Perry High School sophomore Claudia Vargas is a finalist in the Know Your Constitution project of the Young Lawyers Division of the Iowa State Bar Association (ISBA).
Vargas is one of 100 hundred finalists chosen from the more than 1,000 students across Iowa who participated in the Know Your Constitution project, according to an ISBA statement released Wednesday.
Finalists will be honored at a luncheon at the West Des Moines Marriott Hotel in West Des Moines Jan. 6, 2017. The Honorable Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa will be the noon luncheon’s keynote speaker.
According to the ISBA statement, five students and their teachers will be randomly chosen from among the 100 finalists to attend an all-expense-paid, five-day education work session in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the Close-Up Foundation. The February work sessions are designed to develop a deeper understanding of government and the political process.
The Know Your Constitution project is designed to enrich students’ understanding and appreciation of the U.S. Constitution. The students participating in the project were required to familiarize themselves with constitutional issues and take a quiz, which included an essay question used as a tie breaker.
This year’s essay topic involved constitutional questions centered on the admission into the U.S. of immigrants from identified nations and the documentation of current residents in the U.S. of immigrants from those countries.
Prior to the luncheon Jan. 6, the student finalists will have the opportunity to hear from and interact with a constitutional expert and discuss the essay topic and recent developments and rulings.
This program is sponsored by the ISBA, with additional funding from the Iowa State Bar Foundation and many of the county Bar Associations across Iowa.
