BY STORMIE PERRY
Teenpact is a Christian national organization for homeschoolers that teaches students about Civics. It takes place at the State Capitol, and is a week long event, from Monday to Thursday. On Friday, there is also an optional Speech class. This year in Arkansas, Teenpact will be February 2-5, and the optional Speech class will be that Friday, the sixth.
Teenpact gives the students hands-on experience about our local government. Students learn very important information on our state government in Arkansas, and are given the opportunity to see it first hand. Teenpact is a very valuable experience, and has taught many students many things.
Teenpact was started by Tim Echols in Georgia, where the first Teenpact class was held. It has become a nationwide program. This is a Chrisian program that puts a Christian a moral view on government and politics. During the class of Teenpact, there are different activities that help students to understand the government.
I have attended the Arkansas Teenpact class for the past two years. The experience has taught me a lot about our government. I had the privilege of meeting a couple of Senators and Representatives while attending the class. I was able to talk to lobbyists and people of different opinions. The first year I attended the class, I learned how the process of the state government worked. Teenpact made Civics fun, and easy to understand. I believe I learned more about government than I would have from a book, and I had a lot more fun there too.
Teenpact also helps to teach students how to make a difference, which has given me a desire to make a difference in this nation and in my community. Even if students are not interested in learning about Civics, Teenpact can still teach every student something.
I believe these two years of Teenpact has really impacted my way of thinking toward government, and has made me much more interested in politics and government. Teenpact gives you the information about government, which makes it a lot easier for students to want to know what is going on in the government.
Once a student has attended Teenpact, it also gives the student opportunities to go to other Teenpact Alumni events that occur during the summer. The major Alumni event is National Convention in Atlanta, Georgia. National Convention, or NC, is a week long camp where students can campaign to be elected as either Senators, Representatives, or as President/Vice President. There are church services every morning and night, and there are special speakers that come in to teach about different things such as public speaking, student activism, and other things. I went this past summer, and had fun and learned many things about God and government. There are other Alumni events such as Apologetics, which is a week long camp on apologetics. There is a Judicial camp that teaches students about the Judicial branch of government(if you want to be a lawyer or judge, this is the camp for you!). There are many camps and events students can get involved in once they have taken the Teenpact class.
Teenpact is a fun way to learn about Civics. It is a good hands-on experience for any student. It is a class that can give the student information on how our government works that will benefit them for the rest of their lives. Teenpact helps students to make a difference. For more information on Teenpact or Teenpact Arkansas, go to http://www.teenpact.com/ .
