More than 40 Bromfield students, organized into 12 teams, competed for a gleaming silver trophy in the Civics Cup last Sunday. Teams bore names ranging from intimidating (Civic Sharks) to self-deprecating (Wasted Potential) to just plain hard to say (Antidisestabrumentarians). The most pragmatic name suggested a reward students hoped for, whether or not they won the trophy: Team Extra Credit.
Rep. Jen Benson speaks between rounds at the Civics Cup competition. (Photos by Isabel Barton))
The first annual Civics Cup, sponsored by Harvard’s League of Women Voters, drew a substantial crowd of about 50 people to upper Town Hall. Audience members and contestants alike struggled to remember what Congressional district Harvard is in, which branch of government has the power to declare war, and what the minimum age is for the president. (Third, legislative, and 35, respectively.)
Moderator Bill Barton emceed and asked the questions, while Victor Normand served as timekeeper. Teams had 30 seconds to write their answers to each question on a small whiteboard at the team table. After the buzzer sounded, teams held up their whiteboards, and an adult scorekeeper at each table kept track of the team’s points. Bromfield faculty members Kathleen Doherty and Andy Wright served as judges.
The contest’s first three rounds each featured 10 questions. Round 1 focused on the U.S. Constitution, Round 2 on citizenship, and Round 3 on state and local government. In those three rounds, the teams could ask for help from a “lifeline”—but each team was allowed only one lifeline request. (Members of the Select Board provided lifeline services.)
The first-place team. From left: Chris Thornton, Kate Selig, Kevin Yu, and Yohhan Kumarasinghe.
At least one team hoped probability would improve its score. When none of its members could come up with the right name for an answer, the team went with the odds and boldly wrote “Smith” on its whiteboard.
At the end of three rounds, before breaking for pizza, Barton announced that five teams were all clustered near the top of the scoring. Round 4, with just five questions and no lifelines allowed, would decide the winner.
For that round, contestants needed to know some numbers (presidential cabinet officers, a constitutional amendment) and a lot of names (eight Supreme Court associate justices, the current secretary of defense, the three most recent Massachusetts governors). Some audience members near the back of the room could be heard muttering, “Weld?” “Romney?” “And what’s-her-name?”
When the final buzzer sounded, only 7 points separated the top three teams.
From left, second-place finishers Claire Stoddard, Grace Acton, and Liza Toll.
Clockwise from left: Scorekeeper Debbie Kaegebein with third-place finishers Curtis DiNapoli, Thomas Bradshaw, Finnegan Hobart, and Grant Denmark.
In first place, with 53 points, was the team “Taxation Is Theft,” a group of four seniors with a sense of irony; their team name was a meme expressing opposition to government—the very subject on which they showed their expertise. Members of the winning team were Yohhan Kumarasinghe, Kate Selig, Christopher Thornton, and Kevin Yu.
A three-member team, the Pawnee Goddesses, took second place with 48 points. On that team were juniors Grace Acton and Liza Toll, and sophomore Claire Stoddard.
An eighth-grade team, the Civics Super Squad, came in close on the heels of the older students to win third place with 46 points. Its members were Thomas Bradshaw, Grant Denmark, Curtis DiNapoli, and Finnegan Hobart.
Between rounds, the audience and contestants heard from state Rep. Jen Benson, Judge Joan McMenemy from the Berkshire Juvenile Court, and Select Board member Stu Sklar. All three urged students to continue their interest in government and to take part in public life. Benson reminded her listeners that the Massachusetts constitution is the oldest written constitution in continuous use in the world. “John Adams wrote my job description,” she said. “That’s pretty awesome.”
In a matter of minutes at their break, students had managed to “disappear” a stack of pizzas that Sorrento’s donated to the event. Contestants also received gift cards for the General Store or O’Neil Cinemas and copies of the U.S. and Massachusetts constitutions, as well as cookies from Harvard Sweet Boutique and a small American flag.
The event will be available on HCTV soon, so that viewers can test their own knowledge of civics against the very well-prepared Bromfield teams.
