Kentucky’s Core Academic Standards for 5^th grade Social Studies include:

C: Civic Virtues and Democratic Principles 5.C.CV.1 Describe the democratic principles of equality before the law, inalienable rights, consent of the governed and right to alter or abolish the government.

C: Processes, Rules and Laws 5.C.PR.1 Evaluate whether various rules and laws promote the general welfare, using historical and contemporary examples.

C: Kentucky Government 5.C.KGO.1 Explain the roles and responsibilities of a Kentucky citizen.

As a part of their study of Kentucky government in 5^th grade, most of the schools in Logan County take a field trip to our state capitol in Frankfort. Due to the global pandemic, our students were not able to travel during the 2020-21 school year. 

Mammoth Cave Area 4-H used this as an opportunity to turn our 4-H Capitol Experience into a virtual experience. In Logan County, we were able to use this as a school enrichment opportunity and every 5^th grader in the Logan County and Russellville Public Schools participated in the experience.

As a part of the virtual experience, students were able to:

1. virtually tour the capitol building
2. tour the governor’s mansion
3. tour the old capitol building
4. participate in a virtual tour to learn about Kentucky’s three branches of government
5. write their own bill proposal
6. interview our State Representative Jason Petrie
7. interview our State Senator Whitney Westerfield

At the completion of the program, most students were able to correctly answer the following questions:

1. The Capitol building is constructed of marble.
2. I would like to learn more about our state government.
3. Kentucky has had 3 state capitol buildings.
4. The Legislative branch makes laws for Kentucky.
5. Kentucky became a state in 1792.
6. A law helps us to follow rules.
7. The judicial branch interprets laws.
8. The 16^th President of the United States that is in the Capitol Rotunda is Abraham Lincoln.
9. There are 100 state representatives in the House of Representatives.
10. There are 38 Senators in the Senate.
11. Our State Representative is Jason Petrie.
12. Our State Senator is Whitney Westerfield.

326 students in Logan County were able to successfully complete this program.