Bridge City student takes third in Citizen Bee

Lexi Gibson, a student at Acorns to Oaks Academy in Damon, captured first place Thursday in the 18^th annual Regional Citizen Bee at Lamar State College-Port Arthur. Gibson now advances to the state competition, scheduled for May in Austin.

Alana Ackers from Central Medical Magnet High School took second place. Nick Robertson from Bridge City High School finished third.

Fourth place went to Haley Friar from Sabine Pass High School.

Trevor McNeil, also from Sabine Pass, received honorable mention.

Students from nine Southeast Texas public high schools and four private high schools competed in this year’s Citizen Bee, which consisted of one-hour private written examination, followed by oral questions in a public forum on the stage of the 400-seat Lamar Theater.

Mavis Triebel, coordinator of the regional competition, said, “This year’s contest covered the U.S. Constitution, important documents, people, issues, civic values and current events. All of the questions and answers were available in the on-line study guide provided by the Bill of Rights Institute.”

This year’s entries include public high school students from Port Arthur Memorial, Beaumont Central, Hamshire-Fannett, Bridge City, Kountze, Nederland, Orangefield, Sabine Pass and Vidor.

The private schools are Legacy Christian Academy School and Monsignor Kelly Catholic High School from Beaumont, Acorns to Oaks Academy from Damon and Community Christian School from Orange.

This year’s event was supported for the 15^th straight year by a $5,000 grant from Total Petrochemicals USA Inc.