2023
We the People
Virginia State Finals
January 28, 2023
Darden School of Business, University of Virginia
Charlottesville, VA
Contact us: info@vacivics.org
Invest in the future of Democracy
We the People
About va civics and we the people
Virginia Civics promotes constitutional understanding, critical thinking, and civic engagement, empowering the next generation of leaders in Virginia.
We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution is the most effective program in the country to educate young people about the history and principles of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The curriculum was developed by the Center for Civic Education and is administered in Virginia by VA Civics.
We the People alumni vote at rates of 92%, outperform the national sample of high school students in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) in every category of civic knowledge delineated in the survey, outperform university students on political knowledge tests, exhibit less political cynicism, and are more politically tolerant than the average American.
Today’s participating high school students have qualified for the State Finals through one of two regional competitions. The winning high school will represent Virginia at the 2023 We the People National Finals in April. Middle school students have the opportunity to represent Virginia at the We the People National Invitational.
We salute every teacher, student, and volunteer for their selflessness and dedication. You are what makes We the People successful.
Event Schedule
8:30 a.m. Volunteer Training
9:30 a.m. Opening Ceremony
Guest Speaker: A. E. Dick Howard, University of Virginia Law School
10:10 a.m. Round 1 Hearings Begin
12:10 p.m. Round 1 Hearings Conclude
12:10 p.m. Lunch
1:00 p.m. Round 2 Hearings Begin
3:00 p.m. Round 2 Hearings Conclude
3:00 p.m. Class Photos
4:00 p.m. Awards Ceremony
THE HEARING SCHEDULE
Choose a team to view its schedule for the day. Students will stay in their hearing rooms, and judges for each unit will rotate from room-to-room according to the hearing schedule.
HIGH SCHOOLS
Round 1
10:10–10:30: Unit 1B
10:30–10:50: Unit 2B
10:50–11:10: Unit 3B
11:10–11:30: Unit 4B
11:30–11:50: Unit 5B
11:50–12:10: Unit 6B
Round 2
1:00–1:20: Unit 1A
1:20–1:40: Unit 2A
1:40–2:00: Unit 3A
2:00–2:20: Unit 4A
2:20–2:40: Unit 5A
2:40–3:00: Unit 6A
Round 1
10:10–10:30: Unit 6B
10:30–10:50: Unit 1B
10:50–11:10: Unit 2B
11:10–11:30: Unit 3B
11:30–11:50: Unit 4B
11:50–12:10: Unit 5B
Round 2
1:00–1:20: Unit 6A
1:20–1:40: Unit 1A
1:40–2:00: Unit 2A
2:00–2:20: Unit 3A
2:20–2:40: Unit 4A
2:40–3:00: Unit 5A
Round 1
10:10–10:30: Unit 6A
