Kid Governor® Bus Brings Excitement to Connecticut Schools Kid Governor® Program Brings Real Civic Engagement to Connecticut Students

Hartford, Conn – Picture the excitement of hitting the campaign trail on an old-fashioned whistle-stop tour, amped-up to the level of the Beatles stepping into a crowd of screaming 1960’s youngsters and you start to form a picture of what happens when Connecticut 5^th-graders see the Kid Governor® Election Tour bus pull into the driveway of their school.  By the time the bus doors open the kids have already been knee-deep for weeks in learning about government and elections, developing platforms, and in some cases, making their own campaign videos.  When a busload of dignitaries, the current Kid Governor and no small amount of balloons stream out of the bus and into their school, the barely-contained sense of excitement finally boils over.

For three days – Monday, November 1^st, Wednesday November 3^rd and Thursday, November 4^th – the current Kid Governor, Reese Naughton, Connecticut Democracy Center staff and other invited guests will travel from school to school encouraging students to vote.

Before the school year started, elections and politics belonged to the grownups, and if a civics lesson was forthcoming it was anything but hands-on.  As an educational program Kid Governor® not just the sense of occasion and ceremony that accompanies adult elections, but the substance to go along with it.

“The x-factor that makes the Kid Governor program the Kid Governor program is a sense of realism and authenticity,” according to Brian Cofrancesco, Head of Kid Governor® for the Connecticut Democracy Center. “We make the environment as realistic and fun for students as possible to underscore that they really are standing for election the way a political candidate would, they really do elect a Kid Governor from among their peers, and even as 5^th graders, they really do have the power to implement a platform and effect change.”

Following classroom instruction on state government, elections and voting, participating schools prepare for a week-long election designed to coincide with Election Day.  Student-voters view campaign videos prepared by seven candidates and choose their new Kid Governor from among them.  In the first six years of the program, well over 30,000 Connecticut kids have participated in the voting.  A record-breaking 8,000 5^th graders are registered to vote for Connecticut’s seventh-consecutive Kid Governor this year.

Following the election, the results are announced the Secretary of the State’s Office via live webstream.  The Kid Governor-elect and their 6-person cabinet will take office in January of 2022 following an inauguration ceremony at Connecticut’s Old State House.  To further amplify that sense of realism, announcements include “breaking news” segments featuring Connecticut broadcasters like NBC Connecticut’s Keisha Grant, News Channel 8’s Keith Kuntz, WFSB’s Mark Zinni and Fox CT’s Rachel Lutzker, who also rotate through emcee duties at each year’s inauguration.

After Inauguration Day, the real work for the new Kid Governor begins.  Just like with the grownups, there are cabinet meetings, public appearances, blog and vlog messages to their constituents and platforms to be implemented.  Over the years Kid Governors have tackled problems ranging from animal adoptions to LGBTQ youth safety, to cancer research to fostering kindness: something often lacking in the adult political arena.

“Being elected Kid Governor is more than just an accomplishment in the moment,” says Cofrancesco.  “There’s a mantle of responsibility that each Kid Governor and their cabinet accepts, and it is without a doubt the best part of my job helping these young people rise to that challenge and cultivate a public-service mindset that continues long after their term has ended.”

Reese Naughton of Southington is the serving Kid Governor.  Past Kid Governors include 2016 CTKG Elena Tipton of East Hartford, 2017 CTKG Jessica Brocksom of Milford, 2018 CTKG Megan Kasperowski of Portland, 2019 CTKG Ella Briggs of East Hampton, and 2020 CTKG Myra Stanfield of West Hartford. You can learn more about Connecticut’s Kid Governor – both the program and the students – at CT.KidGovernor.org or by following CTKG on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.

Kid Governor® is a growing movement in civics education with affiliate programs in Oregon and New Hampshire where students elect their own state’s Kid Governor each fall. Learn about the program at kidgovernor.org.

The Connecticut Democracy Center (CTDC) at Connecticut’s Old State House provides people with a lifetime pathway to active citizenship and the tools to take civic action in their own communities.  The CTDC seeks to inspire people of all ages to engage in civic life and strengthen their communities.

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