The Supreme Court of Missouri’s Committee on Civic Education has announced the 12 high schools, including Houston, chosen to compete in the annual Constitution Project, which will begin with regional competitions during the fall 2014 semester and culminate with championship rounds in Jefferson City.
This year’s competition will feature teams from three regions, selected from among 32 applying schools.
•East: Cardinal-Ritter College Prep (St. Louis), Clayton, Park Hills Central and Washington.
•Central: Dixon, Father Tolton Regional Catholic (Columbia), Helias (Jefferson City) and St. James.
•South: Houston, Logan-Rogersville (Rogersville), Nixa and West Plains.
Launched in 2011 by Texas County Associate Circuit Judge Doug Gaston, the Constitution Project is in its second year as a statewide competition. Last year, it expanded to include more than 70 students from eight schools in four regions in its inaugural year as a statewide event.
The project’s goal is to give students a mock crime scene to investigate, report on and eventually try in a mock trial, all under the mentorship of local professionals in the fields of crime scene investigation, journalism and trial advocacy. Each team must have a minimum of 13 and a maximum of 17 participants, including at least two prosecutors, two defense attorneys, a judge, four to six reporters and four to six crime scene investigators.
Gaston (who is still the project’s director and coordinator) said this year’s regional activity will begin Sept. 17, with crime scenes created the week of Oct. 14. Mock trials and regional finals will be held the week of Oct. 28, and the state finals are set for Nov. 12.
Participating schools this year were chosen based on school district excellence, capability in teaching the three disciplines of the competition and student aptitude. In addition, to being chosen, each community was required to pledge commitments from the school, local judges, law enforcement, media and attorneys.
“It was difficult to narrow down the applications and select the final competitors from the talented group of high schools that applied,” Gaston said. “But this competition requires collaboration by the entire community, and the schools selected for this year’s competition have the proven support, partnerships and community excellence necessary to win.”
Winners at the team and individual level will be named for each discipline. Individual award winners will receive $1,000 scholarships from sponsoring organizations. Statewide cosponsors of the Constitution Project include the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Missouri Sheriff’s Association, Missouri Police Chiefs Association, Missouri Press Association, Missouri Broadcasters Association and the Missouri Bar.
A new aspect of the project is teacher training that will be conducted this summer, which will include going through all the aspects of the program, its written and video materials, and plugging the project into the school curriculum. Gaston said there will also be POST-certified law enforcement training at the MSHP headquarters this summer.
“My hope is that this empowers the communities to be able to do most of the tasks on their own this year and be better prepared,” he said.
Visit the official Constitution Project website at www.courts.mo.gov/constitutionproject.