10:30–10:50: Unit 1A
10:50–11:10: Unit 2A
11:10–11:30: Unit 3A
11:30–11:50: Unit 4A
11:50–12:10: Unit 5A
Round 2
1:00–1:20: Unit 6B
1:20–1:40: Unit 1B
1:40–2:00: Unit 2B
2:00–2:20: Unit 3B
2:20–2:40: Unit 4B
2:40–3:00: Unit 5B
Round 1
10:10–10:30: Unit 4A
10:30–10:50: Unit 5A
10:50–11:10: Unit 6A
11:10–11:30: Unit 1A
11:30–11:50: Unit 2A
11:50–12:10: Unit 3A
Round 2
1:00–1:20: Unit 4B
1:20–1:40: Unit 5B
1:40–2:00: Unit 6B
2:00–2:20: Unit 1B
2:20–2:40: Unit 2B
2:40–3:00: Unit 3B
Round 1
10:10–10:30: Unit 2A
10:30–10:50: Unit 3A
10:50–11:10: Unit 4A
11:10–11:30: Unit 5A
11:30–11:50: Unit 6A
11:50–12:10: Unit 1A
Round 2
1:00–1:20: Unit 2B
1:20–1:40: Unit 3B
1:40–2:00: Unit 4B
2:00–2:20: Unit 5B
2:20–2:40: Unit 6B
2:40–3:00: Unit 1B
Round 1
10:10–10:30: Unit 3A
10:30–10:50: Unit 4A
10:50–11:10: Unit 5A
11:10–11:30: Unit 6A
11:30–11:50: Unit 1A
11:50–12:10: Unit 2A
Round 2
1:00–1:20: Unit 3B
1:20–1:40: Unit 4B
1:40–2:00: Unit 5B
2:00–2:20: Unit 6B
2:20–2:40: Unit 1B
2:40–3:00: Unit 2B
Round 1
10:10–10:30: Unit 1A
10:30–10:50: Unit 2A
10:50–11:10: Unit 3A
11:10–11:30: Unit 4A
11:30–11:50: Unit 5A
11:50–12:10: Unit 6A
Round 2
1:00–1:20: Unit 1B
1:20–1:40: Unit 2B
1:40–2:00: Unit 3B
2:00–2:20: Unit 4B
2:20–2:40: Unit 5B
2:40–3:00: Unit 6B
Round 1
10:10–10:30: Unit 5A
10:30–10:50: Unit 6A
10:50–11:10: Unit 1A
11:10–11:30: Unit 2A
11:30–11:50: Unit 3A
11:50–12:10: Unit 4A
Round 2
1:00–1:20: Unit 5B
1:20–1:40: Unit 6B
1:40–2:00: Unit 1B
2:00–2:20: Unit 2B
2:20–2:40: Unit 3B
2:40–3:00: Unit 4B
MIDDLE SCHOOLS
Round 1
10:10–10:30: Unit 3B
10:30–10:50: Unit 4B
10:50–11:10: Unit 5B
11:10–11:30: Unit 6B
11:30–11:50: Unit 1B
11:50–12:10: Unit 2B
Round 2
1:00–1:20: Unit 3A
1:20–1:40: Unit 4A
1:40–2:00: Unit 5A
2:00–2:20: Unit 6A
2:20–2:40: Unit 1A
2:40–3:00: Unit 2A
Round 1
10:10–10:30: Unit 4B
10:30–10:50: Unit 5B
10:50–11:10: Unit 6B
11:10–11:30: Unit 1B
11:30–11:50: Unit 2B
11:50–12:10: Unit 3B
Round 2
1:00–1:20: Unit 4A
1:20–1:40: Unit 5A
1:40–2:00: Unit 6A
2:00–2:20: Unit 1A
2:20–2:40: Unit 2A
2:40–3:00: Unit 3A
Round 1
10:10–10:30: Unit 2B
10:30–10:50: Unit 3B
10:50–11:10: Unit 4B
11:10–11:30: Unit 5B
11:30–11:50: Unit 6B
11:50–12:10: Unit 1B
Round 2
1:00–1:20: Unit 2A
1:20–1:40: Unit 3A
1:40–2:00: Unit 4A
2:00–2:20: Unit 5A
2:20–2:40: Unit 6A
2:40–3:00: Unit 1A
Round 1
10:10–10:30: Unit 5B
10:30–10:50: Unit 6B
10:50–11:10: Unit 1B
11:10–11:30: Unit 2B
11:30–11:50: Unit 3B
11:50–12:10: Unit 4B
Round 2
1:00–1:20: Unit 5A
1:20–1:40: Unit 6A
1:40–2:00: Unit 1A
2:00–2:20: Unit 2A
2:20–2:40: Unit 3A
2:40–3:00: Unit 4A
Judge Assignments
Thank you to our esteemed panels of judges who so generously give of their time in service of We the People!
