Kid Governor shows our future voters that their voices matter now

This commentary is by Sarah Copeland Hanzas, Vermont’s secretary of state. Think of a problem that’s too big for you to solve alone. One that requires bringing people together and participating in collective action to propose solutions. This is really the crux of civics and democracy. It’s the question I pose to Vermont’s students whenever I visit classrooms, and some of those students are answering it on a public stage right now — fifth graders, to be exact. Vermont’s Kid Governor program is in its second year. Founded in 2015 by the Connecticut Democracy Center, the program has spread nationwide, offering fifth grade teachers a free toolkit for teaching about state government, voting and the power of civic participation. This education is not just theory but also practical. Students identify an issue they’d like to address and then run in primary elections within their schools. They develop a three-point campaign platform to earn their classmates’ votes.

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