State champs defeated at nationals State champs defeated at nationals (May 07, 2004)

Civics team gains experience, enjoys seeing U.S. Capitol
by Teresa C. Brown

The Amador Valley High School Civics team, representing the state of California, returned without an award but wiser with experience Wednesday from the national "We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution" competition held in Washington, D.C.

"We competed on Saturday and Sunday," said civics teacher and coach Matt Campbell. "All 50 teams competed, and then the top 10 teams qualified for the final round Monday. We were not one of the top 10."

Campbell said the Amador team watched some of the final round and then spent Tuesday and Wednesday being tourists.

"They put in a lot of time and effort," said Campbell from his hotel in Washington late Monday. "But that time and effort is not wasted because we weren't in the top 10 - they had a great experience in D.C. and in class. In the end, that's more important."

The team took state honors Feb. 6 at a statewide competition held in Sacramento. Foothill's civics team also competed at the statewide level; however, it was not selected for the final rounds.

After being named state champs, Amador's team had about four weeks to raise $25,000 to cover the expense of the trip to Washington, D.C. Campbell praised the community's support for the team. "It was unbelievable how fast donations came in," he said. "Everyday in my mailbox there were 20 to 25 donations."

The Amador Valley civics team included Nichole Barlow, Anna Currin, Tony D'Albora, Logan Daniels, Shelley DeFord, Mike Gondkoff, Gabe Ivey, Nate Koppikar, Kristen Macdonnell, Sonia Markovic, Jen Martin, Lacie McFarland, Shawna McGrath, Nicole Melton, Barry Ripley, Liz Schultze, Sunaina Selam, Kent Stander and Jae Yoo.

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