Panel A
UNIT 1
Wesley Hedgepeth
Stefanie Hession
Richard Meagher
Facilitator: Brian Corman
UNIT 2
Patrick Campbell
Tramia Jackson
John Koehler
Facilitator: Hortense Mitchell Liberti
UNIT 3
Lauren Bell
Alex Bennett
Maria Garnett
Facilitator: David Speidell
UNIT 4
Bob McIntyre
Justin Smith
Julie Strandlie
Facilitator: Anna Carlton
UNIT 5
Kelly Booz
Megan Center
Helen Hardiman
Facilitator:
UNIT 6
Meg Heubeck
Emma Ito
Debbie Pickford
Facilitator: Susan Micari
Panel B
UNIT 1
John Aughenbaugh
Patrick Healy
Andy McLeod
Facilitator: Corey Buttram
UNIT 2
Cash Arehart
Stefanie Georgakis Abbott
Hilarie Hicks
Facilitator: Annie Evans
UNIT 3
Barrett Hardiman
Mike Miles
Lisa Sales
Facilitator: Tasha Stanton
UNIT 4
Emily Kilgore
Jamie Moore
Joe Valenti
Facilitator: Shannon Castelo
UNIT 5
Tab Broyles
Cindy Burgett
Bill Shields
Facilitator: Ronnie Johnson
UNIT 6
Jon Barton
Tiquan Goode
Rosie Shomaker
Facilitator:
Competing Students
Albemarle High School
Coach: Allison Ramirez
UNIT 1
Seng Myitung
Robert Spitzner
Emmett Lach
UNIT 2
Andrea Lan
Katie Cheng
Robert Spitzner
UNIT 3
Dena Mohammed Ali
Annie Li
Claire Ke
UNIT 4
Cam Waskey
Gina Paparella
Katie Cheng
UNIT 5
Gina Paparella
Dena Mohammed Ali
Annie Li
UNIT 6
Claire Ke
Seng Myitung
Emmett Lach
Alexandria City High School
Coach: Ra Alim Shabazz
UNIT 1
Joshua Whitley
Lily Eckert
Mayra Vargas
Casey Jackson
Umeymah Hagos
Abdelrahman Abdelsadig
UNIT 2
Bryan Wibowo
Youssef Kasim
Rocio Urrutuia
Matthews Twolde
Paris Clark
UNIT 3
Casey Jackson
Kelly Koury
Abdel Abdelsadiq
UNIT 4
Leah Anderson
Paris Clark
Mario Ashby Jr.
Matthews Twolde
Rocio Urrutia
UNIT 5
Lily Eckert
Youssef Kasim
Mario Ashby Jr.
UNIT 6
Bryan Wibowo
Joshua Whitley
Helen Rodriguez
Mayra Vargas
Leah Anderson
Freeman High School
Coach: Rob Peck
UNIT 1
Lola Muhlenfeld
Siyona Singh
Morgan Strudgeon
UNIT 2
Trisha Nagulagari
Emery Troxell
Catherine White
UNIT 3
Daniel Habeeb
Adair Reid
Catherine Weir
UNIT 4
Jacob Buxbaum
Ada Malpani
Grace Montgomery
UNIT 5
Catriona Flynn
Maggie Newton
Aarna Sitani
Will Kurz
UNIT 6
Henry Haggard
Peter Kriebel
Miranda Lutchman
Glen Allen High School
Coaches: Schuyler VanValkenburg & Ryan Conway
UNIT 1
Morgan Pietruszkiewicz
Peyton Via
Charlotte Swanson
UNIT 2
Hailey Fisher
Tucker Trivette
Duncan Rutkowski
UNIT 3
Aaron Falik
Lydia Maddox
Joseph Marchioli-Acra
Wyatt Flint
UNIT 4
Ella Rankin
Madeline Ashby
Charlie Gouldman
UNIT 5
Kat Tull
Reagan Walters
Hannah Gill
Cadence Snopik
UNIT 6
Dhruv Naidu
Molly Russell
Eric Fagan
Andrew Harris
Maggie Walker Governor's School
Coach: Samuel Ulmschneider
UNIT 1
Sophia Isaacs
Abigail Montgomery
Ethan Helms
Ryan Marks
UNIT 2
Mallory Phillips
Bruce Yanovitch
Greta Shope
Summer Fraughnaugh
UNIT 3
Daniela Wheeler
Kaspars Golos
Amelia Johnson
Cameron Unice
UNIT 4
Sophia Isaacs
Abigail Montgomery
Ethan Helms
Ryan Marks
UNIT 5
Mallory Phillips
Bruce Yanovitch
Greta Shope
Summer Fraughnaugh
UNIT 6
Daniela Wheeler
Kaspars Golos
Amelia Johnson
Cameron Unice
Oakton High School
Coach: Eliot Waxman
UNIT 1
Vincent Zhang
Joshua Wang
Richard Zhang
Harrison Lin
Christopher Wang
