Kate Didn’t Like Civics… Until One Idea Changed Everything
<p><em>By David Kendrick</em></p>
<p>I have been a teacher at several different schools over 20 years, primarily teaching 8<sup>th</sup> graders. </p>
<p>My wheelhouse has always been my Georgia Studies class, which covers the history, geography, economics, and civic elements of our state and the nation as a whole.</p>
<p>I would like to think all of my students have enjoyed my classes. But I would rather tell you about the students that thanked me years down the road, after it seemed that they didn’t love my class. </p>
<p>Kate (I’ve changed her name) was a student who would rather sleep through class, particularly during the civics and government portion. She would roll her eyes and tell me she was only 14 and couldn’t do anything until she was “18 and grown.” </p>
<p>That was until we started our standard that talked about the rights and responsibilities of citizens and discussed the power of the average citizen in our society. For some reason, Kate came alive and began to believe that she could be someone in society who showed what it meant to be a good citizen. </p>
<p>Kate began to help others and volunteered to assist the students in our school’s severe and profound disability class. She began to give up her lunch time to spend time with that class. </p>
<p>We were so impressed that we awarded her with the Daughter of the Revolution’s Citizenship Award at the end of the year. </p>
<p>When Kate moved to high school, she continued her mission to help others who could not help themselves. She began to use her off time to help an organization in a nearby town called ESP (Extra Special People). </p>
<p>At the time, we had no idea what had molded her or had impressed on her to become this special person that she had become.</p>
<p>I lost track of Kate when she went to college. However, one day I was at the grocery store when a young lady stopped dead in her tracks and loudly said my name. I stopped and immediately recognized Kate.</p>
<p>It turned out she had gone to college at the University of Georgia, graduated, then got a job in Washington, D.C. working for a sitting senator as an intern. Now she’s in law school. </p>
<p>She told me that I was the reason for her “suddenly getting it.” My empathy toward her and her fellow students had opened her eyes to what good citizenship could be. And it had nothing to do with the age of a person. </p>
<p>With my class, Kate felt empowered to make changes for others. That was why she had chosen the path she selected at the University of Georgia, taken the internship with a senator, and is now in law school, looking to protect those who do not have a voice. She told me she wanted to follow in my example of modeling citizenship for others.</p>
<p><em>David Kendrick is a veteran social studies teacher at Loganville High School in Loganville, Georgia. He is also a past president of the Georgia Council for the Social Studies and was a 2021-2022 member of the Bill of Rights Institute Teacher Council. </em></p>