Farmington chamber encouraging middle school students to enter National Civics Bee

Mike Easterling
Farmington Daily Times

FARMINGTON — Jamie Church, the president the CEO of the Farmington Chamber of Commerce, said she understands that her organization’s decision to help encourage local participation in the National Civics Bee may help young people become more engaged in civic life and be better informed about American democracy.

But Church acknowledged she has an ulterior motive, explaining that her organization also stands to benefit from having middle school students take part in the competition.

“Our Farmington chamber really has been looking for a way to get young people involved,” she said, adding that she wants youngsters to have a grasp of what the chamber does. “This helps us to have that conversation with middle school students, since we already hire interns from high school.”

The Farmington chamber is partnering with The Civic Trust of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation to present the local civics bee. Middle school students from public, private, charter and home schools are welcome to participate in the competition, which begins with the writing of a 500-word essay.

Jamie Church, president and CEO of the Farmington Chamber of Commerce.

A panel of local judges will sift through those entries, selecting the top 20 students to advance to the next round in April, where they will compete against each other in a live quiz event designed to test their civics knowledge. Prizes will be awarded to the winner and other top finishers, including a $500 prize for the first-place competitor.

The top three finishers from each local competition will advance to the statewide competition. Church said the Farmington chamber is one of only seven chambers across the state presenting a civics bee. The first-place prize in the statewide competition is $1,000.

Church said she has been reaching out to school districts, libraries and youth groups throughout San Juan County, as well as government agencies, to promote the event. She also will be taking on the role of recruiting judges for the essay competition and the live quiz, and arranging for the prizes that will be awarded to the top finishers.

Anyone interested in serving as a judge is encouraged to contact Church through the chamber at 505-325-0279.

“We’re very excited about this and think it’s a great project,” Church said.

The deadline for submitting an essay for the first round of the competition is Feb. 24. For more information on competition rules, visit https://my.reviewr.com/site/CivicsBee/NM/FarmingtonChamberofCommerce.

Mike Easterling can be reached at 505-564-4610 ormeasterling@daily-times.com.

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