BRENTWOOD, Tennessee – The National Constitution Bee is set to convene Saturday, as students from across the state and the country gather in Brentwood to test their knowledge of the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. At stake is the title of Grand Champion and a prize package that includes a $10,000 education scholarship which may be applied to college or university, or trade school programs.
National Constitution Bee Executive Director Claudia Hennenberry said the event is a great way for students to gain knowledge of the Constitution and a free society.
“The National Constitution Bee is for students who love the Constitution and Bill of Rights and are looking to challenge themselves – as well as earn scholarship dollars to help fund the next step in their education,” Hennenberry said.
2021 marks the fifth year for the competition to be held at the SpringHill Suites by Marriott in Brentwood, Tennessee, on October 23.
While contestants are primarily high school students, The National Constitution Bee website says that “ambitious students in grades 8, 9, and 10 are welcome as well.” Students compete in person vying for six separate titles – each with its own prize package.
The contest focuses on three main rounds.
First is the Preamble Round, where contestants have the option to perform, present, or otherwise re-imagine the 52 words of the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States in 60 seconds. The Preamble, written by Gouverneur Morris, which established the purpose of the founding document, was made famous in the late 1970s by a wildly popular episode of Schoolhouse Rock!
The best performances will be awarded trophies in three categories: Most Creative Preamble; Most Persuasive Preamble; and Most Entertaining Preamble.
Next is the Elimination Round, in which contestants will be asked questions of fact organized by three levels of difficulty – easy, moderate, and difficult – and the field will be narrowed to the top six.
The final Championship Round will begin by narrowing the field of six to three based on the contestants’ three-minute oral responses to essay questions at the very difficult level.
“These different rounds of competition are designed to see how well students know the Constitution and Bill of Rights,” Henneberry said.
The student named The National Constitution Bee Grand Champion with earn a $10,000 education scholarship. The second and third place finishers will each earn $5,000 and $2,500 education scholarships, respectively. The top three contestants will also receive trophies and a letter of recommendation acknowledging their superior performance in the competition.
The National Constitution Bee questions are based on the book, Guide to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights for Secondary School Students. The Guide shares with students “the personalities, policies, and some of the politics the framers dealt with as they designed what was at the time, a unique form of government. The story then continues through the first ten amendments, known as The Bill of Rights.”
However, student and prospective contestants may access the book via a limited edition podcast, available for free at the Guide to the Constitution website.
Henneberry described the text as “a story behind everything that it took to create the Constitution.” In addition, it covers the background of the people who created the Constitution, and “how they created that brilliant miraculous document.”
The first two chapters of the book are outlined as “introducing students to philosopher Os Guinness’ concept of “The Golden Triangle of Freedom” – the interdependent values of successful societies that are buttressed by virtue, faith, and freedom,” and “the context – the politics of the 1770s and 80s in the original 13 colonies (and in particular, Philadelphia and Boston) – that created the conditions for crafting the Constitution that would bind the newly-liberated American territories after the perilous Revolutionary War.”
The remaining 19 chapters focus on the Constitution and also have practice questions in each chapter. Along with a robust appendix containing the complete text of the Constitution, The Bill of Rights, the remaining Amendments 11 – 27, a glossary, and sourced endnotes with QR codes.
Former winners of the National Constitution Bee are Noah Farley (2017), Cooper Moran (2018), and Aryan Burns (2019). Each winner used their grant towards a trip to Washington, DC, where they have been able to witness Supreme Courts in action. In 2020, for the National Constitution Bee, Jackson Carter won first place and had said he would put the money towards his college education at the University of Alabama..
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Morgan Nicole Veysey is a reporter for The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow her on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
