On Wednesday, March 1, thirty-one students from Kamehameha and Kahuku High Schools will participate in a simulated congressional hearing at Ali`iolani Hale, 417 South King Street, at 2:00 p.m. The two schools are the finalists in the We the People competition, which is being hosted by the Hawai`i State Judiciary. The winning school will represent Hawai`i at the national finals on April 29 in Washington, D.C.

We the People is the most extensive education program in the country developed to teach young people about the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

The students have studied the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights for months to prepare for their roles as experts testifying on selected constitutional issues before a panel of judges. The judges are Hawai`i Supreme Court Justices Steven Levinson and Paula Nakayama, Federal Judge Susan Oki Mollway, Attorney Wayne Parsons, President of the Hawai`i Bar Association, Dr. John Hart of Hawai`i Pacific University, and Rich Wilson, one of the judges who served at the national level.

According to a recent study by Professor Richard Brody of Stanford University, high school students who participate in We the People display more political tolerance and feel more politically effective than most adult Americans and most other students and are more interested in politics.

Administered by the Center for Civic Education and funded by the U.S. Department of Education by an act of Congress, the program is currently being implemented in every congressional district, the four trust territories and the District of Columbia. For more information about the program, contact Sandra Cashman at 638-7683.

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Contact:
Matt Mattice, 539-4999
Marsha E. Kitagawa 539-4909