8th grade Citizenship Project

Each eighth grade student is required to complete the following two activities in
lieu of a written test for U.S. History chapter 9:
1. Attend a local government meeting.
Obtain a list of open meetings in your town or a surrounding town. Choose one to
attend and complete the attached questionnaire during and after the meeting. Then
summarize your answers in strong, well-written paragraphs. Attach photographic proof of
your attendance to this typed essay.
2. Perform community service.
With your parents permission, choose and complete an act of community service
that will benefit the community outside of your family, school, or church. Obtain proof
of your service (signed note from the person or organization you served, certificate, or
photograph) and attach it to a typed, well-written reflection off your service that answers
the following questions:

Whom did you serve?

Why did you select this particular community service?
What did your service include?
With whom did you meet or interact? (Include other workers, and people
in authority) This is not the same question as the first.
What is the importance of this service?
What did you learn from this experience?
Why is volunteering an important aspect of good citizenship?

Due Dates:
1. List of open meetings in your town or a surrounding town. Dec 5, 2014
2. Confirmed plan explaining which meeting you will be attending and how and
with whom you will be attending. Jan. 16, 2015
3. Plan explaining which act of community service you will be doing and when and
with whom you will be serving. Jan. 16, 2015
4. Final projects completed and passed in by Feb. 13, 2015

Citizenship Project
Town meeting
Answer the following questions and use your answers to write a paragraph summarizing
your experience.
1. What type of meeting are you attending?
2. Who is officiating the meeting?
3. What is their title?
4. How many people (in attendance) are on the official committee/board?
5. How many citizens are in attendance?
6. Meetings may deal with subjects that are a concern more for one group of people
in town than another. How would you categorize the people in this meetings
attendance? Are they business people, people from a particular neighborhood,
employees, parents, students, or some other group (do your best to name the
group)?
7. What would you estimate is the average age of the citizens in attendance?
8. What are some of the issues being discussed at the meeting?
9. Is there one focal issue? If so what is it?
10. What is the citizens attitude toward this issue?
11. Were any decisions made regarding any of the issues on the agenda?
12. How were these decisions made? Did the general attendance of people have a
vote, or were the decisions made by the official committee?
13. In what way did the citizens in attendance participate in the meeting? Were they
allowed to give input on the issues at hand? Were only some or all citizens in
attendance invited to give input?
14. What are your general reflections on what you saw at the meeting?
15. How are meetings like this vital to the governing of your town?
16. Has this experience made you more aware of the importance of your role as a
U.S. citizen? Explain.

8th Grade Citizenship Project

Criteria for Success
Attend a local government meeting
Your typed, 12 font, double spaced report should contain the following:
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Type of meeting attended

Name of officiator
Title of officiator
Number of people on the committee/board
Number of people in attendance
Evaluation of the people in attendance
Estimated average age of attendees
Issues discussed
Focal issue (if applicable)
Citizens attitude toward the issue
Decisions made regarding issues
Describe how decisions were made
Participation of citizens
Reflections on the meeting
Importance of open meetings to the town
Awareness of the importance of your participation in government
Photographic proof of attendance

Perform community service

Report should contain the following:
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Identify who was served

Reason you chose this service project
Particulars of the service
People you met and interacted with during your time as a volunteer, including the
people that you served alongside (other volunteers), people in charge of
organizing the event, and individuals who benefited from your service.
Why is this service important to the community? How does it insure the welfare
of the citizens of the United States?
What have you learned about being an active citizen of the United States?
Explanation of the importance of community service in general. Why is it an
integral part of the structure of the U.S. government?
Please provide proof of service in the form of a letter, photographs, certificate, or
other official document.

*IMPORTANT NOTE - This project and all related documents should be kept as part of
a personal portfolio that can be used in your future. You may use it as a model for other
projects, and as part of employment applications or college acceptance.