UNIT 2
Annie Bai
Allan Wang
Grace Park
Saanvi Siddhi
UNIT 3
Ray Shen
Zain Kaul
Krissh Raman
UNIT 4
Sirad Farah
Philip Tetreault
Omyo Khan
Adah Coluzzi
Jafita Asirvatham
UNIT 5
Anushka Saraf
Caitlin Chambers
Tara Nair
Thomas Hunter
UNIT 6
Tyler Donaldson
Thomas Scott
Aidan Tetreault
Carter Scott
Rappahannock High School
Coach: Jeff Day
UNIT 1
Emily Jenkins
Savannah Loving
Liberti Sell
Alex Bailey
Sam Vandrey
UNIT 2
Luke Ubben
Ryan Campbell
Joshua Losievsky
Taryn Williams
Maeve Ciuba
UNIT 3
Luke Ubben
Sam Vandrey
Savannah Loving
Emily Jenkins
Sam Reed
UNIT 4
Luke Ubben
Joshua Losievsky
Sam Reed
Liberti Sell
Alex Bailey
Maeve Ciuba
UNIT 5
Taryn Williams
Ryan Campbell
Alex Bailey
Sam Vandrey
Savannah Loving
UNIT 6
Sam Reed
Emily Jenkins
Maeve Ciuba
Liberti Sell
Taryn Williams
Western Albemarle High School
Coach: Pam Koury
UNIT 1
Maya MacMillin
Lucy Shadel
James Smith
Henry Mathewes
UNIT 2
Darius Mehta
Caroline Govan
Madeleine Fuller
Quentin Bragaw
UNIT 3
Sam Rosenbaum
Audrey Miracle
Ben Johnston
Lauren Broussard
UNIT 4
Jack Tueting
Abigail Fitch
Opal Kendall
UNIT 5
Annabelle Mackey
Veronica Whitford
Ollie Nacey
Eli Hughes
UNIT 6
Matthew Lapinski
Harper MacQueen
Tatiana Bird
Liam Foster
Browne Academy
Coach: Alissa Kharkar
UNIT 1
August Parks
Jefferson Miller
Jax Swain
UNIT 2
Connor Stehn
Mitchell DeBoer
Nate Benites
UNIT 3
Brooke Lady
Imran Yared
Logan Forbes
Chance Maxwell
UNIT 4
Devika Srikanth
Charlie Bader
Khalid Ousman
UNIT 5
Sammie Weinstein
Nadia Chebinou
UNIT 6
Ariella Braun
Grace Laha
J. T. Henley Middle School
Coach: Pam Koury
UNIT 1
Ava Ford
Cooper McGrane
Miki Sogen
Derek Dong
UNIT 2
Samantha Bailes
Violet Kunicki
Silvio Sicoli
Kate Vaughan
UNIT 3
Thomas Crabtree
Sydney Rasmussen
Henry Simmons
UNIT 4
Noelle Cohen
Emerson Fatovich-Luckey
Nora Hambsch
Kathleen Wyatt
UNIT 5
Olivia Blakey
Amelia Hudson
Camille Love
UNIT 6
Neel Venkatesan
Asher Walton
Emmy Williams
Isabella Stewart
Midlothian Middle School
Coach: Sylvan Hunter
UNIT 1
Anya Jain
Ella Gagnon
Daniel Counoupas
Olivia Tonn
UNIT 2
Ryder Stevenson
Elspeth McNulty
Annelise Ream
Annabelle Fillmore
Liem Bennett-Nguyen
UNIT 3
Madeline Radcliffe
Thomas Do
Minnah Khan
Ella Bailey
UNIT 4
Kaden O’Donnell
Daniel Counoupas
Lily Kunnmann
Abigail Perry
Jeev Mondkar
Henry Sitkiewicz
UNIT 5
Sydney Wright
Emeline Zhou
Emery Fitzgerald
Elspeth McNulty
Malek El Oukaili
UNIT 6
Taylor Rogers
Eiley Montgomery
Bobbi Prince
Jenna Plaatsman
Tulip Pitts
Sydney Wright
Pennington Traditional School
Coach: Erin Merrill
UNIT 1
Azadeh Hill
Darnelle Jewell
Ram Mylavarapu
Hamere Tamirat
UNIT 2
Sydney Cox
Arhaan Gautam
Naomi Hailu
Tara Sundararaman
UNIT 3
Lillian Massat Benaich
Raneem Natour
Sammy Rodriguez Quiceno
Mahnoor Saad
Raeesa Siyit
UNIT 4
Jackie Amador Melgar
Gabriela Dettre
Aanya Shah
Soleil Titus
UNIT 5
Isabella Arnold
Marwa Hatmi
Jubed Nti
Michael Russell
Shane Swan
UNIT 6
Kwabena Akuffo
Christian Appiah
Mariem Eskander
Romeo Leone
Event Staff
Amelia Bochain
State Coordinator
Jen Patja Howell
Co-Executive Director
Emily Voss
Co-Executive Director
Huge thanks to our additional helpers!
