The Civics & Service Committee continues its three major projects: the Naturalization Civics Challenge, the Clerkship Chats, and the Speech Bank. In this edition of The Bench Press, we focus on the Naturalization Civics Challenge.
As a reminder, in the Naturalization Civics Challenge, high-school students take the naturalization civics test. If they score at least 90%, we award them an “Excellent Citizen” certificate and invite them to attend a federal-court naturalization ceremony in their home judicial district before a federal judge.
We’ve now completed the first year of the Naturalization Civics Challenge and have embarked on the second. We think it’s been a great success!
Here’s what one teacher whose class participated in the Challenge and attended a naturalization ceremony in the Middle District of Georgia had to say:
I took 17 of our students to a Naturalization Ceremony in Columbus, Ga, on September 5, 2024. We got to tour the judge’s chambers prior to the ceremony and Judge Clay Land honored our students and included them in the ceremony introduction. It was a wonderful experience overall! My students were very appreciative of the opportunity and had several really great conversations about the process.
This is something I am so happy to have accessible to my school! I hope to continue to participate in the program with more students as the school year continues.
Thank you for everything you do for this program!
And here is a picture of Judge Beth Bloom of the Southern District of Florida, along with students and their teacher from MAST Academy in Miami, after the students attended a naturalization ceremony over which Judge Bloom presided in June 2024:
We thank all of you who have generously given your time to this project, and we look forward to your continuing support.
If you are aware of any teachers or students who are interested in participating, they can find information about the challenge at this link: https://federaljudgesassoc.org/federal-judges-association-civics-challenge/