HELENA, Mont. — Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen announced the winners of the 2022 US Constitution Contest on Wednesday. Students from Great Falls, Boulder, Red Lodge, Plevna, Townsend, Clancy, and Kalispell were honored.
Secretary Jacobsen encouraged students in grades K-12 to participate in this year’s contest, Why the Constitution is Important to Me, by submitting essays, artwork, poetry, songs, or any other media form they chose.
Eleven students across Montana were honored for their submissions. Junior Michael Faccenda of Great Falls Central Catholic School was named the first-place winner in the high school division. Jefferson High School juniors Colin Field and Dalton Noble captured second- and third-place honors, respectively.
All three students submitted essays highlighting the US Constitution’s importance to them.
“The Constitution of the United States of America also has the power to shape a young man’s life, such as mine, despite the fact that it was established 219 years before I was born,” wrote Faccenda. “This is the beauty of a living document; it has the ability to intimately touch the lives of anyone who’s existence parallels the life of the document. The level of genius required to craft the world’s longest lasting charter of government shows you how much devotion our founding fathers had to the implementation and survival of this great nation.”
Seven middle school students received recognition, including Red Lodge’s Kayla Krohmer for her first-place artwork submission (above), and Townsend’s Bryleigh Erickson for her first-place essay submission.
“I believe by saying, ‘We The People’ the writers of the Constitution knew how important and people-orientated the U.S. would become,” wrote Erickson. “We don’t rely on a king or queen, instead the people make decisions and cast votes. ‘We The People’ means that the people all untie as a nation to contribute to the improvement of our country.”
Montana Jo Kunz from Clancy collected first place in the K-2 division for her video on what the Constitution meant to her.
“There were some outstanding submissions, from the incredible artwork to the essays providing interesting points of view,” said Secretary Jacobsen. “I’m excited to see our youth involved in learning about this significant document and sharing their views.
“Congratulations to the winners and thank you to all of the students who participated in this year’s contest.”
2022 US CONSTITUTION CONTEST WINNERS
Click the name of each winner to view their submission
HIGH SCHOOL
First place
Michael Faccenda
Teacher: Bill Brist
Grade: 11
School: Great Falls Central Catholic High School
Second place
Colin Field
Teacher: Cody Ottman
Grade: 11
School: Jefferson High School
Third Place
Dalton Noble
Teacher: Cody Ottman
Grade: 11
School: Jefferson High School
MIDDLE SCHOOL ESSAY
First place
Bryleigh Erickson
Teacher: Denise Bakkum
Grade: 8
School: Townsend Middle School
Second place
Kendra Wolf
Teacher: Bradley Dahl
Grade: 7
School: Stillwater Christian School
Third Place
Leona May
Teacher: Robert Ivester
Grade: 7
School: Plevna School
MIDDLE SCHOOL ARTWORK
First Place
Kayla Krohmer
Teacher: Steven Morales
Grade: 7
School: Roosevelt Middle School
Second Place
Dakota Steen
Teacher: Robert Ivester
Grade: 8
School: Plevna School
Third Place (tie)
Rachel Reynolds
Teacher: Mr. Morris
Grade: 8
School: Roosevelt Middle School
Third Place (tie)
Kyla Meissner
Teacher: Denise Bakkum
Grade: 8
School: Townsend Middle School
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
First Place
Montana Jo Kunz
Teacher: Francesca Vespa
Grade: Kindergarten
School: Clancy Elementary