ALABASTER – For the next 10 weeks, students at Creek View and Meadow View elementary schools will be immersed in lessons that will teach them how to be a great American citizen.

On Thursday, Jan. 30, students at both schools kicked off the Super Citizen program offered though the Liberty Learning Foundation. In the coming weeks, students will be engaged in lessons about American history, career development, financial literacy, character education and civics, said Liberty Learning Foundation’s program director Tawanna Vickers.

“The students will learn about the qualities that make up a hero and, to tie it in with lessons about voting, they will get to nominate and vote for a local hero to be honored and named a Super Citizen at the end of the program,” Vickers said. “We really want them to look in their schools and out in the community to find people who have made positive impacts in some way.”

In the past, ACS students have selected teachers, principals, local military veterans and police officers as recipients of the Super Citizen award. Those selected receive a pin modeled after the Statue of Liberty.

During the kickoff event, the foundation’s Libby Liberty portrayed a miniature version of the Statue of Liberty and explained the history behind the national landmark. With the help of students, Libby Liberty demonstrated the enormous size of the statue in New York, showcasing the statue’s 3-foot mouth, 4-and-a-half-foot nose, 8-foot finger and size 879 shoe. From pedestal to torch, the Statue of Liberty is taller than the length of a football field.

MVES principal Michelle Brakefield said all of the second-grade classes in Alabaster City Schools participate in the program each year. She said students love the program because it’s fun and interactive. During the 10-week program, students will watch videos that are reinforced with in-class activities.

Connie Kakoliris, a second-grade teacher who works with the foundation to help organize the program for MVES, said the program is also great because it meets the state’s social studies standards in addition to teaching students the importance of being a good person.

The foundation provides all of the learning materials teachers need to teach the program, which is made possible through local and state sponsors that make up the Shelby County Community Alliance.

On Feb. 28, the Liberty Learning Foundation will be at Thompson Intermediate School to kick off a citizenship program designed for fifth graders.