Maine South's Constitution Team Shines at Nationals

Information submitted by Maine South High School.

Not that Maine South’s Constitution Team ever has a “down” year – the school has advanced to national competition every year except one during the past two decades – but this year was especially rewarding for Coach Andy Trenkle and his team of 29 students.

“Our major goal is to make it to the final 10 (in national competition) so that we can compete on the final day,” Trenkle said in a press release from Maine South. “We did that this year and last did it in 2011.”

Besides the obvious honor of earning a spot in the top 10, competing on the final day carries a certain cachet because of the setting.  While competition takes place at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., for the first two days, it moves on the third and final day to Capitol Hill.

“This year, we were in the House Judiciary Committee Hearing room, where some of the Watergate proceedings were,” Trenkle said. “Students were excited to be standing at the dais in a place with that historic importance.”

The competition, sponsored by the Center for Civic Education, takes the form of a congressional hearing and gives students an opportunity to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of constitutional principles.

Students, working in cooperative teams, present four-minute statements in front of a panel acting as a congressional committee, whose members then ask students follow-up questions.  

South students are well prepared for this, members of the Constitution Team typically having taken Advanced Placement U.S. Government class during fall semester and AP Comparative Government in the spring. But, Trenkle notes, it is impossible to prepare for possible angle that might crop up as committee members pepper students with direct and sometimes pointed follow-up questions, the press release states.

Still, Maine South Constitution teams handle that pressure and perform well year in and year out. Trenkle says that tradition plays a role in this success.

“A lot of the kids had older brother and sisters who did well, and the younger siblings are motivated by that. And, I've been lucky to have great students with strong parent support. They are poised, well spoken and confident.  It’s one thing to have high-achieving students.  But it's one thing to be a high-achieving individual, but they have to support each other and learn to work with each other, and that's what these students do. They have to figure out how to be cohesive with each other.”

For some South Constitution Team members, their immersion into law sets the stage for further study.  Trenkle said one student from his first year as Constitution Team coach is finishing up law school and returns to South occasionally to check up on new Constitution Team members.

A 2011 graduate and team member works for the McCormick Foundation, which creates civic learning opportunities for Chicago-area youth. Trenkle concludes that the entire Social Science Department plays a role in the Constitution Team’s success.  “Students have to draw on knowledge from a lot of other classes,” he stated.