When Donovan Hurtarte learned about The Presidential 1776 Award for Civics competition, he saw it as an opportunity he couldn’t ignore.
“I’ve always believed that if something challenges you and aligns with your interests, you should always go for it,” said Hurtarte, a senior from Little Rock.
The Presidential 1776 Award for Civics is a national civics competition that challenges high school students in ninth through 12th grades to test their knowledge of the founding of America and the ideas that shaped the country. Hurtarte qualified for the in-person regional semifinal round that will be held Saturday, May 2, at the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and Museum in Atlanta. Regional semifinals will also be held at presidential libraries in Boston; Dallas; Grand Rapids, Mich.; and Yorba Linda, Calif.
The qualifying round of the three-round competition was the Impossible Civics Test, a 90-minute online multiple-choice test that covers U.S. founding documents, the Constitutional Convention and Revolutionary War history. Each section progresses in difficulty from foundational to advanced.
The four highest-scoring participants and two alternates are chosen from each state and district as well as the two highest-scoring participants and two alternates from each U.S. territory from round one for the semifinal round. The semifinalists were chosen from 8,000 students who signed up for the online test
Hurtarte prepared for the online test by reading many of the founding documents as well as others that inspired them. The test required him to not only identify facts about the documents and events but to better understand them as well. That required him to take the competition seriously from the start.
“The competition gave me a pretty good excuse to do a lot of reading,” Hurtarte said. “Each question required not just active recall but the ability to identify context and meaning within historical texts. Because of the preparation I put in, I went in pretty confident. To me, there’s no point competing unless you’re prepared to perform at your best.
“I was definitely nervous. I remember taking every step I could to make sure I did my best — from telling my roommate that I would be taking it to making sure the door was locked.”
He said the next stage raises the difficulty significantly. In round two, the state finalists will compete in verbal competitions where contestants answer short answer questions in 60 seconds that test their understanding of the Constitution, the American Founding and key moments throughout U.S. history. The top four students from each region will advance to the National Final, which will take place in Washington, D.C., in June. Finalists will compete for scholarships with first place receiving a $150,000 grand prize. The final two contestants will compete live on stage at the Kennedy Center.
Hurtarte is preparing himself for the semifinal round by revisiting sources and quizzing himself on the material. He said the next stage raises the difficulty significantly but that he is excited for the opportunity to continue in the competition.
“Advancing to the next round felt incredibly rewarding. I saw the email (informing him that he had advanced to the next round), and my heartbeat was racing. I tapped on it, and WHAM! I was in. What a great day!” he said.
“Traveling out of state is an opportunity on its own. I love seeing new places, but being selected as one of the few students to advance from my state and receive a stipend to do so made it mean a lot! It’s an honor to represent my state.”
His trip to the Atlanta regional competition is being partially covered by a stipend from the U.S. Department of Education, one of the contest’s partners.
Hurtarte learned about the competition from Dr. Zac Cowsert, a history instructor at ASMSA. “I wouldn’t have known about this opportunity without him,” he said. “From being my capstone instructor to consistently encouraging students to pursue opportunities beyond the classroom, he’s had a real impact on my academic growth.”
To learn more about the competition, visit https://www.presidential1776award.org/about.