Oregon high school teams share first place honors at national civics competition

Students from Sprague High School in Salem and Lincoln High School in Portland are co-champions of a national civics competition that tests students’ knowledge and understanding of the U.S. Constitution. But it’s how they won that has made this year’s “We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution National Finals” one for the history books. 

Sprague High School’s team consisted of just two members, seniors Matthew Meyers and Colin Williams. They won a spot at the national finals in Washington, D.C. after winning second place in the state competition in January, behind Lincoln High School. 

At the finals, Meyers and Williams faced off against teams with 20 or more players in the 3-day competition, fielding questions about constitutional law and Supreme Court cases from a panel of judges and legal experts. When the scores of all 32 teams were tallied, the duo from Salem were initially declared winners on April 11, with the Lincoln team finishing in third place. But according to reporting by The Oregonian and New York Times, Patrick Magee-Jenks, who teaches social studies at Lincoln High and coaches its constitution team, found what appeared to be a mistake in his team’s score.

That prompted officials at The Center for Civic Competition, which organizes the annual competition, to investigate and correct the scoring results, with both Sprague and Lincoln High School prevailing as this year’s national champions.  

Meyers and Williams join us to talk about this remarkable outcome, along with Magee-Jenks and Audrey Farrimond, a junior at Lincoln High School and member of its constitution team.