Constitution Day, a federal observance held on Sept. 17, commemorates the signing of the U.S. Constitution and recognizes those who have become U.S. citizens.

To mark the day, Quincy University held a discussion on what citizens need to know about the U.S. Constitution. The event, led by Padraic Rohan, Ph. D, was held in MacHugh Theater.

An email with a flyer for the event was sent to all QU students’ accounts.

Before entering the theater, students had the opportunity to register to vote at a table hosted by the League of Women Voters of Adams County The event, held at 11 a.m., was open to all QU students to learn about America’s history. Of the 30 students who attended, 10 were international.

Luisa Andrade, a student from Brazil, was one of the international attendees.

“I learned a lot about whether we should broaden the citizenship or place limits on who should vote and why,” Andrade said. “We also talked a lot about what it takes for a person to be able to vote, like needing to be informed or taking a civics course. There was a lot of good discussion today about this.”

The discussion featured breakout groups to discuss numerous topics given by Rohan, after each group was done conversing they shared with the other groups what their opinion was on the given topic.

“This was a wonderful day with a lot of students and members of the community coming together and  discussing what education does a citizen need. So first we talked about what a citizen is or should  be because many people, you know, there are many throughout history many different conceptions of a citizen, but then also what kind of education, formal and informal, does a student need,” Rohan said.

Rohan has hosted this event for the past two years and has enjoyed educating the next generation of U.S. citizens and looks forward to doing this again in the future.