Last Sunday, Amador Valley’s “We the People” team took home the regional belt after winning their first competition against foothill.
Foothill and Amador’s competition team met in Las Positas College on December 8th for a full day of competition. The teams were divided into 6 units, each with different areas of expertise that work together to draft testimonies.
“It was really nice seeing everyone progressing and gelling and coming together with their units as small and individual groups that need to tackle challenges together,” said Amador Valley Comp Civics coach Stacey Sklar.
Scrimmage Preparation
“My wonderful unit and I prepared by using questions we got from practices and diving deeper by doom-scrolling on wikipedia or court case websites,” said Unit 6 Member Emma Chang (‘25).
Before Amador Valley’s Competitive Civics team competed in regionals, they participated in a practice scrimmage against Foothill High School. Despite a strong effort, Amador narrowly lost the scrimmage by nine points, gaining valuable insight into areas for improvement.
“What makes regionals different from other competitions is that it is the first time we are actually going up against other schools. The scrimmage allowed us to understand what we need to do better, and to refine the skills we already have,” said Unit 4 Member Tanmay Morashi (’25).
While losing by nine points was disappointing, the team saw the scrimmage as a valuable experience coming into the regionals competition.
“Our strategy was drilling cases, memorizing court cases, and collaborating with other groups to tackle questions we had not thought of before,” said Unit 4 Member Leo He (’25).
Competition Highlights
The units were judged on the quality of their testimony speech and their performance during cross examinations. The judges this year were a combination of lawyers, attorneys, and teachers who used their expertise to deeply inspect the reasoning behind their beliefs.
“[The judges] definitely gave a unique perspective. I think it was super interesting getting their perspective because usually we have people from other fields judging us,” said Chang.
The last time Sklar’s team won regionals 2 years ago and she reports that Amador Valley has only won 3-4 times in total. This year, Amador Valley is proud to take the win once again.
“There’s a rivalry between us and Foothill, so it’s always fun celebrating. I think [the win] gives us good momentum for states,” said Unit 4 Member Shaurya Shrivastava (’25).
Although there are lots of celebrations, now the preparations for the “We the People” state competitions begin. Teams from all over California will compete on February 1st in Sacramento to see who will move onto nationals.
“I’d say actually this year’s team has a lot of potential. They could probably take it as far as they’re willing to go depending on their commitment,” said Sklar.
