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For a second year in a row, Foothill High School’s We the People competitive civics team took home the third-place award at the national We the People competition in Washington, D.C.
The 2024 national finals from April 13-15 featured 48 teams overall with thousands of students competing.
“The FHS We the People team is the best group of students to work with because they never stop trying to be the best they can be. Knock on wood,” Graham McBride, Foothill’s We the People coach, said in a press release last week.
We the People is a national educational program where high school seniors demonstrate their understanding of the U.S. government and the Constitution by participating in simulated congressional hearings, according to the program’s website.
These high school teams compete every year at their respective state competitions in order to get a chance to represent their state at the national level.
Foothill secured a spot in the national competition after earning the second-place wildcard spot during the state competition in February.
Amador Valley High School’s We the People team once again also finished in the Top 10 in D.C. after taking seventh place. The Dons qualified for nationals by winning the state championship.
“I’m so proud of this team!” said Stacey Sklar, Amador’s We the People coach. “They worked really hard and performed so well. These days it is getting increasingly difficult to make the Top 10 — even last year’s champions didn’t qualify this year — so it is an honor to have qualified for the final round.”
Foothill, as well as Amador, have been consistently representing Pleasanton and the state of California at the We the People national finals for several years in a row now.
Pleasanton Unified School District Superintendent David Haglund told the Weekly he thinks the competitive civics program is a great program that bonds young people who are interested in law and politics, which he thinks is especially important nowadays.
He also said he always thought it to be incredible how consistently the two Pleasanton high schools perform at such a high level both at the state and national competitions.
“To see our teams do that well, every single year — our teams have gone to the nationals every year that I’ve been here — in Pleasanton is certainly not because of me, but I’ve been fortunate to be able to celebrate them along the way,” Halgund said.
He explained how it really falls on the teachers and the students every year who invest all that time to be able to compete and do so well in these competitions.
“That program as a student is not for the faint of heart,” Haglund said. “They work multiple hours during weekends, during the school week and even during the wee hours of the morning in preparation for those competitions.”
Sklar, who was also recently recognized as the Outstanding American History Teacher by the California Society Daughters of Colonial Wars, reiterated how great it was to regularly have both of Pleasanton’s high school represent the entire state at these competitions
“To have two teams in Pleasanton who qualify year after year is amazing,” Sklar said.