Centennial repeats as state champ

cenpeop032: Centennial repeats as state champWhen it comes to “We the People - The Citizen and the Constitution,” Centennial High School has proven for the second consecutive year it is the best of the best in California. Centennial was honored as California “We the People - The Citizen and the Constitution” state champion in an awards ceremony on February 7 in Sacramento, defending the title it also won in 2002.

Team mate Matt Vance admitted he had been worried because the format does not have teams competing in the same room against each other. “We never can compare our performance against another schools, “ Vance said. “But during the finals, all of our units had been doing awesome,” Vance said. “We knew it would take a superhuman effort to beat us.” Centennial finished ahead of runner-up Amador Valley High. Third place was awarded to Arcadia High and fourth to Foothill High of Pleasanton. As a result of winning, Centennial will now represent California in the National “We the People...” competition April 25-29 in Washington, D.C.

It is a last chance for Centennial teacher/coach David Richmond to capture a national championship, the one title that has eluded him during his long successful career overseeing the team. Richmond is resigning his coaching duties effective next year.

Reflecting on the win and the thoughts of representing California, Centennial team member Elya Zarra said, “It’s a rush, but it’s also a lot of pressure.”

Centennial competed in preliminary rounds on February 6 in Sacramento but had to wait until late that evening to discover they had made the final foursome of teams that would compete for the championship the next day. So how did Centennial react the night before?

“Actually, we went back to our rooms and had a big debate about abortion rights,” said Zarra. “It was a good way to end the night. So we had no trouble getting a good night’s sleep for the next day. We were exhausted from the day long competition.”

Competition consisted of congressional committees made up of community scholars and civic leaders posing one of three study questions to the students prior to the competition. Each team competed in six separate units of students and was allowed four minutes to present testimony. Then the committee questioned the teams for an additional six minutes on topics related to the constitutionality of current events. The combined scores of all the units decided the championship.

Also competing at the state level was Arvin High School, which represented Kern County as a wild card entry. Although it failed to make the final four, Arvin teacher/coach Mike Mullings thought the school gave one of its best efforts ever.

The Kern County competition was sponsored by the Kern County Superintendent of Schools, and was made possible by a grant from ChevronTexaco and the Law Offices of Young Wooldridge, LLP, with the support of Congressmen Bill Thomas and Calvin Dooley, United States Department of Education and the League of Women Voters.

The following teams and students represented Kern County well in Sacramento:

Centennial High
Coach: David Richmond
Team members: Mitch Connors, David Karlik, Matt Vance, Kurt Hankins, Molly Jager, Kevin O’Brien, Alex Wheeler, Jarrod Ashby, Hillary Cooper, Malerie Fritz, Kevin Porter, Paul Flores, Brittney Neal, Jennifer Turner, Freya Wilkerson, Dana Byrd, Mark Ferullo, Stacey Vanderhurst, Elya Zarra, Alan Berthiaume, Heather Macaulay, Katie Rhodes and Christy Whitney.

Arvin High
Coach: Mike Mullings
Team members: Liz Padilla, Eva Padilla, Ramon Esparza, Maria Dayrit, Erik Balderas, Angelica Gonzalez, Elizabeth Lopez, J.T. Williams, Jason Brannum, Jonathan McGinty, Brian Velez, Luis Ayala, Juanita Deleon, Adam Ojeda, Elizabeth Blakslee, Lani Garcia, Ylda Delgado, Riza Llanes, Amy Machado, Jacque Cavazos and Robert Valdez.
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