8 NMI students are finalists in 9th Circuit Civics Contest

Eight students from the CNMI were officially namned finalists in the national 2023 Ninth Circuit Civics Contest, with their video and essay entries advancing to the circuit level after the preliminary round.

In the essay category of the annual competition, all three winners are from Marianas High School. A U.S. Courts for the Ninth Circuit news release yesterday said that Jaimer Shawne Casama took first place and won $100 as his prize. Tyana Kay Cepeda took second place and its $75 prize, while Jia Ross Nicdao won third place and got $50.

The CNMI students who had winning video entries were Kagman High School duo Xinyi Ni and Vincent Razon, who took first place; the team of Joseph Victor Jimenez and Pony Tang from Marianas High School, who followed in second place; and Gavril Myles Santiago from Mt. Carmel School taking third place. The first-place team will be rewarded $100, the second-place winner will receive $75, and the third place will be given $50.

As one of the 15 judicial districts throughout the Ninth Circuit, the Northern Marianas held the local civics contest as a preliminary and elimination round, before submitting the top essays and videos to advance to the circuit level for the preliminary round in the 2023 Ninth Circuit Civics Contest.

In all, the Ninth Circuit received 966 essays and 86 videos this year, for a total of 1,052 entries.

Right now, judges, members of the bar, and court staff are reviewing and scoring the 45 essays and 30 videos that were selected to advance to the preliminary round at the circuit level.

The contest was open all students from grades 9-12, whether in public, private, parochial, charter schools and home-schooled children, as long as they were of equivalent grade status in Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Washington state, the U.S. territory of Guam and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

With the theme “The 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution: What Should Our Next Amendment Be?” students were challenged to answer and to focus on three questions: “What amendment would they propose for our Constitution… and why?” Also, “how would they get their amendment ratified?”

The Ninth Circuit Public Information and Community Outreach Committee, judges, and court executives will determine the final winners at the circuit level.

Winners will be announced on the civics contest website: https://www.ca9.uscourts.gov/civicscontest/ in June 2023.

First-place winners at the circuit level will be invited to attend the 2023 Ninth Circuit Judicial Conference, and a total of $11,400 in cash prizes will be awarded to the Top 3 essay and video winners. Circuit-level winners will receive $3,000 for first place, $1,700 for second place and $1,000 for third place along with a commemorative prize. If those who win in the of the video portion of the competition are part of a team, then they will split the total cash prize.