Would you rather be a Civic God or a Disoriented Rat? How about a Historical Hooligan? Do you have Wasted Potential? Those were just a few of the names chosen by Bromfield teams competing last Sunday in the third annual Civics Cup, sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Harvard. A record-setting 13 teams, made up of 45 students, took part in a two-and-a-half-hour test of knowledge about the nation’s history, government, and Constitution.
In 2019 and 2020, the Civics Cup was held in Town Hall, with student teams gathered around tables as they answered four rounds of questions that ranged from basic to esoteric. Contestants saw each question on a slide, and a timekeeper called “Pens down” after the allotted time to decide on an answer.
The Civics Cup. (Courtesy photo)
But this year, the pandemic required League organizers Shannon Molloy and Jen Manell to modify the contest to work on Zoom. Teams received links to each round of questions on Zoom’s “chat” feature. Instead of conferring at tables, each team met in its own online breakout room. Every team also had a League member or volunteer as a liaison. Liaisons helped with time management and acted as scribes, writing down the teams’ final answers for each round of questions.
Sadly, this year’s event was not open to the public because of the complexity of setting up the breakout rooms while also protecting the privacy of the youthful participants and avoiding the hazards of Zoom bombing.
Meg Bagdonas and Jackie Normand, the League’s co-leaders, welcomed the teams to the online gathering. Then Town Moderator Bill Barton explained there would be three rounds of 10 questions (some with multiple answers), followed by a bonus round of five questions.
An integrity pledge
Because students were working from home, with their cellphones and computers readily available, the League introduced a new feature for the contest: an integrity pledge. All participants raised their hands or otherwise signaled visibly that they would not search the internet or use their books to look up answers.
Once the contest began, Manell moved people back and forth from their breakout rooms to the main Zoom room, readmitted people who accidentally signed themselves out, and directed help where it was needed. Teams were allowed one “lifeline” during the contest; they could request help from Bromfield social studies teachers Kathleen Doherty and Andrew Wright, who also served as judges for the contest.
After submitting their answers for each round, students returned to the main Zoom room to hear the official answers to the questions. Then they went back to their breakout rooms to decide if they wanted to contest any decisions about whether their own answers should count as correct or not.
If a team thought one of its answers was close enough to the correct answer to count, team members called for a judge. Manell would announce the team’s name: “The Penguins need a judge.” And one of the two judges would report to the Penguins’ breakout room to decide the issue.
Among the questions that called for a judge’s decision: If “initiative petition” was the official answer, was “petition” alone an acceptable answer? (Yes.) If the Supreme Court ruled students had the right to protest by wearing black armbands in school, was “they left school to protest” an acceptable description of their actions? (No.)
Scorekeeper Jennifer Finch went from one room to the next, virtually, collecting the answers and computing the scores.
The eighth- through 12th-graders whizzed through challenges that included knowing the words to the Preamble to the Constitution and which amendment in the Bill of Rights guarantees trial by jury, listing the six branches of the military, and identifying passages from famous presidential speeches.
While the students worked on the questions in their groups, Manell played music for the waiting adults, choosing songs that seemed fitting for the event. Among the most popular were several songs from “Hamilton,” as well as “I’m Just a Bill” by Schoolhouse Rock.
At the end of the event, adults and students alike were left in suspense. With several teams in a virtual photo finish, the League organizers decided to delay announcing the winner until every score could be double-checked. The first-, second-, and third-place teams are expected to be announced Friday, March 12.
The prizes are certainly worth waiting for. The top three teams will each receive generous gift cards from the Harvard General Store. The top two teams will also get gift cards from the West Side Creamery and the Silver Unicorn Bookstore. These businesses and the League cooperated in financing the prizes. Earlier, Carlson Orchards donated apples, and Harvard Sweet Boutique provided cookies for competitor gift bags.
Bromfield grad Grace Acton returns, but Rep. Dan Sena has urgent business elsewhere
Bromfield 2020 graduate Grace Acton, who was a member of last year’s winning team, returned to help with this year’s Civics Cup. She had planned to do a live interview with state Rep. Dan Sena at the beginning of the contest, but he canceled at the last minute because his wife went into labor with their third child.
Fortunately, Acton had recorded a video of her earlier talk with Sena—just in case. She asked him how COVID-19 had affected his first term in the Legislature. Surprisingly, he said it had been “a good experience overall” because it had allowed him a better balance between work and his family life, spending time with his children. He said he also tried to take a daily walk. (A photo of the newest member of the Sena family is on state Sen. Jamie Eldridge’s Facebook page.)
Sena’s assistant, Daniel Szetela, attended in the representative’s place. “Civics is really important—it’s critical to our lives,” Szetela said in a short address to the group.
