In a time when a new threat to the Constitution emerges each day, a president may or may not be dozing off on live TV after unilaterally starting a war special military operation and Congress is … somewhere, it’s nice to see young people who know their civics.
The US is built on a foundation many of us learned about in high school — the three branches of government, the checks and balances, the inalienable rights — and promptly forgot, in many cases. But it’s in the larger political chaos of 2026 and a second Trump presidency that today’s high schoolers are learning these core concepts. They’re seeing them play out in the national news and in some cases here at home, so now a relatively low-stakes local quiz show focused on civic education takes on a new significance.
Each spring, dozens of Spokane County high school students compete in the Civics Bowl, a competitive quiz show hosted by KSPS PBS that tests the kids with a rapid-fire barrage of questions about government and history. Eight schools sent teams of four to compete in the tournament that will culminate in a championship airing on June 1. KSPS and the Spokane chapter of the League of Women Voters collaborated to create the Civics Bowl in 2022; the League wrote the questions for the tournament.
Those questions range from the abstract — which of the basic principles in the US Constitution means that all political power resides in the people? (Popular Sovereignty) — to the subject of recent explainers — which chamber of Congress has the power to investigate and pass articles of impeachment? (The House of Representatives).
Some questions even had two possible answers because of changes the Trump administration has made: Which department in the president's cabinet is the largest? (Department of Defense or Department of War).
In the backstage green room, just before the cameras started rolling for the April 16 event, each team was hit with a question: "Why does civics matter?"
It was one of those on-the-spot simple-yet-tricky questions that can cause the brain to go blank. But after a bit of under-pressure mental scrambling (“Wait, let me look up the definition of civics real quick”), they all nailed it.
“We all have inalienable rights. The Constitution says so, but we only have that if we understand them,” said Central Valley High School team captain Alex.
The match that day was between the Liberty High School Lancers, and Alex’s team, the CVHS Bears. By school size, it’s a classic David-and-Goliath set-up, between the tiny 150-ish student Liberty High School from Spangle, and the CVHS which has about 1,300 students in Spokane Valley.
“They’ve been working for months,” Liberty coach and PE teacher Ken VanSickle said proudly as they filmed “Choose Your Character” style introduction videos.
The nervous energy backstage was palpable: some of the competitors bounced on their toes and flopped their arms to shake off their nerves.
“Only one of us is gonna move on. That’s kind of a weird thought,” Trevor, from CVHS said in a serious tone. For a second, there was a hush in the shared dressing room. Then, his teammate Joe joked, “What if we all form a SUPER team?” To which he got a resounding “YEAH!”
That would, however, defeat the whole idea of a tournament, so they soldiered on into the studio with its bright lights, official podiums, giant camera rigs and live audience, still glittering with an air of gleeful trepidation.
Public Affairs Producer Leilah Isaacson explained the rules and how the game would work: four rounds, each with different formats, some requiring speed at the buzzer, some allowing or forbidding conference with teammates, some deducting points for wrong answers.
At the end of the four rounds, only one team would stand victorious.
In a dapper suit and slicked back hair, host and local journalist Scott Leadingham asked some non-civics questions to give the students practice with the buzzers: “What’s Taylor Swift’s lucky numb —” BUZZ
“— 13,” CVHS’s Alex answered correctly. The students were locked in.
VanSickle, the PE teacher from Spangle, said Liberty’s participation in the Civics Bowl is “totally student-led.” The core of the Liberty team, Zoe, Colin, Thomas and Carter, got recruited last year by a now-graduated senior named Mitchell — whom the competitors at the small school spoke of almost as a legend. Minding the stack of phones he was holding for the teens, the coach and team alternate Kinley watched the match with the intensity of a high-stakes basketball game.
From the side of the risers, CVHS coach Rob Rowe projected the air of a stoic parent trying not to let on that they’re a little anxious for their kid. Rowe recruited his team, Joe, Alex, Trevor and Aubrey, from his Advanced Placement (AP) US Government and History classes (the students later declared that he’s a favorite teacher too).
Prepping for the tournament meant researching hundreds of questions, creating 100+ card Quizlets, testing each other and binge-watching the last three seasons of Civics Bowl on KSPS. For the nine teens, the match was the culmination of months of study.
The match began with a toss-up round, where the questions were asked to all the players and the buzzer was king. Determining who got to the question — and potential points — came down to fractions of a second, with Liberty showing extreme prowess on the buzzer.
Some questions were tricky, though, and stumped both teams, like: “How many county commissioners represent Spokane County citizens?”
Liberty’s Carter said three. CVHS’s Aubrey said six.
(The correct answer is five, since the board expanded from three members in January 2023.)
Some answers from the teams prompted the judges to confer in whispers at a table sequestered from the podiums. The students anxiously waited as a red or green card determined if their answer was acceptable.
At the end of the first round, Liberty had taken a huge lead with 150 points to CVHS’s 30. But even as the stakes grew more dire, the kids made light of the situation, with the boys blowing kisses at each other and playing rock paper scissors from their respective podiums.
By the start of the third round, the score was looking bleak for CVHS at 200-80, but this was the category round: the teams would be able to confer and the buzzers that had given Liberty its edge wouldn’t be a factor.
CVHS quickly started clawing back ground as they correctly answered questions about famous presidential quotes and the Great Depression, hitting a high of 170. Still, they lost points for incorrect answers, ending the round with 90 points to Liberty’s 240.
Just before the final round, each coach had a chance to give a pep talk or joke about Taco Bell lunch plans to lighten the mood of the teens in competition mode.
“I just told them that being in front of the lights and cameras can make you nervous, so just be confident and do your best,” Rowe said in an interview during a break.
Though the point difference continued to widen through the final round, each team fought to the last second on questions like “Who represents Washington's Fifth Congressional District in the House of Representatives?” (Michael Baumgartner) and the final question: “What ancient civilization is considered to have had the first democracy?” (Athens or Greek civilization).
The match ended with Liberty at 320 and CVHS at 170, but both teams were sincere in their good-game-murmurs, high fives and fist bumps.
For the Liberty team, a celebratory Taco Bell lunch awaited — and maybe some strategic planning for their upcoming match with The Community School, which had won its first round match against University High School. For the CVHS team, there was some relief in it being over and some excitement to have competed at all.
“I’m proud of our civics knowledge,” Aubrey said. She had been almost exclusively listening to old Civics Bowl episodes on her car rides for weeks, but smiled broadly and fist-pumped the air as she said, “I’m going to listen to music on the way home!”
Watch this episode on YouTube here. Follow the tournament at KSPS here. New episodes air Mondays at 7 pm through June 1.
