The Overland Park Chamber of Commerce Foundation has joined in with a national effort to improve youth civics education and engagement with a National Civics Bee.
Much like a spelling bee, the National Civics Bee — part of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Civic Trust initiative — quizzes middle school aged students.
But, instead of spelling complex words, competitors are tested on their knowledge of American social studies and civics trivia.
Why start the National Civics Bee?
Kevin Walker, the Chief Policy Officer for the Overland Park Chamber, has taken the lead on organizing the local bee. He said the U.S. Chamber was worried about a trend away from trusting in “core American institutions.”
Hoping to find a way to address that and reaffirm the value of civics education, they started the National Civics Bee a couple of years ago.
Since then, it’s grown to include about 30 U.S. states.
And, ahead of the 2024 National Civics Bee cycle, Kansas is joining the competition for the first time.
Walker said the Overland Park Chamber was eager to agree to host a local bee after leadership within the organization had noted similar concerns about civic discourse.
“It’s just getting kids more involved, understanding our political process, understanding our form of government, and hopefully building some trust in these institutions,” he said. “If we lose trust in our governmental entities and our form of government, we’re going to have problems.”
How can local middle schoolers participate?
- Any sixth, seventh or eighth grade student in homeschool, private school or public school can participate in the National Civics Bee.
- Students qualify for local bees with a 500-word essay submission, due on Jan. 8. Find more information about the rules and essay prompt here.
- A team of judges will blind score the essays. The top 20 essay-writers will move onto the live local bee, which will be take place in the spring.
How does the National Civics Bee work?
- Kansas will have four local bees, including the Overland Park Chamber’s local bee.
- The Hutchinson-Reno County Chamber of Commerce, the Pittsburg Area Chamber of Commerce and the Wichita Regional Chamber of Commerce are also putting on local bees.
- Any Kansas middle schooler can participate in any of the local bees offered in the state regardless of which community they live in.
- The top three students from each local bee qualify for the state competition, which the Kansas Leadership Center will host over the summer.
- Then, the top student from each state competition will go on to the national bee in fall 2024 in Washington D.C.
- Cash prizes are offered at each level for the top finishers. At the Overland Park bee, the first place finisher will take home $500.
Overland Park Chamber is encouraging local support
- During the actual event, the audience will be able to participate and digitally answer the questions posed to the student participants to gauge their civics knowledge.
- Additionally, Walker said the Overland Park Chamber is looking for local sponsors to help put on its bee.
- The chamber also needs some volunteers to help judge students’ essays.
- Interested businesses, groups or individuals can contact him at kwalker@opchamber.org.
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