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Through the program the students had the opportunity to visit the capitol in Lansing and experience the legislative process up close and personal by viewing a Senate Committee meeting and by presenting their own proposed public policies to committee members.

As part of the school's seventh grade curriculum the students learned about public policy and how it is enacted. Students then created presentations that included proposed public policies regarding issues they felt needed to be addressed in their community.

The Project Citizen Hearing, held in the Montrose Community Auditorium, allowed the students to share, in a public forum, what they learned about the community problems they had chosen, and how they proposed to solve these problems through the public policy-making process.

Four classes participated in the hearing.

Each class selected, through a vote, the issue they wished to address and then created a presentation which consisted of four sections; explaining the problem, examining alternative policies to deal with the problem, proposing a public policy to deal with the problem, and developing an action plan.

Each class was divided into four groups, with each group responsible for one section of the four-part presentation. Each group of students presented a different aspect of the entire groups research and their recommendation for a public policy.

Group one explained the problem the class had chosen providing a detailed explanation of the issue, its causes, and why they had selected that particular issue. This group also presented evidence that there is a problem, covered the scope of the issue, the impact it has on their community, and how widespread the problem is within the community, The group included sources of information used for research such as surveys, etc., and also covered current regulations, ordinances, or rules that address the issue, and why government should be involved with the issue.

Group two examined alternative policies that could be used to address the issue and explained the advantages and disadvantages of each alternative policy presented along with identifying controversies and conflicts that need to be addressed for each. This portion of the presentation focused on current policies already in place regarding the issue. If there was currently no policy in existence for the issue, students had to develop a public policy. Testimony was given including the strengths and weaknesses of existing and proposed policies.

Group three focused on the policy being proposed by the class and its advantages and disadvantages. This portion of the presentation included clear rationale for making changes to or eliminating existing policy, or implementing new policy and why. Students also presented a cost analysis for implementation of the policy and how funds would be derived along with an explanation of why the proposed policy does not violate the federal or state constitution.

The fourth portion of the presentation covered the implementation of the Action Plan. This group focused on presenting a detailed explanation of the steps needed to have the proposed policy adopted by the appropriate government officials. Testimony included information on how long it might realistically take to get the proposed policy adopted and implemented, what groups or individuals might oppose or support the policy, and outlined an action process for getting their proposed public policy enacted.

Each group's presentation was evaluated by a panel of judges made up of governmental and school officials that included State Senator 27th District John J. Gleason, State Representative Richard Hamill, Montrose Mayor Eldon Dunklee, Montrose Township Supervisor Mark Emmendorfer, school Superintendent Mark Kleinhans, GISD Curriculum Director Roy Sovis, middle school principal Ed Graham, and middle school vice-principal Terry Bigelow.

Presentations were evaluated based on, students understanding of the issue and how it affected their community, the analysis of alternative policies, policy development and persuasiveness, implementation of the Action Plan, the extent to which the entire presentation constructed a clear and convincing sequence from one group to the next, and how the group used and documented research from multiple sources and made reference to sources and research evidence used. Quality of the oral presentation, including pace, projection, articulation, poise, and eye contact, was also judged.

Two of the groups were chosen to travel to Lansing to give their presentations to Senate members in the Senate Committee room of the capitol.

The Fuel Efficiency Standards group was chosen to present at the Project Citizen Hearing and the Cranial/Facial Syndrome Awareness group was chosen to give their presentation to the Senate Health Committee that included staff members, along with Gleason, Hamill, and State Senator Tom George.

The Cranial/Facial group, who chose their issue in honor of classmate Saydee Robinson who suffers from a form of Cranial/Facial Syndrome known as Crouzons, was very successful.

With the help of Senator Gleason, a resolution will go into effect in January of 2008 designating the third week in February as Cranial/Facial Awareness Week in the state of Michigan.

The group of students, along with Senator Gleason, hope to use the resolution and the special week to educate the public on Cranial/Facial Syndrome.

"The students at Montrose have a great understanding of how the legislative process works from participating in this program. What better experience is there to learn the democratic process than by testifying before the legislature," said Gleason.

"This shows young people they have a voice in Lansing and Bryan Moody is showing his students great leadership by offering them a forum to learn how our government works," he added.

Gleason also noted he was particularly impressed with the Cranial/Facial group.

"Those students did an excellent job of presenting their issue," he said. "To use a student from your own school to learn how government works was a great choice on their part. Saydee is a very brave girl; no one should have to put up with what she has to put up with. Hopefully with this policy we can help."

While at the capitol the students also had the opportunity to watch an actual Senate session and meet members of the Senate.

This is the third year Moody has coordinated the program for his students and it is the second Bill Montrose students have been involved with.

"My goal with this program is to teach the kids how to use their voice in democracy to create change," stated Moody.

Project Citizen is a curricular program for middle, secondary, and post-secondary students, youth organizations, and adult groups that promotes competent and responsible participation in local and state government. The program helps participants learn how to monitor and influence public policy. In the process, they develop support for democratic values and principles, tolerance, and feelings of political efficacy.

Participants work cooperatively to identify a public policy problem in their community, then research the problem, evaluate alternative solutions, develop their own solution in the form of public policy, and create a political action plan to enlist local or state authorities to adopt their proposed policy.

The Project Citizen program is administered with the assistance from a national network of state and congressional district coordinators, is conducted with the assistance of the National Conference of State Legislatures, and is funded by the U.S. Department of Education by act of Congress.

To learn more about Project Citizen, visit www.civiced.org and click on the Project Citizen link on the left side of the home page.