LYNN — The third annual Civics Day Celebration was in full swing at the Lynn Vocational Technical Institute’s field house Friday, as around 110 eighth- and 10th-grade students from all around the city showed off their civics projects.
The celebration was organized by Kristen Tabacco, assistant director of history curriculum for Lynn Public Schools, and the Civics Day Planning Committee.
Tobacco said that after the Civic Education Act was passed in 2018, it gave the district the opportunity to really dive into civic and social-studies education.
“Part of that legislation is that all students in eighth grade need to be offered a student-led civic action project that goes through the various levels of action,” Tabacco said.
High-school students have to take part as well, and Tabacco said the district chose 10th grade because that is when students study the civil rights movement.
The schools that participated in the day’s celebration were Lynn Vocational, the LVTI Discovery Program, Lynn Classical High School, Lynn English High School, Thurgood Marshall Middle School, Pickering Middle School, Breed Middle School, Frederick Douglass Collegiate Academy, and Fecteau-Leary Junior/Senior High School.
Breed Middle School students Leila Chavez, Rossonger De Jesus Diaz, and Sean Beyea did their civics project on gun violence and mental health, focusing on how Massachusetts gun-violence and suicide rates are affected by the lack of mental-health resources available.
“A lot of people are dealing with depression and they’re having a battle every single day with their brain about depression. They are thinking bad thoughts and it’s leading to suicide and murder,” Diaz said.
Chavez said that she thinks their project is very important to the community because of the people affected each day by gun violence.
“We want to stop this from happening and get people help,” Chavez said.
Beyea said they created flyers to raise awareness and emailed elected officials to voice their concerns and learn about how the government is working to address the issue.
Tabacco said that each school had its own Civics Day prior to the city-wide celebration, and more than 2,500 students participated. The qualifiers were sent to the celebration Friday, at which 13 projects were chosen to continue to the Generation Citizen Civics Day Showcase in Boston.
The celebration included 37 projects, which were evaluated by 35 judges.
“The kids are wicked excited about being here. It’s nice to see the work they’ve put in come to fruition and be presented to more than just our school,” said Kelly Stantial, an eighth-grade social-studies teacher at Pickering.
She said she gets very excited when she sees her former students back at the celebration, doing a project again in 10th grade.
“This project is showing them how they can participate in government even at an entry level, and hopefully it shows them how easy it is for them to get involved, even though politics is convoluted,” Stantial said.
