Story by Katie Hightower
On March 14, the Kevin Dukes Career and Innovation Academy held the Northeast Alabama Civics Bee sponsored by the US Chamber of Commerce Foundation. The bee challenged students by testing their knowledge about US government and history.
In order to be chosen as a finalist in the civics bee, students were required to submit a written essay to their local chamber of commerce. The students were asked to write the essay about a challenge their local community faced, what could be done to solve the challenge and how the challenge’s solution included Founding Principles and Civic Virtues. The judges graded the essays on clarity, innovation, relevance and research.
The Mountain Lakes Chamber of Commerce received 415 essays from students across North Alabama which was the second largest number of essays received by a chamber in the United States. Of those 415 entries, 20 finalists were chosen for the bee.
The 20 finalists competed in two rounds with 10 questions per round. The 20 finalists were all given iPads courtesy of Google. They used those iPads to answer the questions in the first two rounds of the competition. At the end of the competition, all 20 finalists were allowed to take the iPads home as prizes for their hard work.
The five finalists with the most correct answers in the first two rounds, then had to deliver three-sentence summaries of their essays to the judges and then answer three minutes worth of questions from the judges. The top three finalists picked by the judges then will have the opportunity to compete in Montgomery for the state competition at Huntingdon College.
The top winner of the state competition will have the opportunity to compete in the national competition for a chance to win a $100,000 scholarship. The all-expenses paid trip to the national competition was courtesy of the US Chamber of Commerce’s Foundation.
Keelee King, a seventh grader from Skyline High School, won third place and a check for $125. Rohan Sahoo, a seventh grader from Journey Middle School in Madison, won second place and a check for $250. Christa Manning, an eighth grader from Skyline High School, won first place and a check for $500. All of the top three finalists also received trophies to recognize their achievements.
