The 2020 Michigan Star Constitution Bee is open for registration!
If you have a secondary school-level student enrolled in a public or private school, or a home school program, they are eligible to participate in the 2020 Michigan Star Constitution Bee, a one-day event to be held this fall. See details at the National Constitution Bee website: https://nantionalconstitutionbee.org
Students in grades 8 through 12 are eligible to participate. The questions and associated study guide are geared to students in grades 11 and 12, but ambitious students in grades 8, 9, and 10 are welcome as well.
This will be the fifth Constitution Bee by Star News Digital Media. The first was held in 2017 at Sycamore High School of Cheatham County Schools in Pleasant View, Tennessee, and the second was held in 2018 at the Williamson County Administration Building in Franklin, Tennessee.
The student who wins the Grand Prize Championship as the top Constitution secondary school student in the state of Michigan at the April 18, 2020 Michigan Star Constitution Bee will receive an all expenses paid trip to Washington, D.C, along with a parent, plus a $3,000.00 (three thousand) scholarship to apply to the first year’s expenses to the winner’s college or trade school of choice after high school.
Prizes will be provided by the Founders Freedom Forum, the Kalamazoo, Michigan-based non-profit.
2017 Tennessee Star Constitution Bee winner Noel Farley took his trip to Washington, D.C. in October 2017, where he met with Federal Court of Appeals Judge Thomas Griffith.
2018 Tennessee Star Constitution Bee winner Cooper Moran took his trip to Washington, D.C. in July 2018, and was at the Capitol where he witnessed Supreme Court nominee, now Supreme Court Justice, Brett Kavanaugh’s first walk through the halls of the Capitol with Vice President Mike Pence on their way to meet the United States senators who would vote on his confirmation.
In addition to the individual Grand Prize Championship, high schools will also be competing for the 2020 Michigan Star Constitution Bee High School State Championship.
“It is vital that we rediscover the importance of our Constitution, and pass it along to the next generation,” J.C. Bowman, executive director of Professional Educators of Tennessee, which provides the educational scholarship, told The Star.
“We think a Constitution Bee is an important step to encourage that effort. The preservation of our liberties is an ongoing battle, something our Founders understood,” Bowman said.
The Bee is designed to focus on student knowledge of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights in the same way as the National Spelling Bee and the National Geography Bee.
Star News Digital Media CEO and Michigan Star Editor-in-chief Michael Patrick Leahy said that 20 teachers from across the state are being invited to join The Michigan Star Constitution Bee Educational Advisory Board this year.
“We are looking for 10 public school teachers, five private school teachers, and five home school parents to join our Educational Advisory Board to help us reach an even greater number of participating students this year,” Leahy said.
The questions in the 2019 Michigan Star Constitution Bee will be based on the 2019 edition of The Star News Digital Media Guide to the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, is available for purchase at a price of $30.
Students, parents, and teachers, our 2020 Michigan Star Constitution Bee will be based on our book, The Star News Digital Media Guide to the Constitution and Bill of Rights for Secondary School Students, which you can purchase here:
The book costs $30.00. Sales tax = $2.78. Shipping = $7.85.
Total Cost = $40.63
Orders placed before noon central, Monday through Friday will be shipped the same day.
All orders shipped by USPS Priority Mail.
“Our guide is written at the level for 11th and 12th grade students who are taking the half semester course in Government, but can also be used as a self-study guide by any student in grades 8 through 12,” Leahy added.
Judges will include sitting Michigan justices, attorneys, and editors from The Michigan Star.
Star News Digital Media, Inc., the parent corporation of The Michigan Star, will host the first annual National Constitution Bee which will be held at the Phoenix Park Hotel, near Union Station, next to Capital Hill, in Washington, D.C. on October 17, 2020.
Top finishers in the first annual The Michigan Star Constitution Bee will join top finishers from Star News Constitution Bees in other states for the national championship, where additional scholarship prizes will be awarded to the national champion and second and third place finishers.
In addition, the three contestants from each state will compete for their states to be declared the state high school national champions.
Judges for the October 17, 2020 National Constitution Bee have not yet been announced.
Residents of other states interested in operating Star News Constitution Bees in their states are invited to apply for licensing rights in their states for the 2020 Star News National Constitutional Bee. State license agreements will be available in January 2020.