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The team, which has won the state championship five years in a row, will have a final public practice Monday, April 18, at 7:30 p.m. in the Town Hall Council Chambers before heading to the University of Maryland College Park to compete April 22 and April 23.
If they make the top 10, they’ll compete on April 25 on Capitol Hill.
“We’re very excited and working hard to bring back results to Connecticut,” said teacher Katie Boland, the team’s adviser.
The Trumbull squad has won for 21 of the 29 years the state competition, which promotes civic competence and responsibility in high school seniors, has existed. This year they bested strong teams from Greenwich High, Staples High in Westport, St. Joseph’s High in Trumbull, Torrington High, Immaculate High in Danbury and South Windsor High.
Trumbull takes the competition seriously. Interested juniors have to write an essay and have an interview to make the 24-member team. They read and complete assignments over the summer and take a yearlong AP course related to the competition, which also gives them UConn course credit.
Boland conducts the class like a college seminar with creative assignments, such as writing a eulogy for a founding father or creating press briefings on constitutional topics.
The students get plenty of practice at events such as Evening with the Experts, at which they present their memorized, four-minute speeches and take questions from the floor, or in online and in-person coaching from attorneys from New York City-based Schulte Roth & Zabel.
The late Rita Altieri started the We the People program at Trumbull High, said Boland, who has led the team for five years, taking them to eighth in the nation two year ago.
The dress rehearsal should run until about 10 p.m.
Click here for more information on the national finals.
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