Mediaboss Marketing

Leslie Smith Democrat marketing manager 12:17 a.m. EDT April 11, 2015

Each year in conjunction with Childrens Week, the Tallahassee Democrat holds its annual Civics Essay contest. The premise is simple, get middle-school students to not only understand the importance of volunteerism and civic engagement, but to incorporate those concepts into their lives.

This year the contest was open to all seventh-graders in Leon County. Their writing prompt was the following quote by former Sen. Bob Graham made when discussing the importance of getting involved in ones community: Citizenship is not just a spectator sport!

What does it mean to a 13- or 14-year-old to be an active citizen? It seems to vary from picking up trash on the ground to volunteering at the Alzheimers Project. Its safe to say that each student who entered the contest understands that service learning and active participation in our community is something everyone, regardless of their age, should be doing.

The three winners of the 2015 Tallahassee Democrat Civics Essay contest are: First Place, Devan Meyer; Second Place, Timothy Perry OConnor; Third Place, Maya Barrios.

Each of the winners will read their essays at the Storybook Village on Tuesday at the Capitol. All of the activities taking place during Childrens Week can be found at http://childrensweek.org./

First Place

By Devan Meyer

Deerlake Middle School, seventh grade

What is Citizenship?

The rest is here:
Democrats Civics Essay Contest showcases citizenship