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The very moment a passing period bell rings, students race out classroom doors to spend their seven free minutes doing anything but learning. Whether it be catching up with friends or retouching makeup in the bathroom, those seven minutes are vital you time. After all, learning is only meant to take place inside the classroom, right?

From a young age, students often begin to associate the United States with a variety of symbols: stars and stripes, the five freedoms, Lady Liberty, the bald eagle. At the center of it all: the US Constitution.

On Monday, September 18th, AP Government students celebrated Constitution Day—a day to honor what Mr. Quigley, their teacher, calls “the most important document”—by participating in an 11-year old Charter tradition. From bell to bell, these seniors spent their vital seven minutes bringing an important political lesson outside the classroom and into the reality before them. Positioned all over campus with their voices in unison and dressed from head to toe in red, white, and blue, the students read out a section of the Constitution word for word, informing the bustling crowds around them about the principles upon which the United States is based. 

Before the day’s events became the fun tradition it is today, Constitution Day was simply a way to fulfill the state’s requirement of learning about the document. “The first couple years that I did it,” Mr.Quigley, the inventor of the activity, shared, “students were kind of heckled, students would shout them down, students would laugh, students would yell back at them … because it was weird!” Still, it was a way for the AP Government teacher to get his students to apply what they learn outside the classroom, which is a major goal for him. “I always try, if I can, to not have my classroom be only four walls,” he explains. “If all my classroom ever is is what happens between these walls, then I really kind of failed as a teacher.”

Like any tradition, time is what gave the Constitution Day celebration its importance. Over the past 12 years, Mr.Quigley noticed the gradual differences in how each senior class approached the activity, finding that the Class of 2024 made their mark with “all the costumes, the flags, the signs, the masks, the dressing up. It’s gotten bigger and bigger and bigger.” With colorful outfits and accessories, full-out patriotic costumes, and even wigs, the senior class was able to make the tradition their own.

One student, senior Riya Robin, even put her own spin on the tradition by wearing a bald eagle mask. She exclaims, “I personally had a lot of fun watching everyone’s reactions to a big eagle head, especially because there were so many different reactions, too. Some got scared, some laughed, some were confused.” No matter the reaction, her approach brought attention to the Constitution, the entire goal of the task.

As much as the AP Government students brought entertainment on campus, they aimed to also be just as informative. Senior Isabella Ruz, another participant of the tradition, described the essence of the tradition: “It kind of gave me an excuse to do something really loud and obnoxious with my friends while still being educational.”

Even in those seven minutes that students had to themselves between periods, many found Constitution Day a success in terms of outreach. Sophomore Adriana Caldswell, who witnessed the declaration of the Constitution, shared her thoughts: “I like that most of them made it a kind of fun thing, like not being boring,” she expresses. “I think it served just to inform the students what the Constitution actually withholds … but in an interesting way where people will actually be interested to stop and learn something.” Whether startled or excited by the tradition, students learn just how important the Constitution is to the country.

Requirement or extra credit, informative or entertaining, AP Government’s celebration of Constitution Day remains a classic Charter tradition. Despite the evolution of learning, the activity will always be (as Mr. Quigley says), “something more creative, more engaging, more involving, that would get kids to, kind of take ownership and have some fun.”