Battle Ground Public Schools

Students at Tukes Valley Middle School hold mock congressional hearings

June 14, 2021

Students in Linda Korum’s fifth-grade history class at Tukes Valley Middle School had the chance to share what they’ve learned about the United States government and answer questions during a mock congressional hearing on Thursday. Korum and fellow fifth grade teacher Maria Antos started the We the People program at Tukes Valley in 2016 to teach students about the Constitution and our unique form of government. The culmination is a mock congressional hearing in which students take what they’ve learned and present it in front of a panel of judges who ask follow up questions. This year, the panel included Battle Ground Public Schools Superintendent Mark Ross, Tukes Valley Middle School Principal Heather Ichimura, Jeff Lightburn from the Sons of the American Revolution, and Commander John Horch with the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.

The mock congressional hearings were canceled after school buildings closed last year, so this year Korum said she started planning early to make sure they could do it safely. Students came in five at a time, with the rest observing remotely in another room. “To have community members take time out of their day to help us always has a huge impact on students,” Korum said. “The learning we do for the hearing is important because it gives students a foundation of how our country is run and why it’s run that way. Civics is a topic that can’t be brushed off or ignored. Every citizen needs to know their rights and responsibilities, even fifth graders, so we can have a nation of educated, critical thinkers to help run our country.”