Ella’s article is among a series of news stories that were completed in Ms. MacMillan’s journalism class.
Like the hours of training spent before a sports team’s big tournament, there was much preparation involved behind the Fishers High School We the People team’s second place win at Nationals. As the team prepared to travel to Washington D.C. to compete against 47 other teams at the competition, which lasted April 9-11, there was more time, effort and dedication put in than meets the eye.
“We’ve had practices every Monday from 6 to 8 p.m. since October,” senior Sarah Tirloni Barreros said. “We have practice hearings [where] we prepare a four-minute prepared statement [with] eight minutes of follow-up where we discuss and have a conversation with the judges, who are grading us based on our answers. In my opinion, it forces the adrenaline through your body, so it’s pretty cool.”
As well as conducting mock hearings, the team also made use of external resources for research, including the U.S. Constitution itself, news websites, case briefs and legislation and YouTube videos.
“The most difficult part of the preparation is probably fitting all of the information in my brain,” Barreros said. “There’s so much good information out there, but you can’t remember all [of it].”
While it is the responsibility of the students to do their own research, preparation for Nationals is a joint effort between students, sponsors Liz Paternoster and Matthew Follman, and advisors to the team.
“We have a few [advisors who] typically answer questions for us and give us more resources to look at,” senior Mina Mehic said. “I’d say the biggest advantage they give us is different perspectives on the same topics so that we have the full scope of things.”
Mehic and Barreros can agree that when it comes down to the critical moment of being put on the spot at a competition, every ounce of research and preparation counts.
“I think one of the most satisfying feelings ever is when we’re in follow-up, and a judge will ask me a question, and I’ll think to myself, ‘I know exactly what to answer and I have a specific piece of evidence that can back me up on this right now,’” Barreros said. “The most enjoyable part of the preparation is definitely the aspect of learning this much about your country and being able to apply it.”
