{"id":345948,"date":"2025-12-15T21:51:27","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T21:51:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/american-history\/against-impossible-odds-an-unforgettable-constitutional-competition\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T21:51:27","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T21:51:27","slug":"against-impossible-odds-an-unforgettable-constitutional-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=345948","title":{"rendered":"Against Impossible Odds: An Unforgettable Constitutional Competition"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

When budget cuts eliminated her Constitutional Law class, teacher Jacki Pope Brothers thought her students\u2019 competitive dreams were over. Instead, what followed became an inspiration that captured national attention and redefined what\u2019s possible in education.<\/em><\/p>\n

Jacki Pope Brothers wasn\u2019t an overachiever in her social studies classes\u2014decent grades, but nothing special. Then she met her civics teacher, Mr. Gerrit Koepping, and everything changed. His class and a program called We the People<\/em> inspired her to become a social studies teacher.<\/p>\n

We the People<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> sponsored by the Center for Civic Education, helps students learn more deeply about the Constitution. Each year they research constitutional issues and compete in a simulated congressional hearing for a panel of adult judges.<\/p>\n

For Jacki, the program left a profound impression. \u201cIt was so empowering. It really did show me the importance of being a citizen, being engaged, and understanding our government.\u201d<\/p>\n

When she became a teacher at Sprague High School in Oregon, she made it her mission to start a We the People <\/em>team there. After seven years of lobbying, that dream became a reality.<\/p>\n

A Rocky Start to We the People<\/em><\/h2>\n

From their first competition in 2018, it was a hit with her students. But in spite of their enthusiasm and successes at the regional competition, outside problems plagued the program. The pandemic shut it down for a time, but the biggest blow came in 2024 when Jacki learned that budget cuts meant Sprague would no longer offer the Constitutional Law class in which she coached We the People<\/em>.<\/p>\n

When she broke the news to her students, two of them refused to accept it without a fight.<\/p>\n

Matthew Meyers and Colin Williams were determined to find a way to compete in We the People<\/em> in their senior year. Inspired by their eagerness, Jacki was able to get her administration to offer Con Law as an independent study held concurrently with her Government class.<\/p>\n

Jacki shared the news with the boys with a word of caution that they\u2019d need to be self-motivated. She\u2019d be teaching 36 other students in the classroom.\u00a0 \u201cI was also very pregnant,\u201d Jacki says, \u201cand planned on taking maternity leave during competition season.\u201d The enthusiasm of Matthew and Colin led her to agree to postpone her leave until after We the People<\/em> was over. The season lasted longer than she expected.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Jacki Pope Brothers with her students Colin Williams, left, and Matthew Meyers, right (Instagram @spragueconlaw)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Getting Ready to Compete<\/h2>\n

The workload for We the People<\/em> is daunting. There are six units in the curriculum, and each unit includes three constitutional questions. Typically, three to six students focus on a single unit, which means most teams have over 20 students.<\/p>\n

At the competition, students first offer prepared testimony and are scored based on their understanding and application of constitutional principles, their reasoning and use of evidence, and how well they split their answers among them. If one student dominates the discussion, the team loses points.<\/p>\n

Students then put their notes away while judges ask follow-up questions. Students are expected to coherently answer with constitutional examples, Supreme Court cases, historical events, and a firm grasp on foundational principles\u2014while still splitting the time among them. Only having two students meant that both Matthew and Colin would need to prepare for all<\/em> questions across all<\/em> six units.<\/p>\n

Two students. Six units. Eighteen constitutional questions. Against teams with over 20 students. How could they stand a chance?<\/p>\n

TAH Provides Community and Support<\/h2>\n

Jacki had to find a way. During her years as the We the People<\/em> coach, she had been improving her own understanding of the Constitution. After winning the prestigious James Madison Fellowship<\/a>, she learned about Teaching American History\u2019s MA in American History & Government (MAHG<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\u201cI was actually looking for a master\u2019s in Legal Studies because all I really wanted to focus on was the Constitution. I kept hearing, \u2018Look, there\u2019s this program. It\u2019s amazing. You can choose your classes based on what you want to tailor it to.\u2019 And so, once I started comparing different programs, I just really liked this one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jacki\u2019s MAHG classes provided her with a deep knowledge base to share with Colin and Matthew. \u201cWhat I found this time was that I had so many more resources to direct them towards. I could tell them which Federalist Paper<\/a> they should read or who had a great speech about that topic.\u201d<\/p>\n

These resources made it possible to keep Matthew and Colin engaged while she taught the other 36 students in the room, but it was the community she found in MAHG that made it possible for them to excel.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I found most helpful about the MAHG program was actually the connections that I made\u2014connections with other teachers and with my professors.\u201d These connections proved invaluable as they prepared for the competition.<\/p>\n

A fellow teacher Jacki met through MAHG was Sam Ulmschneider, whose We the People<\/em> teams have won the National competition three times<\/a>. Their teams met on Zoom to quiz each other and sharpen their answers. Jacki credits this kind of collaboration as essential in the success of her team.<\/p>\n

