• Courtesy
• The Malikians, Burlington, holding copies of Seven Days and Kids VT.

The Good Citizen At-Home Challenge is winding up! Entries in the youth civics initiative organized by Kids VT and Seven Days are due on Friday, March 5. We'll hold a grand-prize drawing for winners on March 10 and will announce them — and showcase some of the best work we received — in the April Kids VT.

In the meantime, enjoy a few of our favorite recent activity submissions.

News Literacy

Listening to the governor's COVID-19 press conference:

"We listened to the Governor's budget address on Tuesday, January 26 — it took the place of the COVID update. He talked about how much money he would like to spend on different projects, like roads, schools, and community organizations that help people."
Team Tacoz,
Burlington

Reading a community newspaper:

"The top two interesting things that we learned about are that the local elementary school principal is retiring at the end of the year, and that there is a bottle drive for the senior center happening soon that we now have plans to participate in."
Evergreen Woods Homeschool,
Waterbury

History

Participate in Vermont Humanities' "We Are Still Here" virtual event:

"We watched the Vermont Humanities event presented by Jesse and Joseph Bruchac [of the Nulhegan Abenaki Nation]. The creation stories and music were entertaining but we got the most out of the dialogue from Joe and Jesse. We didn't know that their tribe name had been so anglicized and will work to pronounce their name correctly."
Kruger Kids,
Jeffersonville

Play Virtual Vermont Trivia:

"We have participated in 3 of the Virtual Vermont Trivia nights sponsored by the Vermont Historical Society. On the third night of competition, we answered questions about food, crafts, and international ties. We knew most of the craft answers. We placed 11th with a score of 16,345 points."
Reading Homeschoolers,
Reading

Government

Listen to the "Why Can't Kids Vote" episode of VPR's "But Why: A Podcast for Curious Kids":

"There are other things kids can do even if they can't vote."
We Are All In This Together,
Brattleboro

Watch the presidential inauguration:

"We had a remote day on January 20th because we live in the capital and our safety officers were worried that there might be protesters at the statehouse. Our classes finished at 12 because Mrs. Pierce wanted us to watch the inauguration and then talk about it today! It was an important day!"
Pierce's Peeps,
Montpelier

Community Service

Organize a donation drive:

"We posted on Front Porch Forum and collected food from our neighbors and brought it to the Hardwick Food Pantry. Blaine was very excited that he could help. It was a great activity to help a young person realize that they are powerful and important in their world."
Team Tiki,
Wolcott

Paint a rock with a message of hope for others to find:

"Painting rocks was fun. It was a little hard to think of words. And harder to find places for them when it snowed!"
The Painted Cupcakes,
St. Albans