, or opinions of DeNobis, Tri-City College Preparatory High School, or its instructors or staff."