South Middle School Student Project
Receives National Recognition for Outstanding Achievement

A project created by a group of South Middle School eighth graders last school year has received an Outstanding Achievement Award from the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) and the Center for Civic Education. The group’s winning portfolio – entitled “Pre-Driver’s Ed” – had previously been judged at a state-level competition and won the honor of representing Missouri at a final round – the 10th Annual Project Citizen National Showcase, held in Nashville, Tennessee. Members of state legislatures, legislative staff, educators, attorneys, and other interested citizens from around the country served as judges in this prestigious showcase.

Introduced at South Middle School in 2003, Project Citizen is an award-winning middle school civic education program that engages classes of students to identify public policy issues in their communities, learn about the issues, and propose action plans to address the chosen issues. Classes produce portfolios to present their work and conclusions about changing public policy in their communities. Two South Middle School American History classes taught by Mr. Rocky Biggers participated in Project Citizen last year, both winning top honors at the state-level competition in March.

“We are honored to have a nationally recognized teacher and nationally recognized students at South Middle School,” says SMS Principal Ron Mitchell. “Mr. Biggers has gone above and beyond all expectations with the Project Citizen competition. Having the students complete these projects is very time consuming and labor intensive for both the teacher and the students. Mr. Biggers’ dedication and high expectations for quality student work is a major reason the South students received this award.”

The winning “Pre-Driver’s Ed” project approached the problem of how best to prepare new drivers to pass their driver’s permit test. The students proposed a new “mini class” within the Teacher Advisory classes for eighth graders, which would teach the Missouri Driver’s Manual to students nearing the age to be permitted to drive.

The students, now freshmen at Joplin High School, included: Cheyenna Beck, Maddison Billings, Zach Brower, Shelbi Cooper, Paco Gonzales, Kristin Grasser, Dakota Hackworth, Angelica Himojosa, Michelle Holden, Sierra Hutchinson, Tilly Ingram, Candra Kaderly, Danielle Kleeman, Veronica Leonard, Shelby McMillen, Blake Mills, Alex Needham, John Ness, Tabitha Robbins, Ryan Simpson, Adam Sonnier, Jeff Taylor, Tevin Triplett, Miranda Veith, and Ashton White.

Project Citizen is administered nationally by the Center for Civic Education in cooperation with the National Conference of State Legislatures. In Missouri, Project Citizen is administered and sponsored by The Missouri Bar.

(posted 11/06/06)