More than 400 third-graders from five Mobile-area schools gathered at Davidson High School this week to launch an eight-week civics and history program aimed at teaching young students what it means to be a good citizen, a good neighbor and a financially responsible adult.
The program, known as the Liberty Learning Super Citizen program, is run by the nonprofit Liberty’s Legacy and is now in its second year in Alabama classrooms. According to the organization’s president, the initiative reached roughly 40,000 students across 328 schools during its first full year, and organizers say this year’s participation is on pace to top 50,000 students statewide.
The kickoff event featured a costumed “Libby Liberty” character leading students through songs and lessons about the history of the Statue of Liberty, with several students invited on stage to help illustrate the statue’s scale and symbolism. Over the coming weeks, third-graders will study U.S. history, government structure and the basics of financial literacy, aided by volunteer readers who visit classrooms with lesson materials supplied by the program.
A signature feature of the program asks each class to identify a “hero” from their own community — someone like a school janitor, crossing guard or nursing home worker — whom students believe exemplifies good citizenship. Classrooms organize into small “Torch Teams” where students research and make the case for their nominee before the rest of the group votes on a winner.
Students also work throughout the eight weeks to collectively raise $30 per class, money that goes toward a small replica of the Statue of Liberty presented to the chosen community hero. All of the honorees from participating schools will be recognized together at a culminating “celebration graduation” ceremony set for early May.
Organizers say the exercise is designed to have an emotional impact on both the students and the adults they choose to honor. Past honorees have included cafeteria staff and support workers who rarely receive public recognition, and organizers describe the reveal moments as often surprising and moving for everyone involved.
Beyond the community-hero project, the curriculum touches on core concepts of freedom and responsibility. Students taking part in the kickoff said they were already absorbing some of the program’s central lessons, describing good citizenship in terms of treating others fairly, respecting rules and taking care of the community around them.
The program is funded through the Alabama Power Foundation and is offered at no cost to participating schools. Organizers say the goal is not just to teach facts about American history and government, but to give young students an early, hands-on framework for recognizing civic responsibility in their everyday lives — lessons they hope will stick with the students well beyond the third grade.