'Gives me hope': Democracy Bowl provides students with a path for civic engagement
'Whenever we are part of an event like this or our own project ... I'm always blown away by what these young people are doing,' he said. 'Gives me hope for the future.'
This year's bowl brought roughly 100 students from Everett Area, Greater Johnstown, Homer-Center, Indiana Area, Northern Cambria, Portage Area and Westmont Hilltop school districts to the Richland Township campus to share their civics fair projects and compete in a trivia contest.
Keynote speaker
Drew Crompton speaks to the crowd of students and teachers at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown's Democracy Bowl on Thursday, April 3, 2025.
Representatives from the Bill of Rights Institute, the National Constitution Center and Fair Districts Pennsylvania were also on hand.
'I'm kind of excited doing it because civics isn't my top favorite class, but I do enjoy learning about it,' Greater Johnstown High School student Kaleena Cannady said. 'It's so important for people to understand these kind of things – where they come from, what they're kind of born into or brought into.'
Students went head-to-head in the social studies competition that tested their knowledge of congressional acts, notable court cases, founding documents, treaties, amendments and more, while they shared work they're proposing or undertaking to improve their communities.
WATCH VIDEO | Pitt-Johnstown president leads patriotic chant at Democracy Bowl
Jem Spectar, University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown president, leads students and teachers in a rousing patriotic speech at the second Democracy Bowl on Thursday, April 3, 2025.
'It's important to be civically engaged,' Indiana Area High School junior Jack Lehman said. 'We probably don't do enough just in school, so this is good for us.'
He and his teammates, seniors Tim Birch and Tyler Hunter, competed in the high school trivia competition in which their classmates won first and second place.
Hunter said after the first round of questions he was enjoying himself and appreciated the basis of the event. Birch added that being up-to-date on current events is a key tenet of civic engagement.
Trivia discussion
Indiana Area High School students Jack Lehman (left), Tim Birch and Tyler Hunter confer on an answer during the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown's Democracy Bowl on Thursday, April 3, 2025.
Janson, the Bill of Rights Institute's senior project lead for civic learning initiatives, told the group that civic education is not just about memorizing dates and reciting historic figures. It also empowers citizens to be active members of their communities, he said.
'We hope that your work will inspire others and serve as a beacon of hope for other students,' Janson said.
Westmont Hilltop juniors Caridy Arnold and Reagan Hargreaves were happy to do just that with their presentation about the Helping Hands revitalization project in which they have taken part. The students partnered with Helping Hands of Cambria County through their public service class to perform home improvement work around the area.
'It makes you feel good that you're helping a family in need and helping our community be better,' Hargreaves said.
Project displays
Greater Johnstown High School student Loyalty Price-Murray (left) talks to judges Harry Olafsen, Vincent Gongloff and Ben Cotchen with fellow eighth-grader Sophia Hull at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown's Democracy Bowl on Thursday, April 3, 2025.
Arnold agreed, adding that the work will improve the area's image. She also said the opportunity to share the project at the Democracy Bowl was fantastic.
Other projects ranged from Homer-Center School District's project to address homelessness, which won first place; to Greater Johnstown High School students' plan to revitalize the Hornerstown neighborhood playground; to Portage Area School District students' idea to build a pickleball court and another focused on expanding CPR training.
Harry Olafsen, the National Constitution Center's manager of teacher engagement and civics fair judge, said he was excited to hear about the various students' work.
'It's really fantastic to see civics in action, and that is what every single one of you is doing,' he told the students.
Following the trivia finals – in which Indiana Area Junior High Team 2 took first in the middle school division and Indiana Area High School Team 1 took first in the high school division – the attendees heard from Pitt-Johnstown President Jem Spectar.
Pep talk
University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown President Jem Spectar ramps up the crowd during the second Democracy Bowl on Thursday, April 3, 2025.
The university leader led the group in a patriotic speech that often included chants of 'We the people,' while he educated them on the importance of keeping the democratic republic established by the nation's founders.
'Why we have this event is because it's nice to take a moment ... and remind yourself what is true and good about this great country,' Spectar said.
He told students that they are sovereign citizens who inherited the greatest treasure of all time by being United States citizens who were born free with inalienable rights.
'How to take part in their communities'
Drew Crompton was this year's keynote speaker and followed Spectar's remarks. Crompton is a public finance attorney with Harrisburg firm McNees Wallace & Nurick LLC; he was a Commonwealth Court judge and served the Pennsylvania Senate for decades.
He asked the learners what their opinion of democracy was and whether they thought the political process was broken.
