- December 20, 2024
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Civics camp students have questions for Flagler Schools Superintendent LaShakia Moore in the Flagler County commission chambers at the Government Services Building. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Civic camp students have lots of questions on their field trips: Front row: Andy Culver. Second row: Amber Robinson, Giana Sheppard, Brice Wright, Back row: Mykyta Mytrofanov. Teachers: Alex Giorgianni and Steven Von Glahn. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Civics camp students are engaged at the Flagler County Government Services Building: Front row, Priya Vargas and Chloe Rodenborn. Second row: John Fredericks. Photo by Brent Woronoff
Priya Vargas raises her hand to ask Superintendent LaShakia Moore a question. Photo by Brent Woronoff
While some of their friends may be playing baseball or going to the beach, about 35 incoming seventh graders in Flagler County are attending Civics Camp this summer.
They are learning about the founding documents and writing children’s books about them. They’re holding mock elections. The presidential debate? They’ve already had one. They’ve created platforms, party slogans and logos and elected a president.
They’re proposing bills and going through the legislative process. They’ll do some Supreme Court simulations, testing the constitutionality of some laws. They’ll address emergency scenarios. What do we do if a Category 5 hurricane hits Florida?
And they are learning about their local and county governments. They met with Flagler County Commission Chair Andy Dance and Flagler Schools Superintendent LaShakia Moore at the Government Services Building, Palm Coast Mayor David Alfin and Acting City Manager Lauren Johnston at City Hall. They also visited the Flagler County Sheriff’s Office Operations Center and the county courthouse.
And one of the camp’s instructors, Flagler Palm Coast High School teacher Alex Giorgianni, will lead the students on a tour of the county from west Flagler to beachside to Princess Place, and they will be tasked to identify issues along the way and coming up with solutions.
Amy Ferrer, Flagler Schools teaching and learning specialist for social studies, applied for a grant with Heidi Alves, the science specialist, for civics and STEM summer enrichment programs. The grants funded the camps for two years, starting last year.
The civics camp is specifically for incoming seventh graders because there is a mandatory seventh grade civics course with a statewide assessment.
“We want to make sure that they have all of the information that they need,” Ferrer said. “So we focus on the founding documents and the founding principles, the three branches of government and civic engagement as well.”
The teachers don’t stand up in front of the class and lecture. The students worked in groups of four or five to study a founding document — the Declaration of Independence, the Magna Carta, the Mayflower Compact, Common Sense by Thomas Paine and the Articles of Confederation. Each group wrote a book about their document for elementary school students.
“Most likely, they’ll read their books aloud, and I’ll put the links on the curriculum maps for third, fourth and fifth grade, and our teachers will be able to use those in their classrooms,” Ferrer said.
“The (third, fourth and fifth graders) love it,” Ferrer added. “Anytime they can hear a book read by other kids.”
Aiden Rostallon likes the group-participation aspect of the camp.
“I like socializing with people, it makes it more fun,” he said.
The students had no shortage of questions for their local officials, Ferrer said.
“They had some good questions for Mr. Dance,” Ferrer said after the students left the GSB on June 12. “One of them asked about a tree that's growing in their sidewalk and it's breaking the sidewalk apart and who do I contact? They asked about flooding near their homes? One of them said there's a lot next door that’s vacant but was just purchased and it's home to a gopher tortoise. So what do we do about that?”
Melissa Ryon is concerned about local development.
I’m looking forward to doing the project where we get to go around Flagler County and then point out the things that we want to change.”
— MELISSA RYON
“I’m looking forward to doing the project where we get to go around Flagler County and then point out the things that we want to change,” she said, “because they’re building a lot of houses now, and I feel bad for the animals whose homes are being invaded by the new housing. So I really want to change that if I could.”
Superintendent Moore was asked about the “swatting calls” that precipitated school lockdowns at the end of the school year.
“What made it really stressful is each time you had to treat it like it was the real thing,” she told the students.
“I only have two jobs,” she added. “And one is to make sure you’re safe and get home safely.”
The students had different reasons for learning about civics. Andy Culver wanted to get a jumpstart on the seventh grade course. Alicia Souza, who immigrated from Brazil when she was 5, said, “I took this course because I was interested in learning about historical documents. When you’re new to America, you don’t really know how everything works and the history of America.”
Priya Vargas said she signed up because she thought her sixth grade history teacher would want her to. And she’s glad she did.
“It’s fun and you’re still learning something,” she said. “I actually didn’t know what the Mayflower Compact was, and now I find it pretty interesting.”
The most important thing they learned from their local officials, the students agreed is to be engaged.
“You don’t need to be quiet if something happens,” Rostallon said. “You got to speak out.”
