TR event allows students to write ideal constitution

By Dianna Flores / reporter

Celebrating Constitution Week, four TR Campus government instructors hosted the second annual Constitution Shark Tank.

The Sept. 16 event in the Idea Store was a re-enactment of the CNBC Shark Tank show, where people try to sell their products to a panel of judges. On TR Campus, it was about coming up with the ideal constitution.

Government instructors Jinell Killingsworth, Corena White, Rik Sehgal and Cynthia Hunter-Summerlin judged and hosted the event. Some 75 students attended, including seven groups of students who were pitching the best government for the country.

Each group had five minutes to convince the judges that their government was the best.

Some of the groups held props along with music and PowerPoints to help them sell their government.

Once the event began, the instructors introduced themselves.

“Remember how important this document is,” White said. “Prior to this, the world had not seen the republic that was created in Philadelphia.”

The instructors talked about their favorite amendments in the Constitution and why it was their favorite.

The groups introduced the name of their government and pitched the ideals within it. Invictus Libertas was first, followed by Aristocratic Settlement of Earth, Citizens Democracy, We the People, United Freedom Republic, Gumby Republic and Real Ideal.

After the members introduced themselves, they cited a philosopher who inspired their choice of government. Several groups chose John Locke while others chose Aristotle, Plato and Karl Marx.

The judges asked questions to clarify some of the ideas and decisions in choosing the structure of a government.

TR student Yazmin Guzman said she was “surprised on how intriguing the event was.” Alejandra Gomez also said she found it interesting.

“A lot of different things to think about when choosing the ideal government,” Gomez said. “They all have different point of views.”

Invictus Libertas won first place followed by Citizens Democracy and Gumby Republic. Invictus Libertas members included Jacob Flood, Lucas Flood, Nik Francis and Kathryn Wolsey.