It certainly paid off come January. In a shocking performance, her team of two won at Regionals and advanced to the State competition. This meant Jacki\u2019s maternity leave would be postponed a couple more weeks as they prepared for the new challenge.<\/p>\n

At State, Matthew and Colin again stunned the competition, took second place, and earned an invitation to Nationals.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy maternity leave doubled as a sort of Help-Us-Get-To-Nationals Leave,\u201d Jacki jokes. As she spent time with her daughter during her leave, she raised funds for the trip and continued working with Matthew and Colin. She also tapped into her MAHG network to prepare for the next level.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Colin (left) and Matthew (right) with Professor Monroe on the video call (Instagram @spragueconlaw)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MAHG professor Dan Monroe<\/a> agreed to meet with her students on Zoom.<\/p>\n

\u201cI really wanted hard questions to stump them on various topics,\u201d she says. It worked. \u201cProfessor Monroe spent time with them, getting into the weeds of how things like the Connecticut Compromise affected the political power of the South for years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another MAHG professor, Eric Sands<\/a>, also met with her students. \u201cIt was really fun to watch these educators who inspired me in my graduate classes work with my own students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jacki acknowledges that a community like this is unique. \u201cIt had such a huge impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

The National We the People<\/em> Experience<\/h2>\n

With their preparation complete, the newcomers joined 47 of the nation\u2019s best teams in Washington, D.C. for Nationals. Jacki tried to encourage them to relax and enjoy the experience: \u201cWhatever happens now doesn\u2019t matter. You\u2019ve worked so hard and you\u2019ve already done the impossible.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Matthew and Colin didn\u2019t heed that advice. They decided their goal was to make it into the top ten.<\/p>\n

What happened over those next three days was legendary.<\/p>\n

On the first day, it was hard to avoid feeling like fish out of water. Jacki noticed that the competition rooms were set up to accommodate much larger teams with accompanying spectators. With the average team size being 21 students, Matthew and Colin\u2019s sessions had a lot of empty chairs. However, their strong grasp of the Constitution wowed the judges. People took notice.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy day two, word was spreading through the grapevine about this team of two. People we didn\u2019t know started to trickle in to our sessions and the empty chairs filled up with visitors.\u201d As the excitement grew around them, Jacki felt like Matthew and Colin were hitting their stride. \u201cEven some of the other judges who weren\u2019t going to be on our panels sat in to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Day two ended with the announcement of the top ten teams that would advance to the last day of the competition. Against all odds, Sprague was one of them. Jacki\u2019s students\u2014along with the new fans who started rooting for the underdogs\u2014were ecstatic.<\/p>\n

They achieved their goal and made it to day three. They finally let themselves relax and try to enjoy the experience. And throughout the final round, their audiences continued to grow.<\/p>\n

After another impressive day, the only thing left was the award ceremony. They announced the results, starting with the tenth-place finisher. \u201cWhen the first couple of teams were called, we figured eighth place would be a great finish. And then they called someone else. So we joked that seven is a lucky number, it\u2019s great to get seventh.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soon Jacki started to wonder if there had been a mistake. \u201cDid they forget about us?\u201d<\/p>\n

After the third place was called, they noticed that there were more than two silver medals waiting for second place. They realized what was happening. \u201cWe were just in shock and everyone around us started going crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team of two did the impossible. They won the whole thing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were there for over an hour because there was a line of students waiting to get selfies and exchange Instagram information. I mean, it\u2019s not often that you\u2019re appreciated for your brain, right? It was fun to be surrounded by a community that understood how much work that really was and how amazing this success was. It was magical.<\/p>\n

The Aftermath of a National Championship<\/h2>\n

We spoke with Jacki at the end of the school year to find out what\u2019s next.<\/p>\n

\u201cMatthew was going to go into medicine, but now he\u2019s planning to study law and ethics. Colin was going to major in computer science, but he\u2019s now adding a double major so he can also study political science.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, Jacki can relate, having traced the genesis of her own career back to Mr. Koepping, her We the People<\/em> coach. \u201cI want this to be a legacy for our school. I want our students to have something they can be a part of that is bigger than just them.\u201d<\/p>\n

It takes an exceptional teacher to guide students to this level of success, but Jacki doesn\u2019t feel comfortable taking too much credit. \u201cIt was truly a community of those who believe in the importance of legal education.\u201d It was because she shared in this belief that she enrolled in MAHG. In doing so, she expected simply to build her own understanding of the Constitution. \u201cBut I didn\u2019t know I would also be building relationships and making connections that truly made the difference in my students, elevating their understanding of these difficult topics.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the future of We the People<\/em> at Sprague High School, Jacki is optimistic. A year previously, Jacki and her students devised a creative way to save her Con Law class from budget cuts. After winning Nationals, the administration agreed to continue offering the class if students register for it.<\/p>\n

By the end of the school year, 32 students were on her roster.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n