National Civics Bee

Colleagues,

National 4-H Council helped NYS 4-H Youth Development to enter a partnership with the National Civics Bee by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. To encourage participation in the civics bee and to learn more about how it works, I will offer an information session on Zoom on Thursday, January 8, 2026. 

We welcome your 6th, 7th, and 8th graders to submit a four-paragraph essay proposing an idea for how they can improve their community. The first round will determine invitations to the regional bee and winners advance on to the state finals. If they place at the state finals, 4-H members will advance onto a national bee held in Washington, DC. The deadline for essay submissions is February 3, 2026. 

Linked here you will find the National Civics Bee educator toolkit for your review, we will dig into this in the new year. New this year there are school prizes for winners in each state too!  

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Additional Application Guideline: 

To ensure NYS 4-H is listed on their application, instruct 4-H members to: 

1) Select “Youth Organization” for the “How did you hear about the National Civics Bee?” question. 

2) Enter “NYS 4-H” or specific county association name for the “Which youth organization?” question.

Post-Submission Survey: Encourage 4-H Member Applicants to complete the optional Finalist Survey post-essay submission to indicate that they heard about the Bee through the NYS 4-H.  

Note: They will also be entered into a gift card raffle.

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Check your email for the zoom link or reach out to Jamila Walida Simon at jws62@cornell.edu.