The annual competition will be held Wednesday, Oct. 14, in Washington. Viewers can watch Chloe Dabney and other middle schoolers from across the nation compete live.
A 14-year-old Brandon student will represent South Dakota at the third annual National Civics Bee Championship in Washington this month.
Chloe Dabney, a ninth grader at Brandon Middle School, will compete against 51 other students from each state, Washington and American Samoa in the national competition on Oct. 14 at 7 p.m. CT.
She was awarded $1,000 for winning the South Dakota Civics Bee in June. The National Civics Bee champion will receive $100,000 in a 529 education savings plan and win the Bill Daniels National Civics Award.
This won’t be Dabney's first time in Washington. Her mom, Clarissa Barnes, recounted a family trip they took to the area last year. Barnes said Dabney specifically asked to visit the Library of Congress.
Barnes, who's been helping Dabney study for the competition, lived in the Washington area for seven years. She said the Library of Congress never occurred to her to as a place to visit.
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“She (Chloe) was like, ‘Well, I want to go to the library. That’s where all the books are,’” Barnes said.
Dabney said it's important for young people to know about civics so the mistakes of the past are not repeated. Learning about civics is fun for her.
“I think it's also been really impressive to know how many things that she just knew that we had never told her," Barnes said. "But she had just picked it up through school or just from conversations from people."
How to watch
This year, the bee will be televised and streamed live on C-SPAN for the first time. It’s a relatively new event - the October competition will be the third annual civics bee presented by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. It will air Wednesday, Oct. 14 at 7 p.m. CT and will be hosted by actor and game show host Jerry O’Connell.
While the televised portion will be one day only, there are more days of competition and activities for the sixth, seventh and eighth grade competitors. The students will also visit institutions in the nation’s capital.
The finalists will be tested during a team presentation, a multiple-choice round, a head-to-head gauntlet, an interview round and a high-stakes final buzzer round, according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
More than 20,000 students from 240 communities across the nation participated in their state bees. The South Dakota Chamber of Commerce and Industry hosted the state event in collaboration with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Ali Gabriel, vice president of development at the South Dakota Chamber, said 12 finalists from four regions participated in the state bee at Augustana University in Sioux Falls. It was the second year South Dakota participated. Gabriel said in the future, she hopes to move the competition around the state.
“I really like the idea of hosting it at universities because they have great venues, great facilities, great technology, great audio. It's a perfect spot for it,” Gabriel said.
The state’s first competition was hosted at South Dakota State University in Brookings. Ryan Budmayr, president and CEO of the South Dakota Chamber, said the event is patriotic.
“It's at a university environment, which is kind of neat,” he said. "I think there's a real kind of uplifting excitement that is both patriotic, civic minded and with a focus on higher education that I think is kind of fun to see from all parts of the state.”
Budmayr said South Dakotans should be proud of who is representing the state nationally.
“Chloe’s a sharp gal. I'm excited to watch her and I think the state should be excited to watch her," Budmayr said. "She's competitive and we should be proud of who we're sending to compete in this."
South Dakota News Watch is an independent nonprofit. Read, subscribe for free and donate at sdnewswatch.org. Contact reporter Emily DeCock: 605-736-4396/ emily.decock@sdnewswatch.org.
