Pupils from George Fox Middle School in Pasadena took first and second place in the state finals of the "We the People Project Citizen" Portfolio Competition at the Maryland State House this spring.

The first-place team, with the theme "Local Community: Beach Pollution," edged out a team with the theme "Industrial Pollution."

We the People is a civic education program for middle school pupils that promotes participation in state and local government. As a class project, pupils study a public policy issue and develop an action plan to implement it. The final product is a portfolio displaying each group's work.

George Fox Middle School pupils from Cathy Moreland's eighth-grade class will represent Maryland at the national finals July 12-17 in Indianapolis. The pupils are:

Knittle Ansa, Ray Bennaman, Shane Bittner, Bryan Braun, Steven Childress, Cheyenne Cole, Fred Dittmar, Gary Everly, Kenny Grant, Amanda Gross, Joseph Heilman, Kelly Henze, Luke Hoffman, Crystal Hoyer, Doug Jarrell, Tom Jones, Michael Kane, Carey Koontz, Adeana Lipman, Andrew Pieters, Robert Ramsey, Justin Romberger, Michelle Santo, Rudy Saunders, Ashley Schmidt, Sheena Shields, Billy Smith, Cory Smith, Crystal Tacy, Michael Wagner, Jarrett Walterhoefer and Ryan Williams.