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Virginia teen heads to National Civics Bee, a competition to teach peers about the importance of government

Neil Handa, a rising ninth-grader from Crozet, won the 2025 National Civics Bee Virginia State Finals earlier this month in Williamsburg. He'll compete in the national competition this November in Washington D.C.
Photo courtesy of Sandeer Handa
Neil Handa, a rising ninth-grader from Crozet, won the 2025 National Civics Bee Virginia State Finals earlier this month in Williamsburg. He'll compete in the national competition this November in Washington D.C.

Crozet’s Neil Handa competed in the state finals in Williamsburg earlier this month after writing an essay about the impact of excessive screen time on young people.

Rising ninth grader Neil Handa has concerns about the amount of time people spend on screens, and he has ideas to refocus their gaze.

The Crozet teen took first place at the 2025 National Civics Bee Virginia State Finals hosted by The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation earlier this month. Handa’s path to the state title began with an essay about excessive screen time and ideas he will implement this fall ahead of the National Finals in Washington, D.C . on Nov. 10 and 11.

“Civics is our government, our world around us,” Handa said. Studying civics can help kids “find solutions that benefit their community.”

According to their website, The National Civics Bee “is an annual competition that inspires young Americans to engage in civics and contribute to their communities.” Organized by The Civic Trust of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, the nonpartisan competition is for middle schoolers to boost “civics knowledge, skills, and disposition among young Americans, their families, and communities.”

“Neil has dedicated a great deal of time to preparing for the Civics Bee,” said Pam Koury, Handa’s eighth-grade social studies teacher at Henley Middle School in Crozet. “Not only did he write a powerful piece about an important issue, but he also spent hours of his time outside of school learning about political principles, foundations of government and historical figures and events to prepare for the multiple choice portion of the competition.”

Virginia’s Secretary of Education Aimee Guidera was a judge in the Virginia State Finals.

"The Civics Bee encourages students, and all of us, to be more engaged citizens; Virginia is excited to be so involved," Guidera wrote in an email.. "I'm inspired by the enthusiasm and civic mindedness of young people across the state."

Guidera is a champion of the bipartisan "Bell-to-Bell Cell Phone-Free" policy that Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed into law via Executive Order 33 last July.

Handa plans to return to his middle school in the fall to host a town hall focused on screen time and hopes Guidera will join him. His main idea is to educate people about the dangers of excessive screen time.

“I want to bring in speakers and adults that are knowledgeable to subjects, such as (the) Secretary of Education and mental health specialists that can educate kids about the consequences and dangers of screen,” he said.

“There's not much education about why we should put down screens,” Handa said. “A lot of it leads to mental health issues and disorders.”

Koury said Handa isn’t her first student to take first place in the state finals. Her former student, Zoey Downer, took the same honor and subsequently placed in the top five at the national level. Koury said Downer’s favorite part of the competition was “meeting the kids from across the country who were invested in their communities and beyond.”

“I think that Neil will likewise have a great experience at the national competition and that the value of meeting people from across the country with similar passions cannot be overstated,” Koury said.

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