On Tuesday, February 6th, BP Oddo welcomed two high school seniors to Borough Hall to congratulate them on winning an essay contest held by the Dreyfuss Civics Initative, a non-profit organization founded by actor Richard Dreyfuss that aims to revive the teaching of civics in public education. The Borough President’s office helped facilitate the contest in several of Staten Island’s public high schools.
 
The two Staten Island seniors, Madeline Belaya, of Curtis High School, and Maxwell Velikodny, of Susan Wagner High School, were each awarded a $500 merit check and a $500 donation to the faculty department of their respective schools.
 
The contest asked students to write an essay about the structure and balance of power among the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of government. The organization chose the winners based on those they felt had the ability to express clarity of thought and form an opinion.
 
“At a time when over 50% of high school students nationwide are unable to name all three branches of the federal government, it is great to see Staten Island students like Madeline and Maxwell excelling in civics,” said BP Oddo.
 
The partnership with the Dreyfuss Civics Initiative follows a similarly successful partnership with iCivics, a not-for-profit organization that teaches students how government works by having them experience it directly through a series of interactive games.

​On Friday, June 23rd, Borough President James Oddo joined with members of the Department of Education to host a training session for teachers in iCivics. Through a partnership between the Borough President and the DOE, teachers from Staten Island public schools were trained in how to use this educational tool as part of their curriculum. Teachers will use the program as part of their Social Studies curriculum beginning in 3rd grade and continuing through the high school level. Previously, civics was only taught briefly in high school.
 
At the training session, teachers received an orientation from iCivics representatives on how to implement the game-based learning program in the classroom. Participants were able to explore the site, create accounts and start their virtual classrooms. The workshop put an emphasis on the train-the-trainer model, encouraging teachers to return to their schools and train other teachers. Teacher guides were also distributed to participants.
 
“This is a priority of ours,” noted BP Oddo. “We live in an era where we have more access to information than ever before, yet people still don’t understand how our government and country works. We want to reemphasize the teaching of civics, and iCivics is a great tool to do this. It draws students in through games and creates better informed citizens, who will be the true leaders of tomorrow. Focusing on teaching civics in our schools is a great way to get at society’s challenges. The more students learn about civics, the more likely they are to be positive agents of change in the future.”
 
“iCivics allows us to grow better civic-minded students,” said Christine Zapata of the DOE’s Staten Island Borough Field Support Center. “It allows kids to get deeper into topics they normally wouldn’t have learned about so early in their careers. Why wait until kids are 17 or 18 years old to make them better civic-minded citizens?”
 
“Students love iCivics,” said Amber Coleman-Mortley, Digital Media Manager for iCivics. “It puts them in the driver’s seat, where they can get firsthand experience in civics. We support the games with a curriculum for teachers to make sure that students understand the concepts fully.”
 
iCivics is a not-for-profit program founded by former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in 2009. The program teaches students how government works by having them experience it directly through a series of interactive games. iCivics offers 19 free interactive games that focus on different aspects of civics education. It is used by over 150,000 teachers in all 50 states, reaching over 5 million students every year.