CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) Neil Handa, a Crozet teen, won first place at the Virginia State Finals of the National Civics Bee in Williamsburg earlier this month.

After discovering a passion for civics in his last year at Henely Middle School, Handa said he learned the importance of community-based change.

“Civics is our country, our government,” he told Cville Right Now. “We run on civic duty.”

The National Civics Bee is an annual civics competition for middle school students in the U.S. It aims to enhance students’ understanding of civics and encourages community involvement and civic engagement.

The National Civics Bee is open to sixth through eighth graders in participating states who qualify by writing an essay identifying a specific problem, challenge, or opportunity in your community and answering the question, “What can you do to contribute to its improvement?”

Handa decided to write his essay on the impacts of excessive screen time on children’s brains.

“I want to make sure students are aware of the consequences of excessive screen time because I don’t think that they are educated enough on the issue,” he said. “They don’t realize what the screens are doing to their brains and I want them to be educated an informed. I want to make sure everybody is.”

During the competition in Williamsburg, he had to defend his essay and deliver a speech to discuss how he plans to make a difference in his community.

“When I presented my essay in front of the judges, I made sure to really practice and memorize my speech to make sure that I was confident in my words,” said Handa. “I think they saw how important my issue was, not only in my community, but across the country.”

Handa also had to go through multiple rounds of elimination style civics quizzes before the judges.

Entering the Civics Bee offered a major opportunity for Handa to connect to other passionate students.

“The best part for me was meeting other like-minded people my age,” said Handa. “They feel that changes need to be made in their communities and are doing something about it.”

The Bee allowed him to see a brighter future for many other Virginia towns.

“Being at the Bee allowed me to learn about all these other different issues that people presented,” he said. “It makes me relieved to see that there are people out there who really care about these issues.”

For Handa, wanting to lead the charge toward change is where it all began.

“Neil was engaged from the get-go, but I think he’s a very competitive kid,” Handa’s eighth-grade civics teacher, Pam Koury. told Cville Right Now. “This was just another kind of avenue for him to compete but then it really spoke to him personally.”

It was Koury that fueled Handa’s interest in civics to begin with.

“She played a key role in me entering the Civics Bee,” said Handa. “She sparked my curiosity in making a difference for my community.”

Koury has taught at Henely Middle for 14 years and been an eighth-grade civics teacher for 11.

“My primary goal as a civics teacher is to get kids more engaged in what’s going on around them and more informed,” she said. “Just trying to foster that interest is so important.”

For Koury, civics goes beyond the classroom.

“Being able to engage in civil discourse is so important,” she said. “Getting those big ideas and understandings into these kids along with critical thinking skills and the ability to speak publicly is essential.”

Handa’s interest in his civics class has sparked a building drive in him to engage even more. Due to his win, Handa will go on to compete against other finalists from across the country at the National Civics Bee in D.C in November.

“I am very excited to meet all of these people who just like me care about issues in their community. I want to make sure everybody involved in this issue has a voice that is heard,” said Handa. “Overall, I’m going to keep doing what I’ve been doing and I’ll be putting in the work to make my community better.”

Handa’s passion is sure to make an impact in his community and the world beyond.

“Students like Neil make my job just so incredibly rewarding,” said Koury. “I feel really excited about the fact that I am making some sort of impact on those kids and I see a brighter future with them as our change makers.”