A trio of Lakeview Middle School students will be moving on to the state National Civics Bee competition after placing in the top three spots of the local contest Tuesday evening.
Barrett Hodorek placed first, receiving $500 and a trophy. Andrea Martinez-Lara placed second, receiving $250 and a trophy. Third place went to Luke Vander Bie, who earned $125 and a trophy.

    The 10 Lakeview Middle School students participating in Tuesday’s National Civics Bee get ready for the quiz portion of the competition. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union
  

This was the second year for the Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce to host the National Civics Bee by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation.
Chamber Events Coordinator Nora Christiansen said that while all the participating students this year were from Lakeview, “We’re hoping next year we can branch out to other school districts as well.”
It is open to all middle school-aged students, from sixth to eighth grade. Next year, she said they will be putting it out in the fall.
For the essay portion of the contest, she said they received over 100 essays. Those were judged by the essay judges and given grades. From there, the Chamber invited the top 20 to participate in Tuesday’s live event, ending up with a group of 10.
The essay was a civics topic.
“So they actually got to write their essays on topics that they chose that they believed were reflected in their community or has a need in their community,” Christiansen said.
The first half of Tuesday’s Civics Bee was two rounds of multiple choice questions on civics issues. The first round consisted of 10 slightly easier questions, while the second round consisted of 10 more difficult questions.
As an example, the fourth question asked, “Which principle of government ensures that no one branch of government can become all powerful?” There were four choices, with the correct answer being “checks and balances.”
After the two multiple choice rounds, the five students with the highest scores moved on to the live judge portion. The students had an opportunity to discuss their essay topic with the three judges - Marcie Fisher, Marlene Betances and Leo Patiño - who also got to ask the students questions about their civics topic.
The judges rated each of the five students on their summary presentation and answers to the questions, with that score combining with the multiple questions score to determine the top three winners.
Reading a summary of his essay, Hodorek said he wrote it on water quality levels in Kosciusko County’s lakes and streams.

    Kosciusko Chamber of Commerce Events Coordinator Nora Christiansen (R) gives instructions for the next round of the National Civics Bee to the live essay judges and the middle school students. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union
  

“The number of algae blooms in the county’s lakes continues to climb, and these algae blooms produce potentially dangerous toxins, harming wildlife, pets and humans. This problem can be stopped as citizens do their part to combat this issue,” he said. “Farmers can adopt what are called best management practices, which include planting cover crops so that nutrients don’t run into streams and eventually make their way into the lake. And normal, everyday citizens can plant native plants and trees, but also simply go into a car wash, if possible, instead of washing your own car. It can reduce unwanted nutrients in the lake.”
If the top three students choose to participate in the state contest, it will be held in Indianapolis in May. All the first-place winners from every state contest will be invited to the national contest in Washington, D.C., in the fall.
Kosciusko Chamber President and CEO Rob Parker said the event is a U.S. Chamber initiative and the Kosciusko Chamber signed on for the past two years and will do it again next year.
Amanda Scroggs, Warsaw Community Schools district media services coordinator and librarian for Lakeview, said LMS heard about the contest recently and she was “super excited” when she heard about it through the Chamber.
“So I was then able to go back to Lakeview and to Edgewood and share the information with them,” Scroggs said. “We have two teachers at Lakeview that said they would work it out that they would give their kids an opportunity to write the essays in class, with some guidance and some support.”
Those teachers were April Boggs for eighth-graders and Lynn Studebaker for seventh-graders.
“And then, we were really grateful for Brandon Murphy, who is the social studies teacher at Lakeview, who has, in the last two or three weeks, got the kids that were notified that they were able to come to this contest, and just really walk them and talk them through the bills, some of the laws, some of the structure and historic things that might come up on today’s quiz and give them an opportunity to collaborate and support one another even as a group,” Scroggs said.

    Judges for the live essay portion of the local National Civics Bee contest on Tuesday were (L to R) Marcie Fisher, Marlene Betances and Leo Patiño. Photo by David Slone, Times-Union
  

All the students were cheering each other on, Scroggs continued, and were “super excited” to be there.
“It’s really helped build even some great, I think, long-term friendships because of this contest,” Scroggs stated.
In welcoming everyone to the event, Parker said, “Civics is so important. It really helps us to understand the democracy we have. It helps us to engage in community action, to make our world a better place. I want everyone to realize that civics is not politics. Those are two very different things. Civics is about helping the local community, it’s about understanding the rule of law, it’s about understanding how things get done within our country.”
He told the students he was proud of each one of them for taking time out of their day, for entering the contest and encouraged them to just have fun.
He thanked Christiansen for organizing the event, Envision Design for the awards and Scroggs and Boggs for all the work they did. He then went over the rules.