We could not do this program without you! Thank you to Elizabeth Lukas and Lisa Cuff for your willingness to do anything and everything to make this program a success!
Photography by Drew Precious
give them a hand
Thanks to our sponsor!
Dominion Energy has been a stalwart sponsor of the Virginia We the People program for the last five years, and we’re so thankful for their support!
Help We the People Grow
The Virginia We the People program and other programs of VA Civics are only possible through the generosity of donors. Please consider making a gift to support the work of VA Civics.
Emily Voss
Emily Voss comes to civic education from the museum world, where she was passionate about making museums relevant to the modern world. She currently serves as the Manager of National Programs for the Center for Civic Education. Prior to that, she served as the Education Director at the Robert H. Smith Center for the Constitution at James Madison’s Montpelier where she spent the past decade developing programs for adult professionals that invited engagement with America’s founding documents. She served as the Virginia State Coordinator of the We the People program for 10 years and is a co-founder of Virginia Civics. Emily holds a BA in History from Gettysburg College, and an MA in Museum Education from the Cooperstown Graduate Program (SUNY). She and her family currently reside in central Virginia.
Co-Executive Director & Chief Programs Officer
Jen Patja
Jen Patja has dedicated her career to strengthening constitutional self-government through her work with Virginia Civics, the Center for Civic Education, and Montpelier’s Robert H. Smith Center for the Constitution, where she served as Deputy Director. Jen is a co-founder of Virginia Civics, and served as a House of Delegates-appointed member of the Virginia Commission on Civic Education, a state legislative commission, from 2014–2024. She is the producer and editor of “Rational Security,” a weekly foreign policy and national security roundup, and “The Lawfare Podcast,” a daily audio production in cooperation with the Brookings Institution. She is also a speaker with the U.S. Speaker Program at the U.S. Department of State. Jen has held teaching and research positions at the University of Virginia, most notably in Criminology and the school’s University Internship Program with the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service. She received her master’s in Sociology from the University of Virginia, and a bachelor’s in English from the University of California, Berkeley.
Co-Executive Director & Chief Operating Officer
Amelia Bochain
Amelia Bochain has devoted her professional life to effective social studies education that fosters civil discourse. As a classroom teacher for nine years, she implemented project-based learning that focused on civic engagement and encouraging effective discussion skills. She is particularly passionate about the We the People program, where she coached teams that placed in regional, state, and national competitions.
State Coordinator
