Bonnie Hickman
Patterson Elementary
Program: We the People, Project Citizen & Kids Voting Arizona
Maricopa County

Ms. Hickman believes in empowering her students to understand their rights and responsibilities as active citizens. Her students were involved in promoting traffic light safety to other students and their community.  They investigated regulations around electric scooters for Project Citizen to find out what laws were currently in place and what laws needed to be passed. Bonnie Hickman also had her students attend a distracted driving event at State Capitol and meet with lawmakers. One lawmaker sponsoring bill on scooter regulations stated he was inspired and informed by the students’ research. Her students participated in the We the People state Showcase, Kids Voting Arizona (which she coordinated for her entire school) and she had students interview veterans and submitted their stories to the Library of Congress for its Veterans History Project.

Jill Maner
Capps Middle School
Program: We the People, & Kids Voting Arizona
Navajo County

Ms. Maner has been a stronger supporter of the We the People program.  She uses the We the People curriculum in her 6^th grade history class and brings students to participate in the We the People Showcase each year.  One of her students stated that participating in We the People : “helped me gain confidence in my public speaking and I learned so much from the judges.”

 Jennifer Roberts
Empire High School
Program: Mock Trial
Pima County

Ms. Roberts saw the importance of bringing the Mock Trial program to her school, so she worked over the summer with another Mock Trial teacher to learn the program and how to implement it in her own classroom.  When it became difficult for students to participate, she then lobbied her administration to make Mock Trial an official class.  Her administration approved the elective! In 2020, her second year running the program, she took three teams to regionals and one took 3^rd place!

Shannon Sweat
Desert Edge High School
Program: We the People, Project Citizen, ICivics & Kids Voting Arizona
Maricopa County 

Ms. Sweat deeply engaged in law related education programs and their impact.  She has taken teams to the We the People state championship for the last two years.  Shannon has incorporated ICivics into her classroom and took three teams to the Ecivics competition. Ms. Sweat has also included Project Citizen in her curriculum and had students showcase in her class. For the 2020 election, she coordinated with the Foundation staff to bring Kids Voting to her school.  

Her involvement goes beyond her classroom.  She judges at both the We the People and Project Citizen Summer Institutes, has coached We the People and Mock Trial at past schools, and is a We the People Regional Coordinator, mentor and faculty!

Eric Alvarez
Glenn L. Downs Elementary
Program: We the People, & Kids Voting Arizona
Maricopa County

Eric Alvarez may also teach Algebra, but his passion lies with civic education.  Each year, Mr. Alvarez takes his student to the Federal Courthouse to participate in the annual CourtWorks program, a mock trial program hosted by the court and ASU’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law.  Eric also has his students showcase in the We the People hearings.  His students say that these experiences “change their lives by building confidence, tenacity and self-esteem.” Mr. Alvarez also participates with several students in the Kids Voting Student Advisory committee. He continues to keep in touch with students after they have left his class and school and is looked at as a mentor by alumni.

Joshua Guidote
Cibola High School
Program: Mock Trial
Yuma County

Normally, a teacher is not selected for the Ross memorial two years in a row, but the overwhelming amount of nomination letters and emails, especially from his students, made it hard not to honor him one more year!  Mr. Guidote has been bringing a mock trial team to the High School Mock Trial Championships for 3 years.  As one student wrote “the only reason that there is a mock trial class and program available in (Yuma’s) district is because Mr. Guidote has fought year after year to prove himself in front of the school board that he is capable of leading a group of extraordinary students to state and will continue to do so until his retirement.”

 Roger Lyman
Carson Junior High
Program: Kids Voting Arizona
Maricopa County

Roger Lyman has a passion for civic engagement which he demonstrates not only in his classroom but also to the greater student populations.  Each year, Roger invitees veterans from the Joe Foss Institute who explain the purpose and structure of the US Constitution. He has his students write letters to government leaders so that students can better understand the representative democracy.  Mr. Lyman teaches public policy by picking topics of interest to the students.  Roger also serves as a Kids Voting Leadership Council advisor for both his school and the neighboring high school and brings 4-5 students to the monthly meetings.  These are just some highlights of the a few of the civic projects Roger brings to his school and community to help these students become better citizens.

Jeremy Samoy
Tanque Verde High School
Program: Mock Trial
Pima County

 To try and boost the amount of teams participating in mock trial, Jeremy Samoy encourages schools to start teams.  He began to mentor these teams to help with technique, procedures

 or any question teachers might have – all on this own time. As part of getting more schools into Mock Trial, in addition to his mentorship, Jeremy started a practice competition a few years ago.  This competition is held in early November of each year and is open to students who are in their second year or less of competing.  This competition is run by Jeremy and his students, and each year, they put on a well-organized and fun event.  This practice round is incredibly helpful to new students to see what the process truly looks like, and with an added competition for the year, gives students something to look forward to each semester.  

Tara Bartlett
Carson Jr. High School
Program: We the People, Kids Voting & Project Citizen
Maricopa County

Joshua Guidote
Cibola High School
Program: Mock Trial
Yuma County

Bill Stewart
Santa Maria Middle School
Program: We the People
Maricopa County

Richard Zamorano
Sunnyside School District 
Program: Mock Trial & We the People
Pima County