'Democracy is messy,' he said. 'And we kind of have to embrace the fact that democracy is messy.'
Crompton said that, in his experience, government still 'generally' works. He also took questions from the crowd about his career.
Quiz finalists
Quiz master Dan Shaffer asks middle school trivia finalists questions to determine this year's winner at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown's Democracy Bowl on Thursday, April 3, 2025.
Mark Conlon, UPJ professor and event organizer, said the bowl was fantastic, describing it as operating better than his 'wildest dreams.' He was impressed by the turnout as well, he said, noting that there were about 130 people there, including students, teachers and UPJ undergraduates.
Tyler Johnson, Portage Area High School teacher, commended the university for the opportunity to bring students to explore the democratic process.
'I think anytime we can get kids out of the building and engage them in those important subjects – I think that's a good way to show them how to take part in their communities after (graduation),' he said.
Tony Lawrence, a Portage senior, shared a similar evaluation.
'It really gets you involved in history and the whole government process,' he said.
Raymond Wrabley, UPJ professor and vice president of academic affairs, said it was the hope of the country's founders to educate citizens on the democratic process, especially the youth.
He pointed to quotes from John Adams, who said, 'Children should be educated and instructed in the principles of freedom,' and Thomas Jefferson, who said, 'Educate and inform the whole mass of people ... they are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.'
Wrabley thanked the students for being on campus Thursday to 'continue doing the good work, and sometimes the good trouble, of democracy.'
Spectar credited UPJ alum and Democracy Bowl donor Douglas Weimer's generosity for helping make the event a success.
Weimer is a Somerset Borough native who graduated from Pitt-Johnstown in 1975 with a history degree, before earning a law degree from the University of Notre Dame's law school and going on to serve the U.S. Congress as a legislative attorney for more than three decades.
'It was my privilege to give back,' Weimer said.
He added that the university and its faculty and staff have given him and his family so much that he wanted to return the support.
Pitt-Johnstown, the Greater Johnstown School District, the Bill of Rights Institute and The Tribune-Democrat sponsor the bowl, which is organized through the university's American Civic Education and Literacy Initiative.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBS News
23-06-2025
- CBS News
Retaliation from Iran likely to include cyber attacks, expert says
On Monday, Iran responded to the U.S. strikes on its nuclear facilities by attacking U.S. bases in Qatar. A local and national cybersecurity expert told KDKA-TV that they'll likely have a combined approach, which includes a cyber attack. The Department of Homeland Security issued a bulletin warning Sunday of the possibility of cyber attacks against the U.S. following the strikes on Iran. It's a key tool frequently used by Iran, which is one of our four main adversaries for cyber hacking. The potential for it to happen is very real, according to David Hickton. The founding director of the University of Pittsburgh Institute for Cyber Law, Policy, and Security said we need to be concerned. "Cyber attacking is probably, almost certainly part of their response portfolio," Hickton said. "When something like this happens, what you really watch for is the asymmetrical attack, the attack that doesn't really match up tit for tat with the attack that they received." In particular, Iran focuses on critical infrastructure, so our banks, the government itself, hospital systems, our transportation networks, including air traffic control, and our water supply, which the Municipal Water Authority of Aliquippa experienced back in the fall of 2023, from an anti-Israel Iranian group. Hickton also said we need to be watching for what's called a DDoS attack, which floods the market and makes everything inoperable. "You wouldn't be able to get to use your ATM, you wouldn't be able to use your credit card, you might not be able to get groceries," Hickton said. Thirdly, he's worried about ransomware and credential harvesting, which are used to steal money from bank accounts. "For people who live here, it would be a good idea to be at a heightened level of alert to take cybersecurity steps to protect themselves," Hickton said. Hickton said now is the time to ensure you have strong passwords and two-factor authentication, with a second check on security through a phone call. Also, don't click an attachment in an email without calling the sender to check that they sent you that email. Afterwards, Hickton said we'll need to see what happens and possibly worry about a type of attack that's hard to detect. "A latent attack, where we let our guard down because someone is parked in our system, and now they're ready to go," Hickton said. One positive for residents in western Pennsylvania is that Hickton said some of the best cybersecurity work to protect us is being conducted in our region.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Yahoo
University of Pittsburgh named in lawsuit briefing supporting Harvard
