by Kelly Rogge
In recognition of the adoption of the U.S. Constitution in 1787, the United States celebrates Constitution Day every Sept. 17. And as in past years, Kansas City Kansas Community College students, faculty and staff spent some time remembering the hard work and dedication of the United States’ founding fathers.
“What is the history of this great document,” said Ewa Unoke, KCKCC professor and chair of the Constitution Day Committee during KCKCC”s Constitution Day event Wednesday. “The American Constitution is the best, most dynamic Constitution in the world. Why? Remembering our founding fathers came from England, they did not like absolutism or a monarchy. So the founding fathers decided to divide the power of the king of England into three – the executive branch, the legislative branch and the judicial branch. We did not like kings and queens because we like freedom, and it is the love of liberty that brought the founding fathers here.”
Constitution Day was created in 2004, replacing what was previously known as Citizenship Day. Sept. 17 was chosen because that was the day that the Constitutional Convention signed the Constitution. The federal law requires that all educational institutions that receive public funds provide some type of education programming on the history of the American Constitution, leading to events such as the one at KCKCC.
This is the ninth year for the Constitution Day event at KCKCC. Among the 60 students and staff who attended were Michael Vitale, vice president for academics and Cherilee Walker, dean of the arts, humanities and social science division. The event included a presentation from Bryan Whitehead, journalism professor at KCKCC; Joe Grasela, reference librarian at KCKCC and Valdenia Winn, professor at KCKCC and a state representative in the Kansas Legislature. Each took one part of the U.S. government and spoke on its history as well as how that relates to state government. Janet Velazquez, law professor at KCKCC, was the moderator and led the question and answer session.
Those in attendance were also given a copy of the Constitution to take with them and were able to ask questions following the presentations.
For more information on Constitution Day or how to get involved with the Constitution Day committee, contact Ewa Unoke at [email protected] or call 913-288-7119.
Kelly Rogge is the public information supervisor at KCKCC.
