Three Students Take Top Prizes at Centre County National Civics Bee

Three local middle school students earned top prizes at the National Civics Bee in Centre County on Monday and advanced to the statewide competition.

The Chamber of Business & Industry of Centre County hosted the event at the Eric J. Barron Innovation Hub in State College in partnership with the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business & Industry and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. The initiative encourages middle-school students to showcase and grow their understanding of, and appreciation for, the rights and duties of American citizenship.

Middle-school students from across Centre County were invited by the Chamber to write essays about how they would use their knowledge of civics to solve a problem facing their communities. From those submissions, 20 students advanced to the live-quiz event and competed in two rounds of multiple-choice questions about the Constitution, the branches of government and more.

Five finalists then answered questions about their essays from a panel of judges, including state Rep. Paul Takac, state Sen. Cris Dush and U.S. Rep. Glenn  Thompson. 

Katie Tyworth, an eighth grader at Mount Nittany Middle School in State College, won first place and a $1,000 cash prize. 

Sol Lee, also a student at Mount Nittany Middle School, took home the second-place cash prize of $500, and Starlyn Gearhart of Philipsburg-Osceola Middle School earned third place trophy a $250 cash prize. 

All three students now have the opportunity to represent Centre County at the statewide National Civics Bee to be held in June in Harrisburg. 

Five other local chambers from across Pennsylvania are taking part in the Bee