Teachers may want to hold a non-competitive simulated congressional hearing as a culminating activity in their classroom or their school. The entire class working in teams prepares to answer questions posed by committee members to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of constitutional principles. District and state hearing questions may be found at http://www.civiced.org/wethepeople.php. A local school may then choose to go on to the next level of competition. Some congressional districts and cities in New Jersey have preliminary competitions. The next level of competition is the New Jersey State We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution Legislative Hearings held each year.

The 2007 - 2008 New Jersey State We the People Simulated Legislative Hearings for High School Students will be held at the State House on Friday, February 8, 2008 (snow date February 15, 2008). The state champions then travel to Washington D.C. to represent their state in the We the People national finals. In 2004, 2005 and 2006, the New Jersey team from East Brunswick High School won first place at the National We the People Competition. Please contact Arlene Gardner at civiced@njclre.rutgers.edu if you are interested in bringing a class to this state civics competition. A roster of students who will be participating must be submitted to the NJCLRE by January 18, 2008. The student roster may be submitted by email. Participation is limited to a minimum of 9 students and a maximum of 36 students from a regularly constituted class.

The 2007 - 2008 New Jersey State We the People Simulated Legislative Hearings for Middle School Students will be held at Rutgers University in New Brunswick on June 6, 2008. Please contact Arlene Gardner at civiced@njclre.rutgers.edu if you are interested in bringing a class to this state civics competition. A roster of students who will be participating must be submitted to the NJCLRE by May 16, 2008. The student roster may be submitted by email. There is no national competition for middle school students, but the students who participate not only learn more about government and democracy than regular U.S. History classes .but also develop important citizenship skills, such as public speaking.