Good Citizens visiting with Gov. Phil Scott at the Vermont Statehouse in 2019. Photo credit: Jeb Wallace-Brodeur.
Looking for fun, educational projects to keep the kids busy over winter break? Help them take the Good Citizen At-Home Challenge!
This statewide youth civics initiative is organized by Burlington-based Seven Days newspaper and its parenting publication, Kids VT, with support from the Vermont Community Foundation. Since 2018, the Good Citizen Challenge has encouraged young Vermonters to learn about history, government and news literacy, as well as ways they can pitch in to help out their communities.
Adult-child teams are encouraged in the new Challenge, which launched December 9. It includes more than 40 activities designed for this pandemic winter — many of them provided by Good Citizen partners. Participants choose which activities to do. All of them can be completed at home or from a safe social distance.
At-Home Challenge activities include:
• Listening to episodes of VPR’s “But Why: A Podcast for Curious Kids” and “Brave Little State,” as well as “Before Your Time,” a podcast from the Vermont Historical Society and Vermont Humanities
• Shoveling snow for neighbors
• Reading five articles in a local newspaper — find a list on the Vermont Press Association website, vtpress.org
• Making a poster for Green Up Day
• Organizing a donation drive for a local charity using Front Porch Forum
• Streaming films including The Social Dilemma, Boys State, Coded Bias, Ethan 2018 and The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords
Participants also need to pass a 20-question civics test to be entered to win prizes, including a $50 gift card to a local, independent bookstore, a one-year print subscription to The Week or The Week Jr. and a $500 gift card to a locally owned business.
The deadline to complete the Challenge is Friday, March 5, 2021, but prize drawings will happen monthly, on December 30, January 24 and February 17. A grand prize drawing for the $500 gift card will occur on March 10.
Good Citizen At-Home Challenge partners include VPR, Front Porch Forum, Vermont Humanities, the Vermont Historical Society and Green Up Day.
Find more information, as well as the civics test and a list of activities, at goodcitizenvt.com.
