The Voice of the Key Peninsula

Eight Washington State high school “We The People” teams assembled in the state Capitol buildings in January. Each had won its regional competition and was in Olympia for the state “playoffs.”

Peninsula High’s WTP team walked off with the silver. Tahoma High School’s team will represent the state in the national competition in Washington, D.C.
Ken Brown, teacher and coach for the PHS team said, “Working with this year's group has been phenomenal. They took their preparation so seriously and worked harder than any group of students I've coached in a long time. To come up 24 points short of first place out of over 2,000 points possible was a testament to the commitment and passion of this group of seniors. They were the definition of PHS Proud!”
Gavin Grant, a senior competitor, said the team owes its success to Brown.

“All credit goes to teacher (Ken) Brown, the perfect citizen we learn about in textbooks,” Grant said. “He educates 17 high-schoolers in what it really means to be involved in our government. He is the most honest, dedicated person I’ve ever met. Connections he builds are so personal we forget he is our teacher.
 "In my four years and nine AP classes at PHS, nothing has been as frustrating and time-consuming as the We the People program, but every minute has been worth it,” continued Grant. “It challenges us to apply the US Constitution to everyday life; as teenagers that is overlooked in many aspects. Before WTP, I could not name three amendments in the constitution. Now, I can explain the dissent in the recent Snyder v. Phelps case without a second thought.” 
The team spent the night before the competition in an Olympia hotel where they burrowed into practicing their routines well into the night. There was no fun and games, just hard work.
 "We studied The Constitution and our respective topic questions rigorously prior to competition,” said senior Tyler Allen. “The work paid off at state, where we had no trouble citing evidence."

 WTP team member Benjamin Summerour declared, “Mr. Brown has understood, better than anyone I know, how to be constructively honest without being offensive, how to be supportive while helping his students to become self-reliant, and how to demonstrate a genuine compassion to his pupils and mentors that makes everyone around him want to become a better person.”