On Dec. 9th, Irvington’s We The People class secured a spot in state competitions after successfully placing third in regionals at the Fremont Hall of Justice. Overall, Irvington scored 1,779 points at the competition. In the tournament, WTP members presented testimonies pertaining to government issues to a panel of judges ranging from lawyers to computer science majors.

Compared to previous years, the We The People team had significantly more members this year, making  placing in tournaments somewhat more competitive and difficult. The team consists of 6 units, each specializing in a specific aspect of the federal government. Under the tutelage of We the People teacher, Mr. Martinez, and several coaches, the team was able to effectively prepare for  the tournament by spending hours practicing testimonies and researching topics in their assigned units.

“Moving forward, our team will continue to put in increasing efforts to ensure that we can be a force to reckon with at states,” We The People member, senior Shanay Randeria said. “Furthermore, we have also enlisted coaches for each of our units so that we can get specialized help when needed.

We The People aims to secure a spot in the nationals by performing well in states.

“We have a very solid grasp on the information that is necessary, and our methods for sharing and receiving information from each other is very efficient,” Randeria said. “One thing that we occasionally struggle in, however, is conveying and articulating information that we all know in the form of the Q&A answers, and we have been focusing on that heavily during our practices.”

The next major tournament for the team is in early February, where they will work to secure a spot in the national competition.