Commissaries help promote 2009 Constitution Day Poster Contest

  • Published
  • By DeCA corporate communications
FORT LEE, Va. --  The Defense Commissary Agency has joined several organizations to help promote the 2009 Constitution Day Poster Contest. Commissaries worldwide are displaying colorful posters that detail basic contest requirements, the submission deadline and the Web site, http://www.ConstitutionFacts.com.

The poster contest is open to children in grades K-12 (including homeschoolers) to celebrate Constitution Day, Sept. 17, by designing a poster showing how the entrant benefits from the freedoms embodied in the U.S. Constitution. Entries must be postmarked by Oct. 1. Details, resources and entry forms also are available at the GovDoc Kids Group wiki, http://www.govdocs4children.pbwiki.com.

Each winning student will receive two copies of his or her poster. Contest winners will be posted on the GovDoc Kids Group wiki on Election Day, Nov. 4. The first 100 entrants will receive a copy of "The U.S. Constitution & Fascinating Facts About It" - a pocket-size guide to the Constitution provided by ConstitutionFacts.com.

Military children were among the participants in last year's Constitution Day Poster Contest, with winning posters coming from Kadena High School on Okinawa, Japan, and the John O. Arnn Elementary School on Camp Zama, Japan, both Department of Defense Dependent Schools. The posters highlighted how youth view the Constitution, Bill of Rights, voting rights and the need to preserve liberties.

"I applaud what these groups are doing to raise awareness among our youth of the significance of the Constitution to who we are as a citizenry," said Philip E. Sakowitz Jr., DeCA director and CEO. "Our commissaries are honored to support this effort, and I encourage children and adults everywhere to take time out and learn more about this historic legal document."

Constitution Day is observed nationally Sept. 17, on the very day that the Constitutional Convention met for the last time to sign the Constitution in 1787. In 2004, the government established it as a federal observance and renamed it from Citizenship Day to Constitution Day and Citizenship Day. As a result, all publicly funded educational institutions are required to provide educational programming on the history of the U.S. Constitution on that day.

Co-sponsors of the poster contest are the national GovDoc Kids Group; the Kansas Library Association's Government Documents Roundtable, also known as GODORT; the national American Library Association's GODORT Education Committee and ConstitutionFacts.com.

The GovDoc Kids Group is comprised of librarians from the Johnson County Library, Overland Park, Kan., and Muskingum College/Visiting Librarian Service, New Concord/New Philadelphia, Ohio, and staff from the National Archives - Central Plains - Kansas City, Mo.

The project's objectives are: Promote government information in order to engage K-12 students in learning about history, culture, science and government through games and other interactive activities; assist teachers and school librarians with locating teaching aids, lesson plans, and exciting tools to enhance students' learning; and provide librarians with a collection of free government resources to advance their reference interview and collection development decisions. 

For more information, contact Government Documents Librarian Martha Childers, Johnson County Library, at (913) 495-2464.