ALBANY — Berne-Knox-Westerlo senior Thomas Fisher was part of a team that beat five others from across the state in a test of their Constitutional acumen.

It was the first time in the competition’s 28 years that it was won by an upstate team, according to Richard Bader, the team’s coach. Fisher’s team is from the New Visions: Law & Government class, part of the Capital Region Board of Cooperative Educational Services Career and Technical School.

In a congressional-hearing format, the high school students were asked questions on Constitutional issues — Should there be term limits on Supreme Court justices? Why or why not? In what ways, if any, did the Thirteenth Amendment extend to limits on private, as well as public actions? They had to defend their positions, using their knowledge of the philosophical tenets of the country’s founding document and its political system.

But the judges could also ask any question they deemed relevant.

“One of the judges asked a question about a political cartoon they had seen that week,” said Bader.

The team has advanced beyond the regional level of the competition, called We The People: The Citizen and the Constitution, in each of the past few years. Now, it will compete for the national title at George Mason University and in the congressional hearing rooms on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., from April 24 to 27.

The New Visions students have a career interest in law and government. Their classroom is at the State Education Department in Albany, where they study a curriculum that shares its name with the competition. The class is considered a blend of English, law, economics, and political science, with related internships and job shadowing.

Fisher is currently an intern for Senator Gustavo Rivera, said Bader, himself a lawyer who has practiced in private and public roles, and worked as assistant director of Albany Law School's Science and Technology Law Center. He has taught in the New Visions program for 15 years, during which time BKW alumna Sarah Gordon, and alumni Kyle Holley, and Judd Krasher have been students.

Bader said Fisher came to the program with a keen interest in history, and one of his strengths is his understanding of the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists, two opposing parties during the birth of the Constitution.

In the class, Bader said, he tries to keep students thinking on their feet by relying less on lectures and more on discussions and debates based on assigned readings that include The Merchant of Venice, Crime and Punishment, Democracy in America, The Federalist Papers, The Brethren, All The President's Men, and One-L.

He uses the Socratic method, known for its use in law schools, where questions of the professor are often answered with a question, bearing out hypotheses to find contradictions and encourage critical thinking.

 “The judges told me they were very impressed with how the students were able to play devil’s advocate with each other and articulate more than one point of view,” Bader said.