Congratulations to the West Virginia State “We the People” Champions. Clay County High School’s Advance Placement Government & Politics class, taught by Mr. Philip Dobbins, traveled to Charleston on February 1, 2018 to compete in the “We the People” state competition.

This is a competition where students demonstrate their knowledge of the Constitution and current issues in mock congressional style hearings. Each school participating must divide their classes into six teams. These six teams prepare a four-minute verbal response to a constitutional question and then are asked follow up questions by a team of three judges for six minutes. Teams are scored on their knowledge of the Constitution and their ability to apply the concepts to their everyday lives as Americans.

Classes can have individual team winners and overall class winners. Clay County High School won five out of six individual team championships and won the overall class state championship defeating the champions from congressional districts one and three. By winning the state championship Clay County High School has earned a spot in the National Finals in Washington D.C. in April of this year. Members of the class are Caitlin Belt, Courtney Bevins, Erica Boggs, Jacie Coleman, Laura Hundley, Olivia Legg, Emily Morton, Katie Payne, Kayley Robinson and Jennifer Thorne.