Amador’s Competition Civics team won states this past Saturday, February 2nd, after months of hard work and preparation, and are now heading off to nationals this April in Washington D.C. to represent California.

Amador has been in the top ten of the nation for a long time now, and they are continuing their legacy with this year’s comp civics team.

Competition Civics is a class that seniors can apply and interview to be in. It stresses the knowledge of the founding of the U.S constitution and evolution of the government through congressional hearings and testimonies.

“There’s a panel of three judges and they listen to you do a four minute testimony and eight minutes of Q&A, where they ask you questions that you respond to based on knowledge that you researched throughout the year,” explains Nicole Park (‘19).

The team and their coach, Stacey Sklar, have worked incredibly hard to prepare. Members frequently meet with their units to improve their testimonies and practice answering questions.

The Competition Civics team starts by going to the district competition and then the regional competition, where they have to qualify to get to states. They are given a new set of questions when preparing for each competition, and have to face the judges head on. The team only faces the judges by themselves, which means they have no idea what the other teams say or do, making the competition that much harder. The class is based on the senatorial civics program called We the People, that began in 1986, and Amador has been a part of since 1987.

“Amador has had a rich history of winning the state championship, and representing the state of California at nationals in D.C…historically, we have always been in the top ten of the nation,” says Mairi Wohlgemuth. 

Students in the class thoroughly enjoy what they do, making the hard work worthwhile.

“Competing was very fun, obviously, but because it’s the culmination of everything you do the entire year, it’s very high stakes. For me, the most exciting thing is being able to compete at nationals  and continuing the journey,” said Sandra Chen (‘19).

Congrats to Comp Civics for their win!! The Amador Valley community wishes the team luck as they prepare to take on nationals in D.C.

Update: Competition Civics team took the title of second place this year at nationals!! Congrats to such a big win!