SHS ‘We the People’ named state champions

Competing online – via Zoom – this year, Sheridan High School’s 24-member “We the People” team again took state championship honors this year.

Team members are students in Michael Thomas’ Advanced Placement U. S. Government class.

The switch to online competition this year was one of the changes necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic. But there were other changes as well. The state competition normally takes place in January, but this year, the event was moved into December.

There also was no district competition this year, so students and their teachers had six fewer weeks to prepare for the state event. Then in the competition this week, students interacted with judges via Internet rather than face-to-face.

Another difference is uncertainty on where the Sheridan High School team will go from here. Normally, winning the state competition means the students can travel to Washington D.C. to compete at the national level. But this year, Thomas said he hasn’t heard whether the national contest will take place.

This isn’t the first state win for the Sheridan High School “We the People” team. The team took five consecutive state champions before losing the title two years ago. That was followed by a win last year, followed by this year’s win.