Six students selected as Know Your Constitution finalists

Know Your Constitution is an event that goes over the US Constitution. It has 50 multiple choice questions that are open-book over different amendments, and requires an essay that answers whether or not a prompt they give follows the Constitution.

“The way we went about competing was that a few of us who were interested in competing would meet and go over each multiple-choice question given, and figure out which answer best fit the question. We did that until we had all 50 questions answered, and then we all started to individually write our essays. I competed with Mr. Droste as my teacher, so when I got finished with my essay, I sent it over to him so he could turn it in,” freshman Sriya Kalala said. 

Winning entries are selected from each of Iowa’s 100 legislative districts. Normally, selected students and their teachers are honored at a special luncheon in January where five students and their teachers are selected to attend a week-long program in Washington, D.C., through the Close Up Foundation. However, with COVID, the recognition event for the top participants was held virtually. 

“I placed as one of the 60 finalists who got selected for this competition for Iowa. On top of placing as a finalist, five of the finalists get a scholarship through a random drawing. From what I know, no one from Cedar Falls got chosen for that,” Kalala said. 

Calyx Hadley from Cedar Falls High School

Taylor Johnson from Holmes Junior High School

Sriya Kalala from Peet Junior High School

Sai Pranav Kota from Holmes Junior High School

Param Sampat from Cedar Falls High School

and

Jacob Smothers from Cedar Falls High School were all part of the 60 finalists.