The FBI, the President and Congress all walk into a room. It’s the Witness Protection Club.
This year there is a whole new club, held every other Friday in room 906, that was started by Ronald Ludwig, the AP Government teacher.
“We explore all things federal court for people that are interested in the federal court system and how it works,” Ludwig said.
The Witness Protection Club works toward furthering the knowledge of government.
“This is mainly a group of juniors since they are in my class,” Ludwig said. “Last spring I was interested in it and I just put it out there to see if any kids were interested in that idea too.”
The club it not restricted to just juniors though. Students of any grade can join, just so long they come with a thirst for knowledge and a willingness to learn. There is no need to bring any base knowledge since the club was created solely to introduce students to the government and its importance in our daily lives.
“You learn about something that can be applied to everyday life, unlike some subjects you learn in school,” junior Annika Fuller said. “I think it is extremely important to have a base understanding of the government that we live with and to know our rights.”
The club may inspire students for future careers dealing with the American government.
“The objective is to learn about the federal government and just talk about any possible careers there, and to just to about how the government. works and stuff like that,” junior Natalie Schaller said.
Fuller agrees.
“I joined because I want to join the FBI and that is a part of the federal government and I think that the topic is going to be really interesting and the name is really cool, like Witness Protection Club just sounds like a really cool thing, and its really intriguing,” she said.
The club is made up of mostly juniors who are in Ludwig’s government class, but none of the club members feel as though the club is an extension of the class itself. They see it as more of an opportunity to go in-depth about the Federal Judicial System without the stress of being graded or getting an answer wrong.
“I hope a lot of students won’t see it as an addition of the class, but see it as more the interesting facts about government and the chance to talk more about how it influences our lives everyday,” Fuller said.
On October 7 the club attended a field trip to the Federal Courthouse and Municipal Court. They also got to talk with a Federal Judge, US Marshal and a KC Prosecutor
The club plans to get even more experience about government by going on several other field trips to different courthouses and offices throughout Kansas City.
“We are planning on visiting the courthouse downtown,” junior Alison Potter said. “We hope to do more things like that, with court systems and maybe visiting other governmental offices.”
The club members discuss governmental issues of any kind. With so many different branches to look at, the options seem never-ending. The topic of conversation in the club right now is the different positions in the judicial system.
“It could be important for us to discuss other branches of government because they are all very intertwined together and it’s not just the judicial system standing on its own,” Potter said. “It has reactions with the other branches and I feel like I would like it to get to the point where we are discussing the interconnectedness of all the governmental programs.”