Is the government taking away our rights?

This was the question Congress wanted to answer when it created the National Competition on the Constitution and Bill of Rights in 1987. Congress wanted to make sure that citizens were informed, so they would know when their rights were being violated.

This contest was designed for high school students, who study the Constitution and the Bill of Rights in preparation for the hearings and to make them more informed citizens.

Indiana's state competition, involving 10 schools representing their congressional districts, took place Dec. 19. The winning class in the state will travel to the national finals in Washington, D.C., April 25-27.

The Indiana contest is co-sponsored by the Indiana State Bar Association and Indiana University Social Studies Development Center.

Children's Express attended the contest to interview participants from Arsenal Technical High School, the returning state champions, and North Central High School, who were competing for the first time. We viewed this as an opportunity to see how teen-agers feel when they are in a nerve-wracking situation, such as this one.

"Well, we're just a normal class," said Laura McMullen, a senior at North Central, "who decided to enter the competition, and we ended up winning the first round and got to stay."

"This is our first year in competition," explained North Central coach and teacher Byron Buckley. "I've been pretty proud of the students because some of these schools have been here four or five years. We are also competing (as) a regular class against mostly (accelerated) classes from other schools. We have some bright students and some that have to study a little bit, and I'm proud of that fact."

Before the competition, both teams felt the same way: confident. As the day wore on, we saw their opinions change many times.

Each competing school must prepare for six sessions, called hearings, by studying the book With Liberty and Justice for All. The sessions are modeled after congressional hearings.

Members of the class become experts on one of the six units in the book. For example, unit four is about the rights protected by the First Amendment, and several students are assigned to know that topic.

After students give their presentations, the judges grill them about the facts presented and give them a grade.

When the first hearing was finished, already we were seeing a difference in some participants who were in the first round. Many of them began to question their abilities.

"Well, I don't know, because you are your own worst critic," said Shannon Grady, a senior at Arsenal Tech. "But I guess we did good. I hope we did better than everyone else."

"I think we're more of a team now," said North Central senior India Trotter. "We're all together, and we support each other. I feel we have a good chance of winning."

The opinions of both teams would change often during the daylong competition, from "We'll win" to "I hope we win."

All the students at Arsenal Tech agreed that they never could have gotten this far without a dedicated coach.

"Oh, he's really good," said Ame Walters, a junior, of coach Karl Schneider. "He's the best teacher I have ever had . . . I think we stand a pretty good chance."

The coach's good luck charm _ Sam, the jumping handkerchief _ may have added to the team's confidence. Schneider's nephew taught him how to create Sam, a magic trick in which the handkerchief seems to jump from his hand. The trick is in the intricate winding of the handkerchief.

North Central's team felt that its first year of competition was a learning experience as well as a contest.

"Personally, I think that this competition is very educational because I've never really been into government anyway," India said. "But I think being in this competition has helped me to understand a lot more about the presidents and the founders of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights."

Coach Buckley is proud of the efforts of his students.

"They've worked hard, and they've changed their whole attitude toward education," he added. "That's what I like about this. I saw some of the students that I wasn't expecting to go and research and they came through in the competition. . . . You've got to be able to present yourself in front of people and handle the pressure. There's a lot of skills involved rather than just research skills. But I think that this is a growing experience whether we win or lose."

As the day wore on, we interviewed several other people after their hearings. Most said the same thing, such as, "I didn't do good, but everyone on my team did" and "I'm so nervous, I did so badly."

Even last year's champs seemed to be losing their confidence.

"The hardest part is really getting the team united as one," said Tomika Lamb, an Arsenal Tech senior. "Because, you know, as a team we have many different opinions going, and it's hard to put all the opinions into a four-minute presentation. That was really hard for us, but we worked hard on it and we somewhat remedied that."

"The most difficult (time) is sitting there waiting for the awards to be handed out," said Arsenal Tech's Donald Pieper, a senior.

It may have been nerve-wracking. But in the end, Tech won the competition and will travel to Washington this month to compete for the national title.