Students at Weber State University had a chance to test their knowledge of the U.S. Constitution on Friday as Constitution Week came to a close.
Members of the WSUSA leadership team asked passing students and faculty members some of 26 different Constitution trivia questions. The booth was part of Constitution Week, a landmark annual event series put on by the American Democracy Project.
Other events related to the Constitution earlier this week included talks by political analyst Kristen Powers and speeches about how to amend the Constitution. But for the WSUSA chair over the American Democracy Project, Marc DeYoung, the quiz show had a very unique meaning.
“The quiz is a great opportunity to inform people,” DeYoung said. “I hope that it will motivate people to learn more.”
DeYoung added that while many WSU students believed that the Constitution was a very important document, many knew little about it.
Mackenzie Stokes, one of DeYoung’s colleagues on the WSUSA leadership team, agreed with him.
“It’s important to have events like this, because many people don’t know much about our country’s history,” she said.
After a slow start, more and more students decided to take an attempt at answering the questions. One of the successful ones was Raquel Kraemer, a general education student who plans on pursuing a degree in recreational management.
“The Constitution is a really great document that is all about freedom,” Kraemer said. “I feel like history is sometimes under-appreciated.”
Stokes, who had noticed a similar public disinterest about history, said that more classroom instruction on constitutional topics could resolve that problem.
DeYoung, however, preferred to call individual students to more responsibility.
“The Constitution and the rights contained in it will be meaningful to every student’s future,” he said. “I just want to encourage students to learn from our Nation’s past and to actively apply it in the present.”