Wayland Comes in Second in Annual Civics Bee

The following was submitted by the League of Women Voters.

Wayland came up just short of Sudbury in Sunday's fourth annual League of Women Voters Civics Bee.

The final scores indicated the closeness of the contest all afternoon. Sudbury won with 712 points, just ahead of Wayland with 707 points and Weston with 696 points. The maximum number of points possible was 1,000, and at least half of the questions were at the college AP level.

Previously, each town had won the Bee once.  The teams from each town are made up of middle-school and high-school students and adults.

The Civics Bee, held at the Wayland Middle School, focused this Presidential election year on the executive branch, but included questions on all branches of the federal government and on state and local government as well.  The Bee is sponsored by the Leagues of Women Voters of Sudbury, Wayland and Weston.

Representing Wayland were David Mudway, Larissa Sehringer and Linda Zhang, middle school; Alex Bierman, Ben Haspel, John Huo and Caroline Kreidberg, high school; and Brian Boggia, Tom Fay and Kim Reichelt, adults. Pamela Weinstein-Molloy was a middle school team member but was unable to compete.

The Sudbury team members were John Logan, Sarah Hausman and Conor Brockway, middle school; Bryn Gingrich, Ilana Kleynerman and Zachary Semple, high school; and Myron Fox, Carmine Gentile and Christopher Kenney, adults.

On the Weston team were Akiva Gordon, Simon Harris and Ramesh Nagaragah, middle school; Brendan Eappan, Greg Sanda and Sophie Wirth, high school; and John Fiske and Joe Mullin, adults.

Richard Alpert, an assistant professor of constitutional law at Boston College School of Law, was the Bee’s judge for the third year.  Jo-Ann Berry, co-chair of the League of Women Voters of Acton, was Bee Master or moderator, and Mary Antes, chair of the Wayland League, was chair of this year’s Bee committee.

The Civics Bee was videotaped to show on local cable television channels in the three towns in the near future.

Next year, the fifth annual Civics Bee will be held in Weston.

The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization which encourages informed and active participation in government and works to increase understanding of major public policy issues.