In a briefing filed in the United States District Court of Massachusetts, the University of Pittsburgh is one of 24 named research universities that shared support for Harvard University in its lawsuit against numerous departments of the U.S. government. The briefing of amici curiae, or friends of the court, discusses the history behind the relationship between research universities and the U.S. government, as well as the accomplishments that have been borne out of federal funding being put toward research. 'The partnership (between research universities and the U.S. government) dates back to World War II, and it has fueled progress and underwritten America's position in the world ever since,' the briefing states. 'This research enterprise is one of the nation's greatest assets in the fight to maintain global competitiveness, and amici submit this brief to illustrate the magnitude of the harm that will result if it is compromised.' Click here to read more from our partners at the Pittsburgh Business Times. Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW
Boston Globe
08-06-2025
- Boston Globe
Marina von Neumann Whitman dies at 90; carved path for women in economics
'As a woman, she will be outnumbered on the council 2 to 1, but not in terms of brains,' the president said in the Oval Office with Dr. Whitman and her family by his side. (The council's other members at the time were Herbert Stein and Ezra Solomon.) Advertisement Dr. Whitman was an academic economist by training -- she taught at the University of Pittsburgh and later at the University of Michigan -- but she alternated her work in the classroom with extensive stints in the public and corporate sectors. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Before joining the Council of Economic Advisers, she had worked for it as a staff economist and then served on the president's board overseeing price controls. In 1979, she joined General Motors as a vice president and chief economist. She later rose to become group vice president for public relations, making her one of the highest-ranking women in corporate America at the time. 'One of the things about being an economist is that you seldom get the chance to practice your profession as well as teach,' she said in her own Oval Office comments, following Nixon's. Advertisement She was the daughter of mathematician John von Neumann, a polymath who developed game theory, made critical early advances in computer science, and played a central role in the development of the atomic bomb during World War II. He was one of several Hungarian Jewish emigres who worked on the Manhattan Project -- others included Leo Szilard and Edward Teller -- who came to be known, jokingly, as the Martians, for their intellectual brilliance and supposedly exotic personalities. In her 2012 memoir, 'The Martian's Daughter,' Dr. Whitman wrote that her father's immense intellectual accomplishments drove her to excel, especially as a woman in a male-dominated field like economics. Were it not for him, she wrote, 'I might not have pushed myself to such a level of academic achievement or set my sights on a lifelong professional commitment at a time when society made it difficult for a woman to combine a career with family obligations.' Marina von Neumann was born March 6, 1935, in New York City. Her parents, members of what she called 'the Jewish but highly assimilated haute bourgeoisie' of Budapest, had emigrated from Hungary in 1933, after her father received a professorship at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J. They divorced when Marina was 2. Her mother, Mariette (Kovesi) von Neumann, studied economics in college and later worked as the office administrator for a science consortium. After her divorce, she married James Kuper, a physicist who became a department chair at the Brookhaven National Laboratory on Long Island. Marina spent long stretches living with her father, whose Princeton home became a salon and way station for some of the country's leading intellectuals. Advertisement 'I was 15 before I realized this was not the normal American way of life,' she told The New York Times in 1972. The home, she added, was always filled with 'terribly interesting people and terribly interesting conversations.' She studied government at Radcliffe College, graduating at the top of her class in 1956. That same year, she married Robert F. Whitman, who was studying for his doctorate in English at Harvard. He died in 2024. Along with their son, Malcolm, a professor of developmental biology at Harvard, she leaves her half brother, George H. Kuper, and two grandchildren. Her daughter, Laura M. Whitman, an assistant professor of medicine at Yale University, died in 2023 at 59. Marina Whitman initially thought of becoming a journalist. But her first job after college, with the Educational Testing Service, ignited an interest in economics. She wanted to attend Princeton, but at the time, its acclaimed economics department did not accept female graduate students. Instead, she studied at Columbia University. After receiving her doctorate in 1966, she became a professor at Pittsburgh, where her husband taught English. They took leaves of absence in 1972, when she joined the Council of Economic Advisers, and moved to Washington with some intention of remaining there long term. But she resigned after just a year, disillusioned by the Watergate scandal that was beginning to unfold around Nixon. Dr. Whitman spent 13 years at General Motors. After she left in 1992, she taught at the University of Michigan's business and public policy schools. A lifelong Republican, she did not put herself forward as a feminist. But she did her part to prop open the doors she had gone through, for other women to follow. Advertisement 'There is a very small group of highly visible women who have now been offered a lot of boards,' Dr. Whitman told the Times in 1984. 'What has not developed as much as I hoped is going beyond that to a second wave. When I turn down offers, I sometimes have tried to suggest other women, but people do not react well to names they haven't heard before.' This article originally appeared in
