Colorado civics bee aims to reignite interest in government, history

Even at 12 years old, Sriram Yalavarthy sees the unbreakable thread between history and the current moment, something he’s long loved learning about in social studies classes going back to the founding of the United States.

“Learning that the past actually happened” is what Sriram said fascinates him the most. “It’s not just a story we tell every single day, and it affects us today still.”

The seventh grader from Drake Middle School in Arvada was crowned the winner of the first of its kind state civics bee Friday at St. Cajetan Catholic Church in Denver, where he competed against 14 other Colorado middle schoolers. Similar to a spelling bee, the Colorado National Civics Bee put students in front of an audience to quiz them on all kinds of facts related to how…