League of Women Voters of Newton hosts Civics Challenge, 2023

On the rainy final day of April, the League of Women Voters of Newton (LWVN) held its second Civics Challenge. The first was in March, 2020, and then the pandemic struck, delaying a sequel until last Sunday’s match in the Cabot Elementary School cafeteria. Four “teams” — a total of seven people, some volunteering on the spot because of the scant number of participants — competed in six rounds of questions about local, state, and national government.

Although there were few participants and no real audience, the contestants represented a broad generational spectrum, including a nine-year old third-grader from the Franklin Elementary School, two men in their twenties, a 40-something woman, two septuagenarians, and an octogenarian. While decades separated team members in age, civics clearly united them in interest and competition. They were lively, engaged, and determined. The four teams included:

• The TRIO team: Democratic activists Howard Johnson and Jeremy Glass, both retired and now residents of the TRIO apartments on Washington Street in Newtonville;
• Andrew Steinberg — the lone member of the 28th Amendment Team (Andrew’s joke; there is no 28th Amendment);
• The Articles (as of the Constitution): Longtime League Board member Sharyn Roberts and recent League member Jack Lovett, and
• Team Legal Eagles: Abraham Shepherd, age 9, and his mother, Shira Diner, from West Newton. (When asked if he studied history at school, Abraham replied that his class studied the Pilgrims.)

Although the LWVN specified that the Civics Challenge was for contestants from eighth grade forward, the organizers welcomed nine-year old Abraham when he answered all the sample questions correctly. Andrew Steinberg, twenty-three, said a friend told him about the event and, believing “it was important to support the League,” he signed on, adding “civics is the icing on the cake.” He is a coordinator for JALSA, the Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action. Last year, he ran and won a delegate seat to the Massachusetts Democratic State Nominating Convention.

Sharyn Roberts and Jack Lovett volunteered to help the Civics Challenge organizers, but when it was clear that there were few contestants, they became the Articles team. Sharyn regularly represents the League at public events like the Fourth of July at Albemarle Park, where she supplies voter information. Jack, who works at Newton City Hall, is an active member of Newton’s Ward 6 Democratic Committee and is an avid civics buff.

Newton League President, Marcia Johnson (a former Newton City Councilor from Ward 2), Frieda Dweck (moderator), Jen Abbott (scorekeeper), former League president Sue Flicop (judge), Andrea Kozinetz (runner), and Lisa Mirabile were organizers of the program; Kathy Shields, Newton School Committee member from Ward 7, served as time-keeper. Contestants had one minute to answer each question.

Frieda Dweck described the process for developing Challenge questions, beginning with the League’s first Civics Challenge in 2020. The organizers developed a list of more than 600 civics questions contributed by other Leagues, the United States Citizenship test, and websites for the United States Constitution and local, state, and federal government. They also included questions about issues in current events. In addition to supplying the correct answer to questions, Ms. Dweck offered context for the answer.

For example: Question 1: Which state was not represented at the Constitutional Convention:

1. Delaware
2. Rhode Island
3. South Carolina
4. Maryland

The answer is Rhode Island, which refused to send representatives to the Constitutional Convention and was the last state to ratify the Constitution, on May 29, 1790.

Question 2: What is the longest possible time a president can now serve?

1. 4 years
2. 8 years
3. 10 years
4. 12 years

According to the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution: “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of President more than once.” Which means that a person can serve as President for two full terms plus two years, for a total of ten years.

You and your friends and family may challenge your own civics knowledge, using this copy of all six rounds of the League 2023 Challenge.

There were no real winners or losers in this event because the event itself was so compelling that participation really was its own reward. Nevertheless, the final scores were:

• The Articles – Sharyn Roberts and Jack Lovett, the on-the-spot team, were the overall winners with 83 points.  
• Andrew Steinberg, Team 28th Amendment, scored 78 points.

To reward the teams for their initiative and commitment to civics and the Newton League of Women Voters, the organizers decided that all seven contestants should share in the first prize: a tour of the State House organized by State Senator Cynthia Creem and State Representatives Kay Khan and Ruth Balser. The first- and second-place winners received $20 gift cards to Los Amigos, and the third- and fourth-place winners — Team Trio and the Legal Eagles — won $15 gift cards to Rancatore’s. Representative Jake Auchincloss provided copies of the United States Constitution for each of the contestants. The civic-minded Village Bank sponsored Sunday’s event.