Austin recently played host to the Texas Citizen Bee Finals, a statewide civics education competition funded by the Hatton W. Sumners Foundation.
The event, organized by the State Bar of Texas, offers teachers and high school students an exciting way to study America’s heritage. Students use an online study guide program created by the Bill of Rights Institute that covers the U.S. Constitution and other important documents, people, issues, civic values, and skills. The study guide can be found here.
The winning student from each regional competition competes in the state competition, which was held April 26 at the Texas Law Center and Texas State Capitol. News anchor John McCaa of WFAA-TV in Dallas served as moderator.
All contestants take a timed, multiple choice written examination, which counts as 65 percent of the final score. Students then compete in an oral round, making up 35 percent of the score, in which they answer one question from each of the categories.
The top four students are listed below.
1st Place
Thomas Cobb, Beaumont
Prize: $1,000 scholarship
2nd Place & Civic Conversation
Ayesha Rahman, Richardson
Prize: $1,250 scholarship
3rd Place
Angelo Ganno, McAllen
Prize: $500 Scholarship
4th Place
DaVonté Wilson, Tyler
Prize: $250 Scholarship
