Good Citizen Challenge
Getting Kids Across VT Engaged in Civics!
It’s been shown time and time again how civics education is essential for an inclusive, engaged democratic system. This rests on one core reason - we can’t expect citizens to defend, participate, or improve our democracy if they don’t understand it. Beyond partisanship, beyond politics, is the truth that every citizen should have a foundational understanding of how their democracy works. Yet, we’ve seen consistently how civics education is under-valued in the US educational system leaving a huge knowledge gap in an area which affects the everyday lives of each person in the country. When we were approached by Seven Days, and Kids VT, with the support of the Vermont Community Foundation we realized we could create local democratic change together - by building a free civics challenge to reward VT kids for learning about their government.
How It Works
To make a change in our state we wanted to start with the next generation - kids all across Vermont! In 2018 we started by making a paper challenge where kids could earn up to 251 points (one for each town in VT) by showing their interest in being good citizens. In this custom, non-partisan challenge, kids across the state answered questions on government, history, and news literacy amongst other topics. To get the full 251 points they needed to complete challenges like drawing a political cartoon, picking up litter, attending a town hall, or helping someone register to vote.
All in all, kids across the state scrambled to take part in the challenge! Kids could even sign up and work in a group to earn points faster - mirroring a key democratic value, that the best way to reach our goals is by working together. Last year all of the kids which participated earned a medal, T-Shirt and were recognized at the State House by Governor Phil Scott and other elected officials. More importantly - they had each made a personal impact on our state through their actions playing the game.
Leveling Up The Challenge
This year Seven Days, and KidsVT were excited to level up the challenge and make it easier than ever for kids to get involved. To make that happen we updated what we loved from the paper challenge and rolled out a digital game with more quizzes, activities, and ways to play than ever before! Now any kid in Vermont with the help of a parent, teacher, or guardian can sign up online to participate in the challenge. They can see how they’re doing right away and find out how many other teams are taking part in their community.
We also built out badges - a new way to award kids for making special efforts to get involved. To get a badge kids need to prove their expertise in one of our key democratic engagement areas: History, Government, Advocacy, News Literacy, and Community Engagement. They can also earn badges for completing a high impact activity - like creating their school’s first newspaper, or organizing an event in their community.
Become a Good Citizen!
This year’s challenge already has more players involved than ever before, and we want it to keep growing! We hope that through this challenge, the state of Vermont can cut through partisanship and help build up the next generation of educated, engaged, and most importantly - good - citizens.
Know any kids or groups who would like to play? This year’s challenge is running through March 6, 2020. You can sign them up to start playing!
Want to take part in the Challenge?
Get Started by Signing Up As a Teacher, Parent or Guardian
