We The People

Mr. Smarty Pants is also Mr. Awesome Guy!  Caleb's middle school, West Jordan Middle, is one of a few public schools in the valley that competes in a competition called We The People.  The kids were split off into groups in their history class.  Then their awesome teachers took the time to encourage, teach and train the groups on the constitution, the government, our country vs. other country's governments, plus a lot more things.  The kids had to work together to write reports and they presented it all to the school in a competition.  Caleb had the goal to go to state.  He achieved that goal, with a lot of work and time.  He was so happy.

 We were able to go watch the state competition today.  This is Caleb's group in front of the judges.  They were asked a question, then they had the chance to read the portion of their report they had written in response to the question.  Then they faced a few questions from the judges.

 Caleb was just plain awesome!!!  He has always been a terrific speaker in front of groups.  Speaks with confidence, clarity and conviction.  He did not disappoint today.  He never once stumbled in his words, never stuttered, even made eye contact with the judges without losing his place in his reading. He was very professional and represented well.

When it came time to answer the judge's questions, Caleb as again - terrific!  According to his teachers the judges asked questions that were not on the "practiced" list.  Some of the things that were asked, were not taught or gone over.  The kids had to go off of their own knowledge base.  When Caleb was able to answer something, he sounded so good.  He only faltered once, and he made up for it with pulling himself together and answering with accuracy.  One of the questions that he handled, basically on his own, was about the 3 branches of government and how they have checks and blanances and the power they have.  It was a terrific experience for him.  He worked so hard, learned some great information and achieved his goal.  He also represented his school and teachers well.  The school ended up taking 3rd place, which was disheartening for the teams.  However, I could not be more proud of Caleb.  He was outstanding!