Looking for a fun and educational project for your kids or your class?
Help them complete Vermont’s Good Citizen Challenge!
Players earn points by demonstrating their interest in being good citizens of their communities, their state, their country and their world.
Complete the Challenge by racking up more than 251 points — the number of towns in Vermont. Those who finish will receive a Good Citizen medal and other prizes and will be invited to meet with elected offcials who will recognize their achievements.
The Challenge is nonpartisan; it focuses on our shared American values. And this year, it’s open to individuals and groups!
The deadline to complete the Challenge is March 6, 2020.
Get Started!
Before you can play, an adult must register your team and add you as a player.
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Take quizzes, do activities and check your progress.
Add players and check their progress.
Part 1: The Quizzes
[100 points]
Answer multiple choice questions in 5 different civics-themed categories. When you ace a quiz, you’ll earn 20 points. Complete all 5 quizzes and get 100 total points toward your 251 goal!
Note: You can retake a quiz at any time. All quizzes must be completed to qualify as a Good Citizen.
EXAMPLE QUIZ QUESTIONS
Part 2: The Activities
[151+ points]
Complete at least one activity in each of the 5 civics-themed categories and submit the evidence online. The Challenge Master verifies the evidence and awards points to successful players.
Note: Even after you earn 251 points, you can still keep going and earn extra credit.
EXAMPLE ACTIVITIES
Category Badges
Players who successfully complete both a quiz and one activity in a given category will earn a badge.
By the time you have become a Good Citizen, you will have earned at least 5 badges!
Special Badges
Completing any activity will earn you points toward the 251 goal, but some extra-valuable activities will earn you badges on their own. In addition, the Challenge Master may give out 50-point or extra-credit badges for outstanding effort.
WHY CIVICS?
In 2019, we the people of the United States are deeply divided — by gender, race, political affiliation and socio-economic status. What better time to focus on the American values we all share?
The Good Citizen Challenge is organized by Burlington-based Seven Days — Vermont’s locally owned, independent newsweekly — and its free monthly parenting magazine, Kids VT, with support from the Vermont Community Foundation.
OUR 2019 PARTNERS
The following organizations helped create and/or promote the Good Citizen Challenge.
Storming 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. We spoke to the young people about what it means to be a good citizen and what they learned from this Challenge.
“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.
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