Calling all 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students! Share your ideas and flex your civics knowledge in the National Civics Bee®.
The Civics Bee has become a fun way for BV to celebrate civic dialogue and empower youth voices to speak out about issues they care about. We’re honored to create space for your students as they learn to become engaged and active members of our community.
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How It Works
Local Hosts
The Buena Vista Civics Bee is co-hosted by the Buena Vista Chamber of Commerce and the League of Women Voters of Chaffee County. It’s a nationwide competition organized by the United States Chamber of Commerce Foundation and hosted by state and local Chambers across the US! Local middle school students are invited to submit essays describing how they’d solve a local problem of their choice. Local judges score the essays through an anonymous judging platform. The top 20 finalists are notified and move on to the live local competition in Spring. Winners then compete in the State Civics Bee Competition. Finally, winners from each state go on to compete in the national competition in Washington, DC.
Civic Dialogue
We believe it’s important to create a safe space to cultivate and celebrate civic dialogue. We honor the history of the democratic experiment and the importance of intergenerational conversation and action. Democracy is messy and fascinating and requires our participation in furtherance of the Constitution’s invitation to create “a more perfect Union.”
Student Essays & Local Competition
In January of each year, the essay competition opens. Middle school students are invited to identify a problem in their community and write about how they would solve that problem. Any 6th, 7th, or 8th grade student residing in Colorado with an idea about using civics to improve their community may review the rules and submit an essay application on this page.
State & National Competition
Finalists will be invited to Washington, DC to compete in the National Civics Bee National Championship in Fall.