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YLI Holds its Third Constitution Day Event
On Wednesday, September 17th the University of Virginia Center for Politics’ Youth Leadership Initiative (YLI) held its third Constitution Day Celebration. This year YLI teamed up with Inland Seas Productions and the Virginia Film Festival to show the film, We the People at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Performing Arts Center in Charlottesville. This powerful giant screen historical documentary tells the story of America’s founding documents and the people who wrote, shaped and tested them. From men who would defy a king – to a man who would not let the “more perfect union die – to women who struggled for equality, We the People delivers through the giant screen a powerful national self-reflection and inspires every citizen to uphold the ideals and truths of our Republic – tenets that so strongly influence all our daily lives.
YLI schools from across the state of Virginia were invited to attend the Constitution Day program and participate in a special mock election following the celebration. Resources supporting themes in the film were made available via the YLI website, www.youthleadership.net. Lesson plans that supported the film included The Birth of Political Parties, The Bill of Rights, and a dramatic reading of the Constitutional Convention.
The celebration of Constitution Day on September 17th commemorates the signing of the document in Philadelphia in the year 1787. In 2004, Senator Robert Byrd added an amendment to the Omnibus Spending Bill in Congress thus establishing Constitution Day as an American federal observance. In 2005 the U.S. Department of Education mandated that all public funded education institutions and federal agencies provide programming on the history and importance of the Constitution. YLI’s showing of We the People and the mock election following the program were perfect ways to highlight the Constitution and its importance to American life.
For more information about the film and/or to view the trailer visit
http://www.wethepeoplemovie.com/film/.
To learn more about the Youth Leadership Initiative and its resources supporting the study of the Constitution visit www.youthleadership.net.
