2008 Schools Awards Recipients

2007 Awards Recipients | Return to School Awards Page

The following schools are recognized for their efforts to prepare students for active and responsible citizenship using the six promising practices in civic education identified in the Carnegie Foundation’s Civic Mission of Schools report.

Schools of Distinction

Bell Gardens High School
6119 Agra St.
Bell Gardens, CA 90201
Principal and Contact: Victor Chavez
(323) 826-5151

At Bell Gardens High School in Los Angeles County all students are involved in multiple civic education opportunities by the time they graduate. As a graduation requirement, all seniors complete a “Senior Community Project” in which students research community issues of importance to them, and take action to address those issues. Further, student government engages more than 3000 students each year in discussions about civic issues and what they can do as a school to make a difference. In the classroom, teachers integrate two dynamic curricula: City Works, which engages students in simulations of local government functions and discussions of current events, and Deliberating in Democracy, which utilizes technology such as online discussion and videoconferencing with classrooms across ten countries. Teachers also participate in the the Teaching American History Program, which provides them with professional development in history education.

Santiago Creek School
2323 N. Grand Ave.
Santa Ana, CA 92705
Principal: Janeen Antonelli
Contact: Cyndie Borcoman
(714) 245-6751

Santiago Creek School, an Alternative High School in Orange County, infuses engaging civic education both in and outside of the classroom. In their Civics class, students debate and discuss current events important to students’ lives, such as immigration, gang conflict, housing and the economy. Students then design and implement service projects that relate to these issues, such as crocheting afghans to give to the homeless, and a letter writing campaign to elected officials about the needs of the homeless. In their Human Relations Class, the students participate in simulations, learn about the history of civil rights, and again design and implement service projects to address these issues, such as a mural exchange with Capetown South Africa focused on apartheid and the Truth and Reconciliation Trails. An after-school club, Community as School, provides more opportunities for students to be involved in their community.

Foothill High School
501 Park Dr.
Bakersfield, CA
Principal: Brenda Lewis
Contact: Terri Richmond
(661) 366-4491 ext. 83

At Foothill High School all students participate in a dynamic civic education program in their senior year. The We the People curriculum involves student in simulated congressional hearings, and the Project Citizen curriculum involves students in service-learning. The school is aiming to deepen these experiences further, by developing a 12th grade We the People competition. Further, they are planning to provide more curriculum alignment by bringing Project Citizen into the 9th grade year. The school has also taken seriously the challenge of engaging all incoming 9th graders in clubs and activities, and has used the program Link Crew to achieve this goal. Civic related clubs include History Club, Key Club, Interact, and Forensics. Finally, the ASB has been using student surveys to involve all students in student governance issues.

Meadowbrook Middle School
12320 Meadowbrook Lane
Poway, CA 92064-3599
Principal and Contact: Cathy Brose
Phone: (858) 748-0802

For the last two years, Meadowbrook Middle School (MMS) has participated in a statewide Constitution Day activity, in which students send drawings about what the constitution means to them, and drawings are posted at the state capital. MMS has sent in more panels that any school in the state with full grade-level participation and hundreds of students. The students’ artwork and messages clearly demonstrate that classroom instruction about the Constitution and Bill of Rights in Meadowbrook classrooms builds content knowledge, while also making the content relevant and meaningful to students. Students participate in History Day, which involves students in becoming experts on historical topics through extensive research and documentation; participate in mock congressional hearings; and mock elections and use the Project Citizen curriculum to examine public policy. Out of the classroom, students are involved myriad civic activities including writing their own views on budget cuts for YouTube, where they received over 5,000 hits.

School of Merit

Endeavour Elementary School
9300 Meacham Rd.
Bakersfield, CA 93312
Principal and Contact: Deanne Clark
(661) 588-3550

Endeavour Elementary School has brought together teachers from grades Kindergarten –4th grade, the student body president, the president of the parent teacher association, and school and district administrators to develop a plan for strengthening civic education at their school. Together they have reviewed the six promising practices in civic education, assessed their schools’ current activities, generated ideas for ways to expand civic education opportunities, and engaged others in their school and community in the discussion. Their plan includes increasing the number of classes using Project Citizen, mapping civic education standards into every curricular area, and discussing current events in every classroom.

Special Recognition

De Anza High School
5000 Valley View Rd.
Richmond, CA 94803
Principal: Kenneth Gardner
Contact: Connie Pekedis,
(510) 231-1100, ext. 25700

West Contra Costa Unified School District launched the first year of a civic based service-learning requirement for graduating seniors. De Anza High School stood out for successfully providing high quality service-learning for all students in their Government/Economics classes. Outstanding civic components of their projects included students discussing current events and researching issues of concern. Further, each class went through a democratic process of decision making which led to the design and implementation of a class project. Their service-learning included studying the economics of poverty, creating hygiene kits and delivering those kits to a homeless shelter; and researching global warming and educating other students about what action can be taken.

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