SMITHFIELD — A group of Sky View High School students has earned the right to represent Utah in a national academic competition in Washington, D.C.

On Thursday, the group of 30 11th- and 12th-grade students from Sky View will travel east in preparation for the first round of the national finals of the 2009 We The People: The Citizen and the Constitution National Finals.

The competition, focusing on knowledge of the U.S. Constitution, includes nearly 1,200 students from all 50 states and the Northern Mariana Islands.

For months, the Sky View students studied the principles and values in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights in preparation to testify as student experts on constitutional issues in a simulated congressional hearing.

The group will make their presentations and answer questions asked by a panel of judges, then receive a score from a group of constitutional scholars, lawyers and public officials.

The 10 teams with the highest scores will compete in the championship round Monday in the congressional hearing rooms on Capitol Hill.

Sky View students already won district and state competitions to earn the right to travel to nationals.

While in the nation's capitol, Sky View students will visit historic sites and visit with Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, and Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett, both R-Utah.

— Sara Israelsen-Hartley