The history department changed the civics project curriculum from a civics project to a research assignment. 

In past years, sophomores at LS have participated in the civics fair. They spent six weeks working on solving a current problem in our community. Students connected with citizens, created petitions, and wrote to and interviewed government officials. 

This year, the project calls for students to use their research skills. Sophomores are now given four weeks to research and develop a blueprint that can be used to solve a problem. The students will create “levers of change” such as draft letters or social media posts to spread awareness about their chosen issue. Mr. Raffel, a 20th Century history teacher, believes that “the research piece is incredibly important” and would like to avoid possible duplication of the eighth grade civics project, which the students completed two years ago.

The history department wanted the project to be equally balanced with the curriculum. Mr. Raffel noted that the “showcase was logistically difficult to pull off” and that four weeks seemed more reasonable when considering the depth of the class work. 

Ask your sophomore friends what they are researching!