The 2025 National Civics Bee Reno County finals were held Wednesday at the Stringer Fine Arts Center. Titus Walker from Hutchinson Middle School - 7 won the event with fellow classmate Jaxson Heller in second place. Third place winner Rylan Gates is from Hutchinson Middle School - 8. Nineteen middle schoolers from Hutchinson and Haven participated in the Civics Bee. 

In their second year, the Hutchinson / Reno County Chamber of Commerce hosted the local competition for the National Civics Bee, an essay competition and live event designed to engage 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students in community engagement through civic virtues. The top 20 essay finalists were invited to participate in the live event that included 2 multiple choice question rounds and a 3rd round where the top five qualifying students answered questions from live judges based on their submitted essays, according to Lauren Storm with the Hutch Chamber.

While judges compiled their final scores to discern the top 3 finalists who will move on to the state competition, Reno County Clerk Jenna Fager gave a presentation on the civics related topic of elections.

These top three winners will compete at the state civics bee finals on June 5th at the Kansas Leadership Center in downtwon Wichita. 

During the competition, audience members had the opportunity to go to an app on their phone to answer the same questions as the students, allowing them to see how their scores compared.

Reno County Civics Bee winners from left to right are first place Titus Walker, third place Rylan Gates, and second place Jaxson Heller. Judges were Stacy Goss, left, Patrick Weathers and Melissa Moodie.The five finalists were Emily Gable, left, Rylan Gates, Cayden Fontaine, Jaxson Heller and Titus Walker.Emcee was Cliff Shank. Guest Speaker was Reno County Clerk Jenna Fager.