6-9-10 —    A Monticello Middle School team's project has been selected to represent

Kentucky at the national showcase for We the People: Project Citizen in

July, when the national showcase will take place in Louisville for the first

time. The team was chosen to advance after earning a rating of superior at

the state Project Citizen showcase on May 18 in Frankfort. The team's

project focused on addressing the problem of bullying.

    Members of the Project Citizen team from Monticello Middle School are:

Shawna Aaron, Alia Barrier, Daniel Bertram, Emily Bertram, Matthew Bertram,

Rachel Bertram, Brittany Calahan, Jeremiah Chaney, Jake Chaplin, Zoe Davis,

Monica Gehring, Cheyenne Jones, McKayla Jones, Jordan Kinnett, Bethany

Latham, Stephen Loveless, Zachary Massengale, Tristan McLean, Abi Perkins,

Caleb Rose, Cory Sawyer, Trajan Smith, Michael Steele and Tasha Troxell.

    Project Citizen is a hands-on, portfolio-based civic education program

that promotes participation in local and state government by teaching

students about the public policy process and encouraging civic involvement.

The program helps students learn how to monitor and influence public policy.

    Each year, student teams in fifth through eighth grades have the

opportunity to enter their Project Citizen portfolios and accompanying

research binders in the state showcase. They also give a presentation on

their entry and answer questions from evaluators. The evaluators select one

project to represent Kentucky at the national showcase.

    The Project Citizen National Showcase will take place July 25-28 during

the National Conference of State Legislatures Legislative Summit in

Louisville. State legislators, staff and other adult volunteers from across

the nation serve as evaluators, determining the level of achievement

attained by each portfolio. Teams do not give a project presentation on the

national level and most are not present at the showcase.

    Other teams that competed in the state showcase were from T.K. Stone

Middle School in Elizabethtown, Elkhorn Middle School in Frankfort, South

Laurel Middle School in London, Roosevelt-Perry Elementary School in

Louisville, Eastern Elementary School in Pleasureville and Paducah Middle

School in Paducah. A Project Citizen team from Henry County High School also

presented its project but did not enter the showcase. The showcase is

limited to fifth through eighth grades.  Project Citizen

    Project Citizen teams identify and analyze issues and problems facing

their communities and address one of the issues for their project. The issue

or problem must be one that could be addressed through public policy, such

as a law or regulation. The groups gather information about the issue,

examine policies and develop an action plan detailing the steps that need to

be taken to have the appropriate school, government or other entity

implement their public policy proposal. The final product is a stand-up

portfolio displaying each group's work and an accompanying binder

documenting its research.

    The Kentucky Court of Justice and the Center for Civic Education in

California are co-sponsors of the We the People: Project Citizen program for

Kentucky. Project Citizen is one of the many youth-related programs offered

through the Kentucky Court of Justice and administered by the Administrative

Office of the Courts in Frankfort.

    The AOC is the operational arm of the Kentucky Court of Justice and

supports the activities of approximately 3,400 court system employees and

403 elected justices, judges and circuit court clerks. The AOC also executes

the Judicial Branch budget.