By Sam Elliott

Spots in Fishers’ first Constitution 101 class are filling up fast.

Constitution 101 is a six-week course the city is offering beginning Feb. 24, and then taking place the following five Tuesdays from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the Fishers City Hall auditorium.

The class is free to attend, but registration is required by visiting fishers.in.us/wtp, and nearly 40 of the 50 spots have been claimed. Attendees will receive a pocket constitution and a copy of the textbook “We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution.”

Robert Leming, the national director of the We the People program — which teaches middle and high school students constitutional principles as they compete in state and national competitions — will lead the Constitution 101 class.

“I think everyone needs to understand government and the constitution,” Leming said. “I’ve worked with elementary, middle, high school and college students for a long time, but am excited to try this with the community… It’s kind of an experiment to bring together community members who may or may not know each other and discuss government in a civil manner.”

Fishers City Council member Cecilia Coble met Leming through volunteering as a judge for area We the People teams, leading to discussions on how to increase civics knowledge among area adults.

“I think it’s good timing with the presidential election coming up and people are more interested in the national level of the politics and you’re seeing more nationalism and interest in the process,” Coble said. “I’m hoping it will just provide more knowledge of the founding of our country and our political system, how the branches of government were formed, how the founding fathers went about putting that in place and it’s just really interesting when you dive into the civics. Hopefully this will allow people to want to be more engaged at the national level and at the local level with getting involved with their civic duties.”