OVERVIEW OF THE PROJECT 18 COURSE

Letter from the Teachers of Hempfield Area Project 18

Westmoreland County, Greensburg, PA 15601

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Dear Fellow Educators:

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Project 18 is a course that has been evolving since its inception in the early 1970’s. The main goals of the course have been to educate students on the importance of being actively involved citizens, and just as importantly, to be effective and confident as they go about their lives. We stress that “politics” is more than government; it is also the process of being heard in any walk of life when decisions are being made. Project 18 is an exciting and innovative approach to citizenship education that truly involves students and communities in partnership.

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The course is organic in nature. It should not be static and inflexible from year to year. Project 18 evolves as the teacher assumes ownership of the course, adopts a philosophical approach to learning, and allows for a degree of flexibility within the curriculum. Topics, speakers, and readings must be adjusted to reflect the issues of the day. There have been three teachers of Project 18 over the years. We have remained true to the core of the curriculum but have made adjustments when we thought it was proper.

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There are numerous resources that we have collected over the past 40 plus years. To that end, seven major units have been written in detail. There are three units yet to be organized into a usable format. When completed the entire manual will be published and may be presented for professional use through workshops and seminars. It is also possible that we may be able to work directly with individual school districts.

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Sincerely,

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Rich Redmerski,

Aimee Hugus Hogg

Ken Stough