By Sue Hatch and Anne Shermyen
The two students faced off, inches from each other, hands poised over electronic buzzers. The judge asked a question as it flashed onto the overhead screen. Beating her opponent by seconds, the student from High Springs Community School slammed her palm down on the buzzer which rewarded her with a loud squeal, after which she gave her answer. The judge announced, “Correct!” and with that, High Springs won the round, and eventually, the district-wide contest. For the second year in a row, High Springs Community School is the overall champion of the Annual Civics Challenge. Alachua County public school students take a comprehensive middle school civics course in seventh grade which includes not only a study of citizens’ rights and responsibilities but also elements of geography and economics. The students are then required by the state to take an end-of-course civics exam. The Civics Challenge is a competition co-hosted by the Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS) and the League of Women Voters of Alachua County (LWVAC). The competition helps prepare students for their end-of-year exam while shining a spotlight on those students who excel in the study of our government.
The in-person competition opened on April 13 with an address by the Honorable Judge Meshon Rawls, followed by oral rounds and a written test. This year five schools elected to participate in the in-person event, sending ten teams and 50 students for a day of competition and celebration in the Alachua County administrative offices. At noon, students and teachers were treated to lunch on Bo Diddley Plaza and listened to a presentation by John Powers, the Alachua County Tax Collector. All participants received a Civics Challenge t-shirt and a medal, while the winning teams, Westwood, and the runner-up, Kanapaha, took home trophies. On April 25 the League co-hosted the virtual competition when all seventh grade students taking civics within ACPS had an opportunity to compete for additional individual prizes and recognition. This was the third year that we reached over 2,000 students in our virtual competition. Once the in-person and virtual contest results were added, the winner emerged, and High Springs rejoiced knowing the coveted perpetual plaque from Annual Civics Challenge Competition will continue to hang in the halls of High Springs, for 2023.
As a member of the League, your money and volunteers make this day possible by providing t-shirts, trophies, transportation, and food for the competitors as well as supporting planning, logistics, and day-of activities. In addition, your funding has helped to pay for the online platform used to run the virtual competition. Jon Rehm, the Social Studies Curriculum Specialist for Alachua County, creates the questions and solicits teacher participation. He says the competition is loved by students and teachers alike. While you can feel the excitement and see the fun during the in-person competition, the schools appreciate the virtual competition just as much. In fact, Jon recently remarked, “Across the board, the teachers think the virtual competition is a great way to review for the end-of-year exam”, and he notes that teachers continue to use the platform even after the event to prepare their classes.
The Civics Challenge committee has discussed the possibility of expanding the Civics Challenge to include high school students. Next fall the committee will review Jon Rehm’s proposal for a virtual US history competition. At that point, the committee may seek additional sponsorship to fund the new Challenge.
As President Franklin D. Roosevelt said,
“Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education ... to prepare each citizen to choose wisely and to enable him to choose freely are paramount functions of the schools in a democracy.”
