Centennial High School crowned 'We the People' regional champions

Nearly 200 local high school students put their knowledge of the U.S. Constitution to the test over the weekend with the annual “We the People” Congressional Hearings competition. Due to COVID-19, this year’s competition was held virtually.

In the end, Centennial High School took home the victory in the regional competition. Centennial High will go on to represent Kern County in the state championships to be held virtually in February.

The regional competition consisted of 10 Kern County high school teams competing for a chance to win either the 21st or 23rd Congressional District title, depending on the district in which they were seeded. Arvin High School won the 21st Congressional District trophy and Centennial was victorious in the 23rd District. Centennial High emerged as the overall region champion in very close scoring.

Because the state offers wild card spots to those teams that score high enough, both Arvin High School and Liberty High School are also eligible to compete in the state championships.

Centennial, East, South and Liberty high schools made up the 23rd Congressional District, while those representing the 21st Congressional District were teams from Arvin, Golden Valley and Mira Monte.

Each team individually presented testimony in two rounds of six mock congressional hearings. Congressional committees, consisting of community scholars and civic leaders, posed one of three study questions to the students prior to the competition. Each team was allowed four minutes to present testimony. Then, for an additional six minutes, teams answered questions posed by judges involving constitutional issues raised by events in history. The combined totals of all six team units determined the winner.

2020 Team Results

1st (21 District) – Arvin High School

2nd (21st District) – Golden Valley High School

3rd (21st District) – Mira Monte High School

1st (23rd District) – Centennial High School

2nd (23rd District) – Liberty High School

3rd (23rd District) – East High School

Overall Regional Winner

Centennial High School

For more information, please contact Christine Goedhart-Humphrey, student events coordinator, at (661) 636-4330.