Live from Music Row, Friday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed the 2020 National Constitution Bee winner Jackson Carter in studio to describe what it was like competing in the event.
Leahy: It is a pleasure it is to welcome to our microphones a young man who is now a seasoned political veteran. I’ve known him for several years. Mr. Jackson Carter. He has been recently elected to the Maury County Board of Education. Welcome to The Tennessee Star Report, Jackson.
Carter: Good morning, Michael. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it.
Leahy: Did you do some radio when you were running for a board of education down in Maury County?
Carter: I did one show down in Columbia, but other than that, this is really my second time on the air. I’ve been I went and toured the 99.7 studios a couple of years ago and met some people over there, met the late Phil Valentine. Really looked fondly on that. But really, being on the air, this is my second time.
Leahy: Well, you’re doing great. Of course, you and I first met in 2020.
Carter: Yes, we did in October of 2020.
Leahy: There’s a big smile on your face right now, Jackson Carter. You were a student at Spring Hill High School at the time. You were a senior. And we have this little thing that we do. We’ve done it for six consecutive years. We’ve got the 7th year coming up in October of 2023.
It’ll be held in Brentwood at the Spring Hill Suites, the same place where you and I first met. Yes, sir. It’s an event called the National Constitution Bee it’s sponsored by The Star News Education Foundation, which I set up with Christina Botteri a couple of years ago, about seven years ago.
And we have some donors, and we do a National Constitution Bee, based on the book that I co-authored, The Guide to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights for Secondary School Students. You are a pretty good student of that book.
Carter: I like to think that I was. I know I poured through it page and page, and I can honestly say that I would say I learned more reading that book than I did in any government class, anything else I’ve ever done in my life.
Leahy: Patrick, keep that clip. We’re going to use it over and over and over again. Just put it on the website. You’ll sell more copies. And it was sort of interesting because you go to Spring Hill High School and you were a student there, a senior. I had no idea that you were attending.
I had no idea that you had prepared. But when you came in, I think, did you bring a dog-eared copy of the Constitution book? Because I know you’d gone through it. I could tell.
Carter: And I didn’t have it with me. But you should see my copy of the house. I still have it, still, look over it from time to time when I have questions. But that thing has been written in, highlighted, and earmarked. That poor book has been through it. Was this the one we had, Alan Dershowitz?
Carter: Yes, sir.
Leahy: Alan Dershowitz gave you a talk, the professor emeritus at Harvard Law School. We had a Skype thing going on.
Carter: Yes, we did.
Leahy: So that was kind of fun. But there was a lot of high drama in that Constitution Bee. What was it like competing as a student? And we’ll tell you what happened here in a bit. There were like, I don’t know, 25 kids here.
Carter: Exactly. There were, like, 25 of us. And I had come to the hotel that morning. I had no idea what I was walking into. I knew I’d read my book, and I knew I’d prepared, but I really didn’t know what I was getting myself into until I got there.
And just the sheer amount of nerves I felt walking into that room was crazy. We did the preamble round first, kind of got everybody loosened up a little bit.
Leahy: The preamble is where the kids kind of get to compete, and they do. Singing their version. Singing, dancing, whatever, just to warm things up. We give some prizes out for that.
Carter: So once we finally got settled in and started doing our lightning rounds, then we had a good feel for how it was going to go. And I started warming up, loosening up a little bit, and then oh, have mercy, I remember the essay round.
Leahy: There’s an essay round that’s like six semifinalists, and then you do it before the judges, and then they picked the three best. It’s sort of subjective. A little nerve-wracking, isn’t it?
Carter: Yes, it is. And we were all sequestered in the little conference room, and we had our prompts, and we had, I think, 15 minutes to write. And then they took our papers from us, and we couldn’t study while other people were going, (Leahy laughs) you’re just going to sit in there stewing, trying to go, okay, what did I just write? Do I remember everything? Did I write the right thing? Are they going to like what I say?
Leahy: The judges are there. You give your three-minute essay on the topical question that we gave you, and then you come back, and then there are six semifinalists waiting to see who wins. How nervous were you at that?
Carter: I don’t know if you noticed or not, but you probably had your back to me at the time. But I don’t think I was able to stand still for longer than about four or five continuous seconds. (Leahy laughs)
I paced around the back of that room like I don’t know what, because there were three people that went in after me giving your speeches. I’m sitting there listening, trying not to explode. And then finally, when they announced the names, I ran to the front of the room.
Leahy: And you were one of the three?
Carter: Yes, sir.
Leahy: When you get to that, there are prizes. You know you’ve got either a $2,500 scholarship, a $5,000 scholarship, or $10,000 scholarship. And now you can do the lightning round. You stand up there, all three of you, and we ask the hard questions, the really hard questions.
Then if you miss it, you’re out, and if you get it right, you’re the winner. What was that last lightning round like for you as you were standing next to the two other kids?
Carter: Truthfully, I tried to just block out what was happening around me and just treat it like anything else. I remember when the first young lady missed her question. It was me and one other young lady. And that’s when it hit me, like, okay, you’ve got a shot to actually win this thing. (Leahy laughs)
And I remember when she missed her question. I just kind of sat there. I don’t know if you remember that. I sat down in the chair, and I kind of stared at the floor for a second. It was truly one of the more surreal feelings of my life.
Leahy: So she missed her question. And did you have a last question then, or had you already given me your answer?
Carter: I’d already given my answer.
Leahy: Okay, so you gave your answer. It was down to two of you, and you knew that if she got it wrong, you were the champion.
Carter: Yes, sir.
Leahy: Were you rooting against her? (Laughs)
Carter: No, truly, I say that I wasn’t. I wanted it to be a fair and honest thing. And so she missed her question. And then I said, ladies and gentlemen, the new national champion of the National Constitution Bee, the winner of a $10,000 education scholarship, Mr. Jackson Carter of Spring Hill, Tennessee. How did you feel then?
Carter: It felt like I was having an out-of-body experience. To be honest with you, Michael, I truly will never forget hearing those words. It truly was one of the more surreal moments of my life.
Leahy: And we gave you the check for $10,000 that day, right?
Carter: Yes, sir.
Leahy: You put it in your bank account?
Carter: Yes, sir.
Leahy: And you used it to pay your tuition for the first year at the University of Alabama?
Carter: Yes, sir.
Listen to today’s show highlights, including this interview:
– – –
Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
