Sitting on the fake grass of Bo Diddley Plaza underneath the burning sun, Eleanor Rodriguez wasn’t just taking a lunch break. She was gearing up for victory.
“We’re gonna win it all,” she said confidently. “We’re gonna get first place, and we’re gonna beat everybody by 23 points.”
All around her, her teammates from Fort Clarke Middle School casually sipped on their cartons of chocolate milk as they took a break from the first session of the Civics Challenge. In a few minutes, they’d head back inside the Alachua County Administrative Office across the street to finish the competition.
On Wednesday, students from seven middle schools competed in the challenge to showcase their knowledge of civics. This is the eighth year of the Civics Challenge, and students were ready to take home the trophy.
But even though the competition can get intense, its intentions are anything but. The Civics Challenge was designed to get students more involved with civics, connecting them with the local government.
“I think it had been on my mind that civics needed to be more out in the community, and I wanted to create some kind of a fun event that would help engage students that might have an interest in social studies and civics,” said Anne Shermyen, the event’s founder.
There’s seven rounds in the competition, with five members of the team competing at once. The Civics Challenge is conducted in a “Family Feud” style with questions related to civics. At the beginning of every round, one student from each team stood head-to-head in front of two buzzers.
The first competitor to hit the buzzer and answer correctly would earn a point. From there, all five students on their team would be asked a question. If they answered correctly after deliberating, they would earn three points. If not, the opposing team had the opportunity to steal.
“It’s honestly more stressful to watch than it is to play,” said Atticus Valentine, a 12-year-old competitor from Fort Clarke. “If I’m playing, I feel more in control of the situation than I am watching and as I wait for Harper to say ‘ambassador,’ and she says ‘administrator.’”
“It started with an ‘A,’ and that’s all I knew,” Harper replied with a laugh.
The competition’s winning team, Lincoln Middle School, answered 87% of their questions correctly, and the second place team, Westwood Middle School, earned 86% of questions correct. The event’s lowest scoring team earned a 61%, still receiving a majority of the answers correct and earning a passing “grade.”
These high scores aren’t attributed to some lucky guessing, though. Learning through competition-based games has the ability to enhance learning and motivation. As this motivation increases, so does the accuracy, which ultimately increases post-test scores. The Civics Challenge not only allows students to connect with local government, but it also aids them with their end-of-year civics exam, serving as a beneficial study tool to raise their scores.
Learning material through this method not only intensifies motivation and engagement among students, but it also promotes inclusivity, allows for personalized learning and fosters critical thinking and problem-solving.
Competition-based games also can encourage collaboration, both in and outside of the challenge.
As Rodriguez and her team fueled up for the second half with self-served nachos and tacos, they freshened up their memories with last-minute trivia facts and reminded each other of the morning’s shortcomings and how to fix them.
“He usually gets the answer, like, super correct,” said Harper Gilbert, a 12-year-old teammate for Fort Clarke, about her teammate Andrew. “But he does not confer with the team on group questions.”
“Usually I’m wrong, though, which is good,” Andrew Atohi replied.
“We just need to confer more,” Gilbert said. “More teamwork is OK.”
Gilbert has always loved trivia and would usually play a “Pop Culture Jeopardy!” style version with her dad. But when preparing for the Civics Challenge, Gilbert strayed from the world of pop-culture and started using Blooket educational games to study. They’d also use review packets provided by their teacher, Ms. Schimel, to study and would try to get their answers right as fast as possible.
Their game plan? Hit the buzzer first, then think later.
When it comes to writing the questions, Jon Rehm said the material relies on the state-defined academic standards regarding civics material. The K-12 social studies curriculum specialist for Alachua County Public Schools is responsible for organizing the event, including curating the questions.
The event is intended for some of the “high flyer” students who have a passion for civics, Rehm said, and some students’ knowledge of specific information shows him just how passionate they are.
Earlier in the morning, the seventh graders were asked when the federal election was. Although it’s the second Tuesday after the first Monday of November, Rehm said he chose to keep the correct answer general as “the second Tuesday of November.” But to his surprise, the student provided the exact answer, including the first Monday of November and all.
“I just don’t think a 12 or 13-year-old’s going to get that sometimes, and they’re yelling out all of that,” Rehm said. “That’s not part of our standards in our curriculum — it’s just [that] it’s in November. Seeing their knowledge, seeing their love, seeing their passion — that’s my favorite part of this. It’s exactly why we do it.”
Although some students aren’t interested in pursuing a career related to politics or government, many are. Andrew Atohi, a 13-year-old competitor from Fort Clarke Middle School, dreams of becoming a lawyer.
He was the first to answer a question for his team, and now that he knows how the challenge works, he said he felt good going into the remainder of the day. Even with the growing confidence, standing behind the buzzer can get pretty nerve wracking. But Atohi knows what to tell himself when he feels the nervousness setting in.
“You got this,” he’ll say. “You can do this. The other person could get this question wrong, and that’s a chance.”
The challenge initially started as a competition between just Hawthorne and Lincoln middle schools. Since then, it’s expanded to the in-person competition, as well as virtual competitions for middle school students and high school U.S. history students. Nearly 3,000 students are involved each year.
This year, Lincoln Middle School took home the first place prize, proudly holding up their trophies as they celebrated their win.
“Let this just be sort of a starting point for you to go out and make a difference in local, state, national, the world, whatever it’s going to be,” Rehm told the students before they went home. “I know you guys are all the ones that can do it.”