Bigotry?

The U.S. Department of Education held a contest for the Presidential 1776 Award for civics, and the three winners would meet Trump. But there was one small problem... some of them... God forbid... were... immigrants!

A tense wait for answers after Milford teen's mystery exit from national contest: Dan Haar

CT Insider

By Dan Haar, Columnist

Aug 11, 2026

It almost didn't happen at all for 15-year-old Aangad Singh, a rising junior honors student at Foran High School in Milford. 

Aangad made it to the regional semifinals of the Presidential 1776 Award for civics in Boston, then became one of 20 top finishers from across the United States invited to the nation's capital, then won a spot in the Elite Eight on stage June 9. 

Then, the dispute: Did Aangad answer enough questions correctly to land in the top three finishers, with a trip to the Oval Office to meet President Donald Trump and tens of thousands of dollars, as much as $150,000 in prize money? He and his family say yes. Many people on hand at the Kennedy Center the night of the show say yes. 

But something happened. The question is... what? Everyone watching thought he was one of the three winners.

But when the emcee – actor and TV personality Mario Lopez – read the names of the finalists, Aangad was not among them. Shocked, disoriented and perplexed, he took a seat in the audience with his family to watch the finals.  

As you can imagine, he was devastated. Other contestants came up and said they thought that he won and were perplexed. The website American Bazaar wrote:

What was designed as a program to showcase youth civics knowledge for the nation’s 250th anniversary has left several families questioning the transparency of federal organizers.

The Presidential 1776 Award competition, organized as part of America’s semi quincentennial celebrations, brought top high school scholars to the Kennedy Center in Washington.

[...]

During the taped broadcast, 15-year-old Connecticut contestant Aangad Singh answered a question regarding federal court jurisdiction under Article III of the U.S. Constitution and the on-screen graphics marked two of his points in red as incorrect, despite the phrases matching the Constitutional text.

The Indian Express said of the answers:

The family also disputed the marking of a lightning-round question asking which constitutional amendment abolished slavery. They said Aangad answered “the 13th Amendment”, but the response was marked incorrect, possibly because of pronunciation. They also pointed to auto-generated subtitles from the broadcast, which they said reflected the correct answer.

However, when questioned, the contest officials said the final scores were “proprietary.”

Did Trump Officials Rig High School Contest Against Sikh Finalist?

Everyone competing against Aangad Singh thought he’d won the Presidential 1776 Award competition. He wants to know why his answers were marked incorrect.

The New Republic

Hafiz Rashid

July 22, 2026

The Presidential 1776 Award competition was set up by the Trump administration to honor America’s 250th birthday with a civics contest for high school students.

But the family of 15-year-old Aangad Singh believes he may have been kept out of the competition’s final because of his Sikh background and visible turban, NOTUS reports.

[...]

Singh, a rising high school junior who lives in Connecticut, entered the competition in February just like other high school students around the country. He scored well enough to reach the finals in Washington, D.C., at the end of June and make the final eight. But his elimination after that left his family—and many of his competitors—puzzled.

Could it be xenophobia and/or Islamophobia? Was it his turban? He is a Sikh, and people often confuse them with Muslims, even though Sikhism is the world's fifth-largest organized religion and is not related to Islam.

The Wyoming winner was a homeschooled girl who would later be touted by the Department of Education for culture-war propaganda, and the Washington state winner told Trump at the White House that she wanted to attend Hillsdale College, a politically conservative school, to which Trump said he could give a recommendation.

And is it as simple as that... Trump couldn't be seen with a person wearing a turban.