CHELSEA – Many Chelsea students are now certified “Super Citizens” after completing a 10-week program taking a special pledge at celebrations on Friday, Nov. 15.

The Liberty Learning Foundation sponsored the programs, which concluded with celebrations at Chelsea Park Elementary School and Forest Oaks Elementary School.

At each celebration, the students graduating from the program heard a message from Libby Liberty, a Statue of Liberty character who joined them in person for their kick off events.

Libby Liberty reminded the students of three important words: citizen, community and appreciation.

Students’ community includes their school, state and country.

As part of showing appreciation, the students recognized “heroes.”

Each class chose a hero, and then a student or two took the stage to tell a little about each of them. At Chelsea Park, those honored included:

• Heather Long: “She is always there for us when we’re hurt or sick.”
• Austin Self: “Last spring, Mr. Self helped our school by painting rocks in our school garden.”
• Dan Saggus: “We chose him because he is a firefighter. This means he is brave and courageous.”
• Cindy Gasaway: “Ms. Cindy helps keep our school beautiful.”
• Dr. Todd Honea: “He helps the people in our community keep their teeth healthy and clean.”
• Carrie Cashion: “Mrs. Cashion helps us to be better students. We appreciate everything Mrs. Cashion does for us.”
• Alisha Taylor Cooper: “We chose her because she works so hard giving us breakfast and lunch so we can learn our best.”

At Forest Oaks, those honored included Bryan Scroggins, Gary Goza, Jerome Russell, Joey Beck and Tracy Watson.

Also at the celebration, the students received graduation certificates, recited the Super Citizen pledge and sang the Libby USA song.

As part of the program, the students learned lessons about civics, character, financial literacy and American history, teaching them the importance of their roles as responsible citizens.

There is no charge to the schools to participate, and the Liberty Learning Foundation is a non-profit organization.

“We provide the resources, and they do it as part of their regular class time,” said Brett Johnson with the Foundation.