Hi everyone! My name is Sudipa Chowdhury and I am a MasonVotes Community Organizer stationed in Newark, DE. I recently hosted the Kids Civic Workshop in April at my campus’ intermediate school library for students grades 3 to 5.
Although it was incredibly challenging to put everything together and make sure the workshop ran smoothly, it was all worth it to be able to educate younger students on such an important topic through an engaging way. Thanks to the help of my two teacher advisors, we were able to book our library for after-school to host our workshop and successfully posted information about the workshop on our school’s page, which allowed us to get over 40 RSVPs!
On the day of our workshop, my advisors helped me set up and took attendance as the kids came crowding in. And let me tell you, I now understand how hard it is for 3rd grade teachers to manage all those excited kids. We definitely tried our best to keep them focused, but it also seemed that the presentation itself, as it incorporated characters that the kids were well acquainted with, helped to keep them engaged.
My favorite part was when the results of our presidential election came in: there was silence, a dramatic drum roll, then the winner was announced and everyone applauded our workshop’s newly elected leader!
By the end of the workshop, as we took the kids outside to meet with their parents, I noticed many began to recount their day to their parents, explaining what they did and what they learned. That was most definitely the highlight of my experience hosting this event.
In the end, despite the struggles I had having to prepare for a presentation and improvise what was being presented based on the responses, these kids left their day at school with civic knowledge that would certainly prove beneficial for their futures as citizens (or perhaps as the president!).
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