Foerster wins Region 3 Citizen Bee Competition

• From left to right: Yorktown juniors, Trent Foerster, Sam Forbes, Brycen Allman and Layne Geffert were four of 10 students in Region 3 who advanced to the second day of the Citizen Bee Competition. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
• Yorktown junior Trent Foerster won the Region 3 Citizen Bee Competition. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Yorktown Secondary junior Trent Foerster competed in the Region 3 Citizen Bee Competition this past Wednesday and Thursday, March 6th and 7th, 2024, and placed first out of 61 participants from schools within the Region 3 Service Center. The Texas Citizen Bee is a statewide civic education program and competition that is sponsored by Law Related Education, Inc., a department of the State Bar of Texas. The competition is a two day contest. On day one, students have 20 minutes to take a 35-question multiplechoice test covering content from the categories below and then the 10 highest scorers in the region advance to day two, where they must answer one question verbally from each of the following categories: The Constitution, Documents and Supreme Court Cases, People/Events, Civic Values and Skills and Current Events, which are only tested in the written portion of the competition.

On Wednesday, March 6, 2024, 61 students from Region 3 competed against each other, including 15 of Yorktown Coach Val Acree’s US History students. Of the students who placed in the top ten, four were from Yorktown: Foerster, Brycen Allman, Sam Forbes and Layne Geffert. On day two, Foerster answered two of his three verbal questions correctly and after adding them to his first day total, he was declared the winner. Foerster won a $250 Amazon gift card, plus an all-expense paid trip to Austin, April 18 - 20, 2024, to participate in the Texas State Citizen Bee Competition with a chance to win $5000. This is the third year that Yorktown students have participated in the Region 3 Citizen Bee and have had great success. In 2022, then junior Jackie Gwosdz placed 2nd in the region. In 2023, then seniors Phillip Yeretsky and Gwosdz placed first and second and Yeretsky advanced to the state meet.

“I’m so very proud of Trent,” Acree said. “I really enjoy this competition because it challenges kids. The verbal portion of the test really tests kids’ comfort level. Trent studied quite a bit and the results showed. I’m excited about his chances at state.”