CAPTION: The top three winners of the National Civics Bee Reno County receive applause for their performance and move on to the state competition at the Kansas Learning Center in Wichita on June 5. The winners are (left to right) 1st place, Titus Walker, 3rd place, Rylan Gates, and 2nd place, Jaxson Heller.
By Kate Irelan
Titus Walker, a middle school student in Reno County, won the 2nd annual 2025 National Civics Bee Reno County Finals with his ideas on integrating Spanish language learning into middle school classes. The second-place winner was Jackson Heller, and the third-place winner was Rylan Gates. Nineteen students competed at the Stringer Fine Arts building on the Hutchinson Community College campus on Wednesday, April 23. About 50 people attended the civics bee.
According to the Hutch Chamber website, “The National Civics Bee is one of many pilot National Civics Bee competitions promoted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. The National Civics Bee is an annual competition that encourages young Americans to engage in civics and contribute to their communities.”
Debra Teufel, president of the Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce, opened the competition by saying that this is the third year of the national competition, starting with five participating states and growing to 39 this year. This is the second year that the Hutchinson/Reno County Chamber of Commerce has hosted the event. Teufel said that the chamber applied and is one of just five cities across Kansas that participate in the competition.
“We follow the National Civics Bee and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation model and rules. We also have the ability to get sponsors. IdeaTek has been a sponsor for both years, providing tablets as prizes to encourage digital literacy in addition to the students’ verbal presentations,” she said.
The Hutch Chamber said of the event, “We believe that informed and active citizens make for a strong country, a strong economy, and a strong workforce, and that our continued prosperity depends on the strength of all three. The National Civics Bee is a way to promote greater civic knowledge and civic participation across the country, and to energize our community with a celebration of civic pride.”
The top three finalists each received a tablet from IdeaTek and a cash prize, $500 for first place, $250 for second place and $125 for third place. Teufel said that finalists who advance from local and state rounds to the national championship compete for cash prizes, trophies, recognition and a $100,000 529 savings plan.
Richard Shank was the emcee of the event and led the audience and participants through the program, including an audience participation game where everyone could answer the questions from the judges and see how they compared with the competitors. Two guest speakers, James Krstolich, community and public relations manager at Ideatek and Jenna Fager, county clerk/election office of Reno County, both spoke to the students about the importance of democracy, digital literacy, being involved in their community, and voting.
Judges for the competition were Melissa Moodie from Hinkle Law Firm, Hutchinson Fire Department Captain Patrick Weathers, and Hutchinson Mayor Stacy Goss, who also serves as director of communications, marketing, and public relations for USD 308. They said the reason Walker was the winner was that he had a plan, and his idea had a good chance of coming to fruition. “He was concise and had a lot of strong statistics that showed the benefit of adding Spanish language learning to middle school classes, and called out to the community,” said the judges.
The state finals competition will be held on June 5, 2025, at the Kansas Leadership Center in Wichita, and the national finals will be in November. For more information about the state finals, visit the Kansas Leadership Center website.
