September 17, 2010
STATE BAR PRESIDENT STEPHEN P. YOUNGER
CELEBRATES ‘CONSTITUTION AND CITIZENSHIP DAY’ WITH
STUDENTS IN BROOKLYN
Younger Teaches 5th Grade Students at The Robert
Fulton School About the Importance and Meaning of the U.S.
Constitution
Bringing the famous words “We the People” to life in a
classroom in Brooklyn, New York State Bar Association President Stephen
P. Younger of New York (Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP) today
met with 5th-grade students at The Robert Fulton School and The Magnet
School for Exploration, Research and Design (also known as P.S. 8) to
celebrate ‘Constitution and Citizenship Day.’
Younger and the 5th-grade students from Mrs. Julie Schultz’s
class discussed why the Constitution is such an important part of our
daily lives as American citizens and its vital role in guiding the
decisions made by our government representatives. Each student received
a pocket Constitution and listened eagerly as Younger explained the
meaning behind the famed opening words to the Constitution’s
Preamble, penned by delegates at the Constitutional Convention more than
200 years ago.
“When our Founding Fathers adopted the Constitution on
September 17, 1787, they charted a bold, new course for American
democracy,” said President Younger. “Constitution and
Citizenship Day is an excellent opportunity to celebrate the anniversary
of one of the most important documents in the history of the world and
to help the next generation of leaders understand its significance. I
want to thank Julie Schultz and all of the wonderful educators at The
Robert Fulton School for inviting me here today.”
The State Bar Association, its Law, Youth and Citizenship (LYC)
Committee and other partners have also created a website (www.nysba.org/ConstitutionDay) packed with a
wealth of resources to help educators, civic groups and parents create
meaningful and engaging activities and lesson plans to commemorate
‘Constitution and Citizenship Day.’
Among the helpful programs and resources offered on the LYC
Committee’s Constitution and Citizenship Day website are:
• Center for Civic Education www.civiced.org: Lessons for
grades K-12 are available at no cost on the Center's website at
constitutionday.civiced.org. These lessons, designed to assist schools
and federal agencies to meet the requirements of the legislation, have
been adapted from the Center's We the People: The Citizen & the
Constitution and Foundations of Democracy curricular materials. Audio
recordings of selected Constitution Day lessons are also available on
the Center's website.
• iCivics http://www.icivics.org/teachers:
Students will learn how and why our Constitution was created, and some
of its key characteristics. They will also explore key amendments to the
Constitution and their application in protecting citizens' rights.
• The Constitutional Sources Project www.consource.org: ConSource was
founded in 2005 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit with the singular goal of
creating and maintaining the first, free, fully-indexed, comprehensive
online library of constitutional sources. Its mission is to facilitate
research and encourage discussion of the U.S. Constitution by connecting
individuals – including students, teachers, lawyers and judges
– with the documentary history of its creation, ratification and
amendment.
Congress passed legislation in 2004 requiring educational
institutions that receive federal funding to present a program focused
on the Constitution each year on September 17th – now known as
‘Constitution and Citizenship Day’ – to observe the
anniversary of the signing of the famed document.
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The 77,000-member New York State Bar Association is the official
statewide organization of lawyers in New York and the largest voluntary
state bar association in the nation. Founded in 1876, State Bar programs
and activities have continuously served the public and improved the
justice system for more than 130 years.
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