Woodlawn, Sebring students mark Constitution Day with civics activities

Woodlawn Elementary Principal Jerry Wright and students from Woodlawn’s leadership ambassador program told the School Board of Highlands County on Monday that the school has added a civics action team and is marking Constitution Day and Celebrate Freedom Week with campus activities.

The students described a week of classroom exercises designed to teach younger pupils about the Constitution and American civic institutions. "We brought with you a few of our leadership ambassadors," Principal Jerry Wright said, introducing the third- through fifth-grade students who said they represent roughly 150 classmates and are organized into action teams.

Tripp Pyle, president of Woodlawn’s Leadership Ambassador Team, and Ava Bosser, civics team leader, described planned activities that include daily short lessons on founding figures during the school’s morning broadcast, a schoolwide “round robin” where students share reasons they are proud to be American, a constitution scavenger hunt across campus and a student-designed Woodlawn Freedom Quilt assembled from individual quilt squares representing what freedom means to each child. The students said the scavenger hunt will highlight a selection of the Constitution’s amendments, and they named the First, Fourth and Thirteenth Amendments as examples; students said the scavenger hunt will incorporate a subset of the Constitution’s 27 amendments.

Sebring High School teacher Mr. Vieto introduced senior Luke Armstrong, who described his honors American government class work on the election process, reapportionment and gerrymandering. "Most recently our classes have been about the election process and how the elections happen," Armstrong said, and he summarized his interest in how state districting can affect representation.

Board members praised the classroom work and the civic focus. Board member Mr. Whitton said the week’s lessons help students understand "what makes our country so incredibly amazing," and several members noted that some schools were reciting portions of the Declaration of Independence as part of Celebrate Freedom Week.

Why it matters: Board members said early civic education and opportunities to practice respectful debate help students learn democratic processes, and they commended staff and volunteers for creating classroom structures that teach civics at the elementary and high school levels.

The board received the presentations and posed no formal action items related to the student programs during the meeting.