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This is blog #2 in a weeklong series of blogs featuring charter schools during Charter Schools Week 2015. Sign the pledge to show your support for public charter schools!

Sometimes adults are scared that the next generation won’t have the knowledge to lead our country through the various issues that it faces.

Parents of Challenge Charter School students don’t have to worry about that.

The Arizona Department of Education has recognized Challenge Charter School in Glendale as a School of Excellence in Civic Engagement.

The state’s first official Core Knowledge School has put the pedal to the metal when it comes to preparing students for participation in society by integrating civic education across different disciplines and grade levels. Kindergartners learned about Abraham Lincoln on Presidents’ Day, 4^th graders made flags and learned about the American Revolution, and some students even worked together to raise money for tsunami relief.

On Constitution Day (September 17), 6^th graders prepared and gave speeches about what civic engagement and the School of Excellence award means to them. In true democratic fashion, the student body voted to decide which student would attend the Department of Education’s award ceremony to represent Challenge Charter School.

“This award means so much to me and my school,” says one student. “Our mascot is the eagle, which is not only our mascot but our nation’s symbol. The eagle symbolizes power, strength, and freedom. That freedom allows us to have the kind of school that we have today.”

And it is exactly those freedoms that we celebrate during Charter Schools Week, and must continue to ensure are protected so that charter schools are able to continue to thrive as the autonomous, innovative public options they were intended to be from their inception.