Since the first semester is over let’s talk about a half year class that replaces your Part in Government class, Generation Citizen or Civics.
This course is all about the community, the first assignment is to choose an issue. You and your class can choose any issue that has been plaguing your community such as trying to get a sidewalk, make school lunch better, or get solar panels. These are just some of the issues other classes have covered.
At the end of the semester all your work from the class is presented at Civics Day.
At Civics Day you present a PowerPoint that compiles all the work you’ve done throughout the first half of the year. In Civics, you get to interview local and state level politicians and get their thoughts on your issue. You also get to make surveys that go out to the majority of the school and of course you need to do research on your topic. All this information is in your presentation at Civics Day.
“Generation Citizen is geared to amplifying and empowering students’ voices and opinions and really teaching them how to research, write, and present. All of those core skills the kids learn in preschool all culminate in their senior year into this amazing presentation. Additionally. I’d like to add that it’s not just a presentation since they are truly impacting change in our community. It’s not just a class you take to take a test, pass, and forget about it for the rest of your life. The outcomes of such a class or lasting community changes that are lasting they remember that for the rest of their lives.” – Ms. Carella-Dean
Another reason this class in a great alternative to Part in Government is because class this will aide in getting the Seal of Civic Readiness. This seal basically means that you’ve done community service and have served your community, so you get a seal on your diploma.
Here is what some students had to say when we asked them about the class on Civics Day.
“I took this class because I had Mr. Carlson in 11th grade for U.S. History and he advertised this class that he taught. I liked the way he taught, and the class seemed interesting so I took it. It’s a unique course and I thought interviewing Legislators and trying to help change the community would be a very different and fun course” said Damiano Scuteri.
“This class is so special because I think it gives students real life experience for many things. We interview important people, make calls, and survey people in the community. This class is very beneficial and can make people more involved in their community and town” added Angelina D’Amato.
On Civics Day, there were multiple opportunities for the students to feel heard about their ideas and how they wanted them to be carried out.
The first issue the students brought up was making IDs digital. They had researched apps they would use to make it work. They had put a lot of thought into how they were going to continue with this, the only thing left to do was make it happen.
“Moving forward, we intend on reaching out to St Joseph’s University to speak with their technology and security staff to see what our next steps are.” – Dr. R
The second issue that was brought up was the safety around the school. On most of Buffalo Avenue and Jamaica Avenue, streets neighboring the school, there are no sidewalks. This issue was discussed in this class a few years ago and right when they were about to succeed Covid happened so the sidewalk idea was sidelined. This class decided to revamp this idea and they succeeded; the sidewalks will be in place by 2025. Their hard work caused a change that will be impacting this community forever.
“It is always an amazing experience to teach Civics each year. The best part about the class is the students get to have a voice and express their opinions on changes they want in the school or the community. There are not many other classes that allow that to happen. I also loved working with these two groups this year. They were hard-working, dedicated, and passionate about achieving their projects and goals. It was great to hear on Civics Day from the politicians that we will be getting sidewalks on Buffalo Avenue by 2025. It was also great to hear our school administrators say they want to implement Digital IDs soon. Both classes were a pleasure to work with.” – Mr. Carlson, teacher of the Generation Citizen class.
