Presentation of Learning

What is civics, and why is it important?

Spelling bees, from classroom bees all the way up to the Scripps National Spelling Bee, allow learners of all levels to demonstrate their spelling prowess. But did you know there is a National Civics Bee that encourages 6th, 7th, and 8th graders to demonstrate their knowledge of and commitment to public service? The annual nonpartisan competition asks middle school learners to ponder the question: Why does civics matter, and how can I impact my community to make it better? Contestants must answer a three-part essay on this topic to enter.

Sixth grade iLEAD Exploration learners Mary and Cornelius V. took this central question seriously and thought deeply about what areas in their community needed attention and how they could help improve those areas. Apart from fulfilling the writing requirement, Mary and Cornelius took action steps to show that learning civics is really important, even to middle schoolers who are more than capable of helping make a positive change in their communities. Mary and Cornelius submitted their essays and won spots on the National Civics Bee as alternates!

For the first section of her essay, Mary decided to tackle something personal and set out to help middle schoolers who, like herself, struggle with myopia, or nearsightedness. While researching for her essay, Mary learned about the factors that lead to myopia and what makes it worse. This led her to want to warn middle schoolers about it, as well as to give them tips on what they can do to improve their eyes. Her second essay addressed clearing up the dry brush in her neighborhood to help prevent fires. The third part of her essay addressed her solutions to improve middle schoolers’ academic motivation by rewarding them with gift cards, freebies, and discounts to fast food restaurants, trampoline parks, and clothing stores that tweens and teens enjoy.

Cornelius started out by noticing that more and more parks and playgrounds had become less welcoming to middle schoolers, something he felt was a big disservice to kids his age and a contributing factor to the problem of middle schoolers spending too little time outdoors. Cornelius contacted the local parks and trails director to share his concerns and then outlined his ideas and suggestions in his essay. The second part of his essay reflected his concerns about the water and food shortage California faced during the outbreak of the fires. His action plan was to collect cases of water that he could donate to the victims affected by the fires. Lastly, the third part of his essay focused on the importance of watching out for your neighbors and banding together to deter crime in their neighborhood.

As a follow-up to her work preparing for the National Civics Bee, Mary chose to address the city council near her home and spoke passionately about the importance of civic engagement and the US Constitution. Check out the video of the speech below.

RESOURCES:

• National Civics Bee website
• The Bill of Rights institute
• The US Constitution
• Mary’s Why Civics Matter Speech
• Watch Mary give her speech