AZ Students Receive National Award for Community Action Plan

Prescott Valley Middle School Represents Arizona at National Showcase

PHOENIX An Arizona team that won the top award in the state has now moved on to win the highest honor at the We the People: Project Citizen National Showcase in August. Becky Fitchs 8th grade class from Park View Middle School in Prescott Valley, AZ received a Superior Award in the Showcase, which took place during the National Conference for State Legislators (NCSL) in Nashville Tennessee.

A nation-wide civic education program, We the People: Project Citizen, is conducted locally by the Arizona Foundation for Legal Services & Education. It leads students through the public policy-making process and lets students experience the Office of Citizen first-hand. Project Citizen calls on students to solve a problem in their community, big or small, from bullying to traffic. Project Citizen teaches students to honor civic duty and become active members of their community.

Fitch's students decided as a class to tackle the problem of auto-related accidents on Highway 69 between Prescott and Prescott Valley. Titling their portfolio presentation Highway 69: Blood Alley, they proposed that the Arizona Department of Transportation along with City officials place grated lines or Rumble Strips along the side of the highway to alert drivers and save lives. They also proposed rumble strips between lanes to help cars avoid swerving into other lanes as well as medians in the middle of the road. They talked to government officials, researched many different solutions and suggested a budget and timeline for this public project.

Legislators and staffers at the NCSL were invited to evaluate the work done by each class, which represented 48 states and the District of Colombia. Three evaluators gave ratings to each portfolio, which were then assigned an achievement category of Superior, Exceptional, Outstanding, or Honorable Mention. Because of the high quality of student work this year, all portfolios reached one of the top three categories.

Mesa's Rhodes Jr. High and Prescott Valleys Park View Middle School Selected as 2006 Arizona Project Citizen Champs

A nation-wide civic education program, We the People: Project Citizen, is conducted locally by the Arizona Foundation for Legal Services & Education. It leads students through the public policy-making process and lets students experience the Office of Citizen first-hand. Project Citizen calls on students to solve a problem in their community, big or small, from bullying to traffic. Project Citizen teaches students to honor civic duty and become active members of our community.

Students in Project Citizen classes begin by identify a problem in their community. Next, they research the problem contacting other communities with similar problems to find out what policies were in place to correct them. They then create a policy they feel will solve the problem. And finally they present their research findings as well as their suggested policy and implementation plan both through a static display portfolio and orally to a panel of community leaders.

Project Citizen Oral Hearing State Showcase Champions
Rhodes Jr. High Mesa Extra Curricular Activities
Teacher Terri Welsh

Project Citizen Portfolio State Showcase Champions
Park View Middle School Prescott Valley Hwy 69 Blood Alley
Teacher Becky Fitch
(Their portfolio will be judged again at the 2006 National Conference of State Legislatures in Memphis, TN in August)

Superior
Holy Angels 6th Grade Globe topic: Recycling Teacher: Len Leverance Capps Middle School Heber topic: Smoking Teacher: Stacey Frazier Rhodes Jr. High Mesa Swimming Safety Teacher: Terri Welsh Rhodes Jr. High - Mesa Mesa Money Matters Teacher: Terri Welsh

Exceptional
Westwind Academy Phoenix topic: Declining Health of Students Teacher: Tim Lewis Holy Angels 5th Grade Globe topic: Recycling Teacher: Len Leverance Palo Verde Middle School Phoenix - Prop 200 Teacher: Rich Curtain

Outstanding
Palo Verde Middle School Phoenix - Wire Tapping Teacher: Rich Curtain

Project Citizen Winners for 2003

Mansfeld Middle School, Tucson Unified School District

State Champions - Superior Awards

Exeptional Awards

Madison # 1
Hambly
Lee Kornegay Elementary

Outstandin Awards

Cholla M.S.
East Glove
Holy Angels 5th grade
Holy Angels 6th grade
Miami Jr. High 7th grade
Miami Jr. High 8th grade