“Does power corrupt?” is our Overarching Question for the year.

No better way to explore this question in a time of pitched political polarity, than putting 1950s crusader Joe McCarthy and his House Un-American Activities Committee on trial and asking: Are these patriots defending the United States against Communist subversion or An evil band of demagogues, trampling the civil liberties that make America great?

At the exhibition, middle schoolers dressed in character, taking strong stands, marshaling evidence and validating courses while appealing directly to logic or a fundamental principle of morality, each side attempting to debunk each other in a mock testimony at a U.S. Senate trial.

When juxtaposed against this session’s Gratitude genre, the exhibition highlighted the power and peril of a free society:  gratitude for all that we have been given, and a promise to defend freedoms – like the freedom of speech – so we can pass along our blessings to future generations.