LIMA, OH (WLIO) -Â Local kids put their knowledge of history and government to the test for northwest Ohio's first ever Civics Bee.
Over 100 middle school students submitted essays proposing solutions to problems in their communities, and of those, 20 were selected to participate in Wednesday night's competition. They went through two rounds of multiple choice questions, and in the third round, the top five students took the podium to take questions from judges about their essay topics.Â
Young people tend to vote and participate less in politics, so the Lima/Allen County Chamber of Commerce hopes the Civics Bee encourages kids to take a more active role in government when they're old enough.
"This gets them involved a little bit more in the dynamics of what civics actually is and how you can impact your community by being a part of that," said Nicole Scott, vice president of the Lima/Allen County Chamber of Commerce.
For their essays, some students focused on ideas that would help others struggling with addiction.Â
"I was writing about vaping, like if you could stop children vaping, that would make it really helpful for Lima," said 7th grader Laryssa Williams of Lima West Middle School.Â
"I wrote about the drug abuse issues that we have in Allen County and some of my solutions were rehab and just helping people in general because not everybody wants to be addicted to things and some people just need a little push to get help," said Lima West Middle School 8th grader, Arianna Edens.
The top three finalists of the Civics Bee were Paige Sullivan of Liberty Arts Magnet School in first place, Palin Homan of Coldwater Middle School in second place, and Arianna Edens of Lima West Middle School in third place. These students will go on to compete in the statewide competition in Columbus at the end of June.
