Issues facing the community propelled two Adinvita Private School students into the first Odessa Chamber of Commerce Civics Bee and into prizes, and for one, a chance to compete statewide.
Vasty Urias got first place and a $500 prize and Zoey Tijerina earned fifth place and a $50 Cinergy gift card.
First, 2nd and 3rd place winners will advance to the 2023 Texas Civics Bee this summer in Austin. The essay topic was “Identify a problem facing your community. How might a citizen solve the problem?”
Urias, a 13-year-old eighth grader, was motivated to enter the bee because she feels that there are a lot of issues in the community that could be resolved, but kids her age don’t usually pay attention to them.
“Knowledge is key. The more people know about civics, the more people are informed over the issues in our community, which is why I decided to write an essay and then I got accepted (to) the Civics Bee. Our teachers helped us with writing the essays and studying. We had about two weeks to study because it was last minute. Since it was last minute, we didn’t have as much time as we wanted to study but I felt like we still got a lot of knowledge,” Urias said.
Adinvita was founded by Linda Subia and Amanda Tijerina. Amanda encouraged Zoey, a 12-year-old sixth-grader, to participate.
“It was a collaborative effort,” Amanda Tijerina said.
Urias said she learned a lot, especially about the Constitution and the Declaration of Sentiments, how the government is set up and how the community works.
“I know I definitely learned a lot of stuff and now I like pull out facts …,” and surprise her mother, Urias said.
Zoey Tijerina, who is very shy, said she wrote an essay about substance use and how they can affect you. She cited stress as a factor in people’s substance use.
Urias took right to being in the event.
“It was definitely a great experience to get in it. I’ve never been in a Civics Bee. It’s the first one that Chamber of Commerce ever had. I know I went in there really nervous and I did my best, but I know I could do more. It was an amazing experience and it’s definitely something that I could look up to doing again,” Urias said.
The state competition will be later this summer.
“I’m definitely very excited and I’m happy that I have more time to study so I can give it more of my best shot and you know, get more knowledge in. There’s three rounds; the two first few rounds were multiple choice and then the last one was spoken questions about your essay that the judges give you and I know over the civics questions I can do better than what I did,” Urias said.
Amanda Tijerina said Zoey will participate next year. She added that there was another student, eighth-grader Kennedy Smith, who was chosen to participate, but did not.
She added that they discuss working in the community and ways to make the community better all the time at school.
Asked if she was going to run for city council or something like that, Urias said that would be fun.
“It’d be fun getting to do stuff in my community and making it better. My topic was over human trafficking which is a deep issue in our community and that not many people know and talk about, especially people my age so I definitely think that if I were more involved with my community, and to educate people over it, I think it would help a lot … The more population the state has, the more cases of human trafficking there are. Since we have quite a bit of population, I can educate most of them and spread the word around so that more people know and more people are aware of the situation,” Urias said.
Tijerina said the study packet that Urias received includes cases she needs to review and be proficient in.
To prepare for the state competition, Urias said she will study the Articles of Confederation, the U.S. Constitution and the Declaration of Independence to “get the knowledge of it, and then that goes into a little bit more detail over what it is, as well as knowing the amendments because most of the amendments are in the questions. They are the important parts of our government and the things that run our government.”
Civics Bee Winners
First, 2nd and 3rd place winners will advance to the 2023 Texas Civics Bee this summer.
1st Place Winner – $500
- Vasty Urias, 8th Grade – Adinvita Private School
2nd Place Winner – $250
- Alina Ahmad, 8th Grade – Harmony Science Academy
3rd Place Winner – $125
- Elijah Munoz, 7th Grade – St. John’s Episcopal School
4th Place – $50 Cinergy Gift Card
- Moyinoluwa “Precious” Omotoye, 8th Grade – Harmony Science Academy
5th Place – $50 Cinergy Gift Card
- Zoey Tijerina, 6th Grade – Adinvita Private School
