Super citizens: Local schools kick off Liberty Learning program
Sep. 16—A patriotic spirit is in the air across Cullman County's schools this week as the Liberty Learning Foundation kicks off its educational citizenship programs with a visit from Libby Liberty.
The programs kicked off with East Elementary School's second grade classes Wednesday morning, with stops set for West Elementary on Thursday and a visit to Temple Baptist Church to kick off the Super Citizens program for the Cullman County School System's fifth graders set for Friday.
Through the Super Citizens program, elementary students have the opportunity to learn more about how to be a good citizen, including the importance of voting and learning about their government, said Liberty Learning Regional Education Director Jessica Quillin.
During the program, students will nominate the people in their community who they believe are Super Citizens, and at the program's conclusion, those who were nominated will be invited to the final assembly to be recognized by the students, she said.
Seventh- and ninth-graders in the city school system are also taking part in a Liberty Learning program this school year, with seventh-graders learning about American Characters and ninth-graders making Citizen Promise.
The American Character program will take students through a course that highlights important American historical figures and lets students learn how those characters identified problems in their own times and worked to address them.
At the end of the program, the students will join together to identify some of the challenges in their own community and will work to find solutions to those issues.
Citizen Promise has been in the pilot stage for the last few years in a school in South Alabama, so Cullman City School System will be just the second school system in the state and the first in North Alabama to offer the high school program.
The program will let ninth graders get involved in the community and learn from community volunteers who will come in and speak about developing essential skills and build character to make students better citizens.
The program is meant to prepare students for the next stage of their lives, whether they want to go to college after high school, join the workforce or just learn how to run their household and manage their finances.
"We have something like a promise ring, with us, Cullman City Schools and the City of Cullman," said Cynthia Green, vice president of educational programs for the Liberty Learning Foundation. "Our promise is to help them reach those goals, and their promise to us is that they're going to graduate and that they have a plan."
