Herndon Middle Schoolers Advance to the Final 3 of the National Championships !
After nerve-racking rounds of competition over the weekend, Herndon lawyer Doug Landau could not wait any longer and called Rachel Carson Middle School teacher Cynthia Burgett to see how the local students had fared. Would these state champions be done after Sunday afternoon’s rounds, or would they advance from the “great 8” to the final 3 on Monday ?
“While I am used to waiting for a jury’s deliberations in our injury cases and for decisions to come via e-mail from state workers compensation judges and “snail mail” from Federal Social Security Administrative Law Judges, I had to know how our RCMS students did! If they made it to the finals, I wanted to be there to cheer them on. I would have to alert the staff of my Herndon law firm, ABRAMS LANDAU, Ltd. as to my whereabouts on Monday. I would not be able to sleep if I did not know !”
noted Landau. As per our prior post, Landau had invested a lot of time and effort in helping these gifted students prepare.
The Rachel Carson students had spent months learning about the U.S. Constitution, the three branches of government, famous law cases, and current national and international events in their Civics class. However, having never been to the national championships, the Herndon middle school had no experience upon which to draw. Teams from Oregon, Nevada, Ohio, Arizona, Rhode Island, Tennessee and two teams from perennial powerhouse Indiana descended on the Nation’s Capitol to determine the National Champion. Having made “the great 8” in and of itself was an amazing accomplishment for a school that had never even won its own state’s championship. And, the Rachel Carson School is not even 20 years old ! Lawyer Landau’s eldest daughter was in the very first incoming class at RCMS, and his son was just a year behind. It is the only school that all 4 of his children, now all grown, attended, hence his willingness to help.
Ms. Burgett shared the great news that the students had made the final 3 and would be competing for the top honors on Monday. Landau will return to the George Mason Fairfax Virginia campus for the fourth day in a row for these remarkable, inquisitive and accomplished young scholars. Landau told them after they won the state championships, that everything thereafter was “bonus,” as the school had never been the champions of the Commonwealth. “I hope that like me, they had a chance to rest today, as the “We the People” program included tours of Montpelier, lots of bus rides, meals out and late nights.” After the Mason Inn awards ceremony Monday night they do not get back to Rachel Carson until 9:30 PM !
Stay tuned !