Rolla High School’s Constitution team competed against other high schools in the area.

“The constitution project is an organization that gives kids a chance to show their skills that have nothing to do with what they learn in school, and to create their own idea of what true justice and freedom is,” junior Mackenzie Clayton, said.

The purpose of the project is to give students a chance to practice their protected rights.

“The Constitution Project was founded by a local judge named Judge Gaston and he created it in order to teach kids the fundamentals of the judicial system. We have three teams. We have a journalism team, a CSI (crime scene investigation) team, and a lawyer team. The CSI team finds the case, the journalism team reports it, and the lawyer team tries the case for whatever the charge is made,” senior Sam Wilsdorf said.

Judges observe each of the three teams throughout the project and assign points during the first two rounds.

“It’s scored basically on how well you execute everything. For the court case it’s not whether you win or not, it’s whether you follow procedure, so if you are respectful and know how to do objections and how to run a court case properly, you’ll score higher. It’s all on how well you execute procedure in the court,”. Wilsdorf is one of the team’s lawyers. “We get scored based on how we execute the skills we learn in our club and how well we know our part,” Clayton said.

“It’s just a good chance to do something that most kids don’t get to do, it’s not a very common club, there’s nothing else like it,” Clayton said.

The competition gives students hands on learning, but students have fun, too.

“I’m just doing it to do it. I’ve been told by different people that I should think about go into law, but I really don’t think I will. It’s just a fun experience and it broadens my view on what other careers you could pursue in life,” Wilsdorf said.

Students who participated last year persuaded others to join in this year.

“I got roped into it by Steuart Meusch and Jesse Liu. They were going to a meeting and I went along and I’ve be into it ever since,” he added. Wilsdorf and Clayton both agree that being part of the Constitution team is a rewarding experience.