2 Students Win Civics Competition

Two San Gabriel Valley students were first-place winners in regional finals of a nationwide civics competition, the Citizen Bee.

Jeff Friend, a junior at West Covina High School, and David Lee, a senior at Diamond Bar High School, each won $500 and a chance to participate in the state finals to be held April 28 at USC.

Third-place finishers from the San Gabriel Valley, who won $200 each, are Evertt W. Chun, a junior at San Gabriel High; Aarti Verma, a senior at Walnut High and Daniel Huang, a senior at Nogales High in La Puente.

The Citizen Bee is sponsored by the Los Angeles Times and the Close Up Foundation, a Washington-based organization devoted to civics education. The students were tested on their knowledge of U.S. government, history, geography, economics, culture and current events.