It’s been a busy summer for one Blue Valley middle schooler as he prepares to be the first person from Kansas to represent the state at the National Civics Bee.
Winning first place in the Kansas State Finals of the National Civics Bee in May, Rishaan Panchal, a student at Oxford Middle School, will take part in the finals in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 12.
“It’s a good way to represent my state and engage in the community,” Panchal said. “I’m just really happy in general to be there and contribute to our society.”
A part of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Civic Trust initiative, The National Civics Bee quizzes middle school-aged students on their knowledge of American social studies and civics trivia.
Panchal’s essay was originally homework
Students were originally selected to compete in May’s state civics bee by writing 500-word essays.
For that essay, participants had to identify a problem in their community and suggest a solution.
Panchal, who was in sixth grade last year, focused his essay on making health care more accessible.
“In such a developed nation, there’s still a lot of people who go without the health care they need,” he said. “It’s a pretty big problem that people need to address.”
Initially, the essay was an assignment from one of Panchal’s teachers, but once he started digging into the topic, it went beyond merely a piece of homework.
“I got really interested in it after I started writing the essay,” he said.
The essay brought him to Wichita this past May with 10 other middle schoolers from around the state to compete in the state civics bee at the Kansas Leadership Center.
Panchal’s parents Apurva Panchal and Chaitali Mahajan said they were both impressed by his ambition.
“He did take an initiative to do this by himself, so I’m proud of him for that,” Mahajan said.
Panchal came out on top after three rounds of competition, which included two rounds of multiple-choice questions and a final round where contestants had to give a three-minute presentation on the essay they submitted previously and take questions from a panel of judges.
“(To be) recognized at this level, we were pretty excited and proud of him,” Apurva added.
Panchal is preparing for D.C.
While Panchal spent most of the summer doing some of his favorite activities, like swimming and reading, he’s also been preparing for this fall’s trip to D.C.
While the quiz format and study guide are similar to the state competition, Panchal said he’ll have to delve deeper into the quiz’s topics.
“I’m probably just gonna study more into the topics I’ve already been (looking at),” he said.
In addition to the competition, this will also be Panchal’s first time going to the nation’s capital.
“I was really happy to find out I was going to D.C.,” he said. “I think it’s a really great opportunity to learn more about civics and represent my state.”
This is Kansas’s first time at the competition
During the past year, the Overland Park Chamber of Commerce Foundation lobbied for the state to compete in the event for the first time.
“It’s just getting kids more involved, understanding our political process, understanding our form of government, and hopefully building some trust in these institutions,” Kevin Walker, the Chief Policy Officer for the Overland Park Chamber, told the Post in a previous interview. “If we lose trust in our governmental entities and our form of government, we’re going to have problems.”
Placing in the top three at the state competition alongside Panchal were two other Blue Valley students: Pranjal Adhikari, an eighth grader at Lakewood Middle School, came in second, and Caleb Bonnema, a seventh grader at Blue Valley Middle School, placed third overall.
In a statement to the Johnson County Post, Jennifer Luzenske, director of curriculum and instruction at Blue Valley Schools, said they were happy to be a part of the competition and look forward to seeing Panchal compete in D.C.
“We appreciate the Chamber’s effort to increase knowledge of civics and civic engagement in our middle school students,” she stated. “We look forward to Rishaan Panchal … representing Blue Valley at the national competition and our continued participation in the Civics Bee in future years.”
Go deeper: How the Overland Park Chamber wants middle schoolers to get involved in civic discourse
