Dressed in black, a group of “lawyers” strutted through the hallways of Cannon Falls High School. On December 11th these “lawyers,” made a trip to the capitol building for Cannon Falls’ 10th time participating in the We The People Competition. After intense preparation and strenuous studying, the WEPO group at Cannon Falls earned state champion honors for the fifth time. Five out of six units won unit awards and their top scoring unit 1 received perfect scores of 60. Being the last year of having a WEPO program, Mrs. Loeschke was ecstatic.

“I have never had a class that worked this hard. This year’s kids are exceptional.” Loeschke will miss having a class compete in WEPO and especially working with Mr. Meyer. “Mr. Meyer is unable to work with the WEPO group next year because he is retiring.” Mrs. Loeschke and Mr. Meyer worked very hard with this year’s kids. Despite only having 18 kids in the class the team still pulled through.

Students McKenna Bauer and Matt Breuer explain what it was like preparing for the competition and how they felt going into the competition. Bauer described that although the class was small, the team was still able to come through and win. She also explained all the grueling work it took to become a state champion. “…we all wrote two speeches and Loeschke helped put it together into the four minute speech.” Bauer claimed that over the summer, students are expected to know their unit like the back of their hand. Student, Breuer had to cover two units at a time.

“Being in two units definitely kept me on my toes! These units required a different focus for each one.” When asked about the specific competition Breuer claimed, “It is a bizarre competition-I would almost call it a hybrid version of debate. Although it is something many are not used to, I believe it serves a purpose that it is important to have civic knowledge about your country as you are approaching that age where you can make a difference.” The Cannon Falls WEPO team is definitely prepared to make a difference in the future. Once these “lawyers” came back to their classroom they eagerly put up all the rewards they received. As Mrs. Loeschke walked in the room she grinned at the kids and explained how proud she was of everyone. The WEPO team will be going on to nationals in April in Washington D.C.