Mark Hatfield: “I want to give recognition to a very outstanding group of young people from my State of Oregon, who represent the…”

“I want to give recognition to a very outstanding group of young people from my State of Oregon, who represent the Lincoln High School of Portland, OR. Mr. President, as you know, during the bicentennial of the Constitution, there was a commission formed of which Chief Justice Burger of the Supreme Court was chair. I was privileged to serve on that commission. In part of that commission's proceedings, we decided to develop an ongoing project, bringing a focus to the Constitution of the United States amongst the high school students of our country. That started in 1987. I want to say that that has been a program that I think has certainly been worthy of the investment the Federal Government has made sustaining that program over the years. I suppose you might call it boasting, but I do not really think so. I am merely making a recognition of an extraordinary accomplishment. One high school out of the State of Oregon has not only won the State championship each year of the 9 years of this program, it has finished in the top 10 contestants from high schools from every State in the Union here in Washington, except for 1 year. It had won the national championship 2 years, until last night when it won it for the third time--one high school. I want to say that this is a high school that is in an urban setting, and it is a high school that draws students from many diverse and social economic backgrounds.”