01/27/2025

Students to Convene at Ohio Statehouse for Civics Competition

COLUMBUS (Jan. 27, 2025) – Have assessments of the Articles of Confederation been overly critical? What are some ways the First Amendment’s religion clauses have been in tension with one another? 

These are a sampling of the questions that high school students have been preparing to answer at the 2025 We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution State Competition to be held Friday, January 31st at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus. 

Over 150 students from eight different schools will participate: Archbold High School (Fulton County), Findlay High School (Hancock County), Ravenna High School (Portage County), St. Francis DeSales High School (Franklin County), Sycamore High School (Hamilton County), Van Wert High School (Van Wert County), Xenia High School (Greene County) and West Carrollton High School (Montgomery County). 

Students will showcase their understanding of important constitutional principles by presenting and evaluating positions on relevant historical and contemporary issues. After providing prepared answers to competition questions, students will then answer follow-up questions in the format of simulated legislative hearings. Competition judges include college professors, attorneys and other community leaders. 

Continuing a practice of the past several years, OCLRE wrote a special question for the Ohio students to tackle based on the state constitution. 

“The Ohio Constitution question asks students to explore the way their right to an education is treated at a state level compared to at a national level,” said Danielle Rains, We the People program coordinator. “Understanding how their rights are viewed and being able to make arguments for and against what is considered a fundamental right is a cornerstone of being informed, participating in our democracy and being active members of their community.”  

The State Champion will earn the right to represent Ohio at the We the People National Finals, hosted by the Center for Civic Education on April 9th through the 11th in Washington, D.C.  

We the People is administered in Ohio by the Ohio Center for Law-Related Education (OCLRE) and is a national program of the Center for Civic Education. OCLRE is a non-profit, nonpartisan organization whose mission is to improve society by developing citizens empowered with an understanding of our democratic system. OCLRE is sponsored by the Supreme Court of Ohio, Ohio Attorney General’s Office, Ohio State Bar Association and the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio Foundation. In Ohio, We the People is funded in part by a grant from the Ohio State Bar Foundation. For more information, please visit www.oclre.org. 

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