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Amador Valley High School captured first place in the "We the People" state finals Saturday in Bakersfield, topping 10 other teams from California high schools, including Foothill High and Irvington High in Fremont.

Amador will now move on to represent California in the 26th annual We the People national finals to be held April 26-29. That competition will be conducted on the campus of George Mason University in Fairfax County, Va., and in hearing rooms on Capitol Hill.

With Saturday's win, Amador Valley has made it to the national finals 12 times, coming in second in 2004, 2007 and 2011 and winning the national title in 1995.

Foothill has made the state finals on a regular basis, but has yet to make it to the national competition.

Saturday's competition was held in Golden Valley High School in Bakersfield.

Coaching the Amador We the People team were Brian Ladd and Mairi Wohlgemuth, social studies and civics teachers at the high school. Jeremy Detamore coached the team from Foothill, where he is a world history and economics teacher. Pleasanton City Councilwoman Cheryl Cook-Kallio coached the team from Irvington High, where she teaches U.S. government and honors economics.

More than 300 students from 11 high schools participated in the academic competition, which tested their knowledge of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights.

At Bakersfield, students demonstrated their understanding of the Constitution before a simulated congressional committee consisting of constitutional scholars, lawyers, civic educators, and government leaders who judged the classes' performances. The judges tested the students' comprehension of the six units of the We the People text.

All of the participating schools, their students and teachers were recognized for their achievements during an awards ceremony Saturday afternoon at Golden Valley High.

Officially called "We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution," the program has reached more than 30 million students and 90,000 teachers since its inception in 1987.

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