Area students ready for Constitution competition
More than 700 students from Indiana high and middle schools will display their knowledge of the U.S. Constitution in an upcoming state competition — and 22 of them will be from Columbus.
Students from Missy Tressler’s social studies class at St. Bartholomew Catholic School will travel to Indianapolis for the We the People: the Citizen & the Constitution competition, Dec. 11 to 13.
Those participating are: Alex Wissmann, Carli Lay, Arturo Lopez-Caullieres, Aric Tong, Kyle Carlson, Ema Westerfeld, Lucy Beck, Ava McKinney, Gaby Heredia, Michael Gambaiani, Sean Ryan, Luke Golding, Mauricio Brito Zavala, Jose Trinidad Noriega, Albert Nusawardhana, Ben laVelle, Gonzalo Jordan de Urries Garcia, Sophia Musillami, Addie Risley, Kate Kolhouse, Sydnee Guthrie and Ana Arce.
“This is huge for us,” Tressler said. “This is the first time that we have qualified for the State competition, and only the second year of doing the program.”
The students will testify before judges in a four-minute mock congressional hearing to display their knowledge of the Constitution, government, politics and American history. Students will then face six minutes of questions from the judges on any of those topics, Tressler said.
One of the guest speakers at the competition will be Indiana Supreme Court Justice Steven David, a Columbus North High School graduate.
The state winners will represent Indiana at the national finals next spring in Washington, D.C., against other states’ champions.
Ice cream fundraiser aids FFA chapter
The Hope chapter of FFA, a youth organization that promotes agricultural education, received a donation from one of its members through the non-profit organization she created to help organizations.
Stationed outside the FFA building during Hope Heritage Days in September, Macie Hill and her parents sold ice cream cones for her organization, Cones for a Cause. They raised nearly $280, which was donated to the Hope FFA Chapter.
“I started it because I wanted to give back to the community, and I know that having an organization of any sort can be very costly. A little extra support never hurts,” Hill said.
