Suwannee County Republican Party hosts first Constitution Bee

Photo, L-R: Suwannee GOP Treasurer Karen Swart, Second Place winner Lydia Gunter, 12th grade - Suwannee High School, Third Place winner Daniel Gunter, 6th grade - Home School, Lisa Keep, Suwannee GOP Chairwoman, First Place winner Lillian Pellicer, 8th grade - Suwannee Middle School, American Patriots of North Florida President Virginia Smith and Vice Chair of the Suwannee GOP, Pieter Swart.
Lillian Pellicer also achieved a perfect score on the state wide civics end-of-course exam and was encouraged by her civics teacher to enter the Constitution Bee. -Photo submitted by Lisa Keep

Submitted by Suwannee GOP Chairwoman Lisa Keep

To engender and support knowledge and education about the Constitution, the Suwannee County Republican Party hosted the first of what will hopefully become an annual event – a Constitution Bee for Suwannee County students. Held on Saturday, September 20th, in the Live Oak public library only three days after Constitution Day, it was formatted like a spelling bee.

 Participants, who could attend any Suwannee County school or be homeschooled, were read the multiple-choice questions and answered by giving the letter of the choice they believed was correct. Those who answered correctly remained in the competition for the next round; those who answered incorrectly were eliminated from the competition.

There were 19 participants, and the winning question was asked in Round 9. All of the participants demonstrated knowledge of the Constitution, but the top three finishers were Lillian Pellicer, 8th grade, Suwannee Middle School; Lydia Gunter, 12th grade, Suwannee High School; and Daniel Gunter, 6th grade, Home School. The prizes were $500 for first place, $300 for second place, and $100 for third place.

The Suwannee County Republican Party thanks Virginia Smith, President of the American Patriots of North Florida, Inc., for serving as one of our scorekeepers, along with our own Vice Chair, Pieter Swart. Our Treasurer, Karen Swart, assisted with registration, while Chairwoman Lisa Keep Harmon read the questions to the participants.

The students were encouraged to continue studying both the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence and to be active citizens now and in the future. Each participant was given a Constitution Catechism and a flag-themed pen to thank them for participating.