Tiny civics team from Oregon school with no history of winning big notches unexpected, magical national title

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EDUCATION
Tiny civics team from Oregon school with no history of winning big notches unexpected, magical national title

Updated: Apr. 19, 2025, 2:38 p.m. | Published: Apr. 19, 2025, 6:00 a.m.

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Sprague High's Constitution team team of two, Matthew Meyers, in red sweater, and Colin Williams, in black shirt, hold hands with each other and members of the Lincoln High School Constitution team as they wait to find out if both teams made it into the final rounds of the national We the People civics competition.Courtesy of the Lincoln High constitution team

By Julia Silverman | The Oregonian/OregonLive

Let us now consider a more perfect union: the tiny, two-person team from Salem’s Sprague High School who improbably came to share the national Constitution contest crown with perennial powerhouse Lincoln High of Portland.

The Sprague contestants, seniors Matthew Meyers and Colin Williams, astounded everyone, including themselves, with their performance in the We The People competition.

Given the staggering amount of legal theory, Constitutional history and case law that students are expected to master, most teams have at least 20 members. Lincoln’s almost-all-sophomore team – unusual in its own right, since team members haven’t yet taken honors history courses that other competitors have under their belts – numbered 32.


Oregon boasts a proud tradition of dominating at the civics competition, which tests student knowledge of the ideals and arcana of the U.S. Constitution, previous legal theories that led to it and the pivotal court decisions that have sprung from it. In the 37-year history of the competition, Oregon teams have taken the trophy 10 times, twice the number of the runner-up state, Virginia.

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