By: Shayla Terry

Crenshaw County Schools graduated its third class of Great Americans this week, thanks to the Liberty Learning Foundation.

2^nd and 3^rd graders from all of the county schools met at the Luverne High School auditorium to celebrate the completion of the 10-week program.

“Our overall mission is to teach, inspire, and empower our next great Americans,” Liberty Learning Foundation Vice-President of Development Becky Saunders said.

“We want these students to understand their roles and responsibilities as citizens.”

The program is split into two sections. The “Hands on Learning” program is tailored for 1^st or 2^nd graders, and 3^rd, 4^th or 5^th graders are taught with the “Super Citizen” program.

“Our hope is that the students get two good years of this program, which will hopefully lay a foundation for them to understand that they hold the important title of citizen,” Saunders said.

The program kicked off 10 weeks ago with a kick-start celebration, which included a visit from Lady Libby. During the 10-week instructional period, students are taught about veterans, symbols of the country, immigration, financial responsibility and the definition of a hero.

“The project based learning activity that goes along with this program is where they begin to see qualities and characteristics that heroes have,” Saunders said.

“Then, they begin to think about everyday people in their community who are making a difference, who are super citizens.”

At the celebration, the students honored people of their various communities who they deemed super citizens. The recipients were honored by speeches from the students, as well as presented with a patriotic pin or statue of liberty figurine. Over 10 individuals were honored.

Liberty Learning’s Next Great American program is being taught all over the state of Alabama, as well as some cities in Georgia. They service over 300 schools in Alabama.

“We want students to understand that they are valued in their communities, and are a valuable part of the community,” Saunders said.

“We want them to appreciate that they live in the greatest country in the world, and that they have a lot of responsibilities that comes with the greatest title of citizen.”