A 17-year-old Lander homeschooler who beat out 8,000 other students in what was billed as an “Impossible Civics Test” won the nation’s Presidential 1776 Award, collected a $150,000 scholarship, and then stood beside President Donald Trump in the Oval Office where he gave her a challenge coin.
“I just thought it was really amazing to get to meet the president in the Oval Office, because it’s something that I never thought that I would be able to do,” Miriam Washut told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday. “It’s just a once-in-a lifetime opportunity.”
To get there, Washut had to plow through more than 5,000 pages of books, foundational documents and biographies, as well as know the facts on 10 Revolutionary War battles. She then was tested at state and regional levels before the national finals competition at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
The finals competition was broadcast on CBS on Tuesday, but was taped a couple of weeks ago when 20 students gathered for the competition in the nation’s capital.
Washut is the daughter of Wyoming Catholic College President Kyle Washut and his wife, Erin. She said it was her dad who first saw on the competition announcement on social media, but she initially had only one week to prepare before testing for the state competition.
“I took the test the last day you could take it,” she said. “And then I had a month before regionals, so there was a little bit more time to get ready for that.”
Kyle Washut said his daughter has always been interested in history, and she was actually working as an intern during part of her study time this spring in the Wyoming Legislature where her grandfather, Art Washut, serves as a state representative for House District 36 in Casper.
The competition involved more than 8,000 students nationwide, and students took three 30-minute exams with a short break to qualify for the regionals.
Miriam Washut said the exam questions became more difficult as she progressed through the “Impossible Civics Test.”
Oval Office Handshake
While in the Oval Office with the president during the short time they had with him, Trump asked her and the other students about their plans for the future, shook their hands, and then they posed for photos with him and Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon, Miriam said.
She enjoyed seeing a copy of the Declaration of Independence there as part of the event.
It also was not lost on her that she had traveled from Lander, Wyoming, to the seat of the nation’s executive power and government.
“Yeah, it was really cool,” she said.
U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman and Wyoming State Superintendent of Education Megan Degenfelder were among those congratulating Washut on her accomplishment Wednesday.
“She competed against students from all 50 states and came out on top. Wyoming is proud,” Hageman wrote in a statement.
Degenfelder praised the 17-year-old’s dedication to “understanding the nation’s foundational values.”
“In Wyoming, our students grow up with a love for America and civics education,” Degenfelder said. “Congratulations, Miriam.”
Regionals In Dallas
She was one of the top four Wyoming participants sent to a regional competition at the George W. Bush Presidential Center in Dallas.
There, competitors had two rounds of questions on anything regarding the documents that made up the competition’s “library.”
Among the documents were the “Funeral Oration of Pericles Book II,” “Polybius, The Histories,” the Magna Carta, Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution, James Madison’s notes on the Constitutional Convention, Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense,” biographies on Washington, Crispus Attucks, Benedict Arnold, and much more.
She was among the top four who advanced from Dallas to the nationals at the Kennedy Center.
While 20 students were part of the finals competition, those competitors were whittled to eight when it was shown on CBS.
Miriam said questions in the finals involved topics such as the Alien and Seditions Acts, and buzz rounds on the Declaration of Independence and Revolutionary War battles and the Constitution.
One of the questions she tackled involved “why taxation without representation is the end of liberty,” she said.
The high school senior said she really enjoys history more than civics, but appreciates civics “when you get to put it in perspective.”
As a homeschooler, she has been reading a lot of American history and took an online class on the Declaration of Independence and Constitution.
Kyle Washut said his daughter has become a fellow at The Heritage Academy, which offers online students an understanding of the nation’s founding ideals.
Pottery And Drama
Additionally, Miriam has enjoyed taking pottery and woodworking classes at Lander’s high school and was involved in a play on C.S. Lewis’s Narnia book “The Horse and His Boy” while preparing for the regional competition.
“I think I just had time to read everything through once and take some notes because there was so much material and I was also really busy with softball and the play,” she said. “I gave it as much time as I had.”
Current plans call for her to finish her senior year and then attend Wyoming Catholic College. Beyond that, there are no certain career goals, yet, she said.
While in Washington as part of the competition, she and her family were able to tour the war memorials, U.S. Capitol and visit the National Archives.
“They took us there as part of the national competition, which was neat to see the documents that we’ve been reading for months,” she said. “I was able to get a Library of Congress card which was something I kind of wanted to do.”
Kyle Washut said the family also took time to swing through Philadelphia on the way home and visit Constitutional Hall and other sites there.
As someone in higher education, he views the competition and the students who competed as “basically doing a graduate course in American civics.”
He said he’s obviously proud of his daughter’s accomplishment and that she among the students whose “lights” are shining as they embraced their national roots.
“Miriam revealed herself to be in the top high school students in the country with her grasp of America civics,” he said. “The hours of study and thousands of pages that she read, and her deep love for the country and knowledge of what it means to be an American should give us great hope for the future.”
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
