Ethan Bachand ’18
EE Co-News Editor
On Friday, December 9, the 2017 Trumbull “We the People” team won the state championship to punch their ticket to the national competition in Washington, D.C.. The competition was strong, yet there was no deterring the sheer determination set forth by the team. This is the sixth consecutive year that the “We the People” (otherwise known as BICEN) team have won the state competition.
The competition was held at Central Connecticut State University, where six schools from across the state showed up to participate in this great historical comprehension contest.
Students prepare for months ahead of time, responding to certain questions that correspond to their unit. This whole concept revolves around the constitution and the ways America was founded and has evolved.
Yet when the day arrives, it all boils down to only a few minutes. As Senior and BICEN member Jacob Fried stated, “After so much preparation and buildup to the competition day, each unit only had 10 minutes to show the judges all of the information we had learned and become experts on throughout the first part of the semester.”
Depending on the question, units will present a four minute argument, then proceed to answer six minutes of questioning by the judges.
After each unit has done their ten minutes, the entire team proceeds to waits for the results in a large theatre. Arguably, this is the most nerve racking portion of the day, despite the humor that may have coincided at the time.
“When waiting for the results, everyone was very anxious. The judges were taking longer than expected, so a woman actually got up to sing for us, and then she had the entire auditorium sing along to the Star Spangled Banner. As fun and hilarious as that was, we all were still very excited and nervous to still be waiting for the results,” said Fried.
The moment had finally arrived. After listening to all the individual unit awards, it was time for the most important moment: the announcement of the overall placement. Eventually, the words were uttered. Trumbull High School were officially the state champions.
“After we found out we won, it was great,” Fried said.
”The judges had made our dreams to go to D.C. a reality, and they had reaffirmed that once again, Trumbull was the best school there.”
Now comes the next step, preparing for nationals. While the road ahead will be difficult, Fried knows that the team can do it: “I know there will be a lot of work, research, and preparation to do. But I can’t wait to start it all over again and really dive into the interesting topics that we’re asked to explore and to continue to become a constitutional expert with my favorite group of people at THS.”
With its 22nd state championship, the 2017 Bicen team is once again poised for greatness. After the 2016 team placed eighth in the nation, there remains a challenge to top that. And this year’s team hopes to contest it. After all, the sky’s the limit.