COLLEGE TOWN, FL — Florida middle schoolers competed in the state civics bee at FSU Tuesday, with the winner heading to nationals in Washington, D.C. — a reminder that civic education builds skills for every career path.
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A Florida middle schooler is heading to Washington, D.C., after winning the Florida Statewide Civics Bee Finals at Florida State University's Turnbull Center on Tuesday.
While most middle schoolers are enjoying summer break, students from across Florida competed for a chance to represent the state on a national stage — and to make a change in their communities.
Araoluwakiitan A., a student from The Voyager School, took home the top prize.
"It feels amazing, and I can't believe I'm going to DC, which gives us more publicity and more awareness, and I hope that with the non-profit Vision Heritage, we can do good and we can actually make a difference in our community," Araoluwakiitan said.
Each competitor earned their spot in the finals by winning a civics bee competition in their hometown. The students came prepared with proposals addressing real issues they identified in their communities.
Avinoor J., one of the contestants, focused on education inequality.
"I saw a problem growing in my community, and that was basically unequal education," Avinoor said.
Another contestant, Emma C., highlighted a civic engagement issue she uncovered through her research.
"Florida actually has the lowest in-person volunteer rate of all the states in the US," Emma said.
Organizers say the event was about more than answering questions correctly — it was about preparing tomorrow's leaders.
Ryan Owens, Ph.D., The director of the IGC at FSU said the competition is designed to build skills students will carry into any career.
"It's about knowledge, but it's also about skills. It's about skill building. Learning skills are necessary to work with others. Succeed doesn't matter what business what line of work you get into if you're a doctor a lawyer in public policy whatever you're gonna have to learn how to operate within this republic so this is building skills for students no matter what profession they're going to succeed," Owens said.
Students said preparing for the competition deepened their understanding of how government works — and why civics matters beyond the classroom.
"I think it's really important to learn about government and civics and most importantly our community because if we learn about those things, we can be more informed citizens and contribute more to our community. It's not just in the classroom, but it's actually in the real world you can solve real problems and have an actual impact with civics," Avinoor said.
Araoluwakiitan will now represent Florida at the national civics bee competition in Washington, D.C.
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