Ready for a Challenge?
What can you do to improve your community?
Take the Challenge and find out!
We can do great things when we work together. We can construct buildings and monuments, pass laws, organize support for neighbors in need, and create inviting public places to learn, relax and play. We can share our work with each other through trusted local news sources — on TV, radio, in print and online — and inspire others to take action, too!
This summer’s Good Citizen Challenge asks participants to learn about their communities — and current events — and find ways to lend a hand.
Complete the Challenge for a chance to win a $100 gift card to Phoenix Books and a FREE trip for two to Washington, D.C., from Milne Travel! All who finish the Challenge will receive a Good Citizen sticker and patch, a pocket-size U.S. Constitution, and an invitation to a VIP reception at the Vermont Statehouse this fall.
NEW: The library that helps the most K-8 students finish the Challenge and the library whose participants submit the highest quality work will each win a $500 cash prize — funded by a grant from Vermont Humanities — to be used to promote civic-themed resources or programming.
The Summer 2023 Good Citizen Challenge is organized by Burlington-based Seven Days, — Vermont’s locally owned, independent weekly — and its free quarterly parenting magazine Kids VT with underwriting support from the Evslin Family Foundation, Vermont Community Foundation, Milne Travel and Phoenix Books.
Good Citizen Challenge Organizers
2023 Good Citizen Challenge Underwriters
The Evslin Family Foundation
2023 Good Citizen Challenge Partners
Touring the Statehouse!
On March 27, 2019 the 2018 class of Good Citizens met Gov. Phil Scott and were recognized by the Vermont House for their contributions to their communities.
“However we choose to fulfill our civic duty, each of us has a role to play. This responsibility to and respect for each other is part of what makes Vermont so special. So that’s why I’m very pleased to help celebrate the launch of this program, which I hope will encourage young Vermonters to learn more about our state, their communities, government and our civic responsibilities.”
“It’s just very exciting for me to see [the Good Citizen Challenge] and the idea that you can get points by having a conversation with someone who you disagree with, and see what you learn from it. Because really, that’s what happens in this building all the time.”
“I’m often asked to visit high schools and colleges to talk about civic engagement, and my message is always: Even if you can’t vote yet, there are so many important ways you can get involved.”
“There are real people behind stereotypes we paint of the other side. The Good Citizen Challenge helps more young people understand that when you engage in the discourse, those stereotypes start to fade. And you start to truly understand what it means to be a good citizen.”
“Our youth have so much to offer. We simply, in light of the opportunities and the challenges we face today, cannot afford to squander that potential.”
“How can Americans participate in their democracy — or defend it — if they don’t understand the principles on which it rests? As former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor said, ‘Civic knowledge can’t be handed down the gene pool. It has to be learned.'”
Photo: Jeb Wallace-Brodeur
IN THE NEWS
Published May 23, 2018
Veteran Vermont journalist and radio host Dave Gram interviews Seven Days’ deputy publisher Cathy Resmer and Bristol teen Ethan Sonneborn, candidate for governor, before the Good Citizen launch event at the Statehouse in Montpelier, at the start of the legislature’s 2018 special session.
Published September 14, 2018
(WCAX-TV) The Good Citizen Challenge is putting Vermont kids to the test. The friendly civics competition designed by Seven Days/Kids VT aims to help kids learn about government and prompt them to become more involved in their communities. Galen Ettlin spoke with Seven Days’ Deputy Publisher Cathy Resmer about how the competition works.