The day's program for April 11, 2024, "Young Citizenship Awards," was introduced by Club Program Chairman, Mark Heath. He was joined by his guest, Adam Spurlock, Lead Pastor with the Restoration Community Church.
The Youth Citizenship Award was presented to two middle school students. One from Camp Road Middle School, and the other from Simmons-Pickney Middle School.
What is the Young Citizenship Award and its prerequisites?
 
The Exchange Club of Charleston presents the Young Citizenship Award to reward those youth who work hard to be good citizens at home, school, and community. These are children who cooperate with teachers and parents who do not shirk when there's a job to be done. The Young Citizenship Award seeks to prove to these children that good citizenship counts and show them that their conduct and attitude are noticed, appreciated, and rewarded.
 
The Exchange’s Young Citizenship Award honors pre-high school students who demonstrate good citizenship at school and home daily. The program is designed to recognize and encourage honest, hard-working, helpful, and fair youngsters. In practice, the Young Citizenship Award provides classroom teachers with an effective tool to motivate promising students. It also provides Exchange Club members with an enjoyable opportunity to supply the encouragement that can be vitally important in shaping the characters of youngsters at an impressionable time in their lives.
 
Candidates should consistently demonstrate at home, in school, and in the community the following selection criteria:
 
Citizenship
The student is dependable and demonstrates respect for people, property, and the law.
 
Attitude
The student is courteous, helpful and caring in relationships with others.
 
Academics
The student continually strives to the limits of his or her abilities, both in the classroom and at home, to achieve those personal, academic goals that his or her teachers believe are within reach of the student (This in no way implies that they are academically superior.)
 
Service
The student readily helps others at home, school, and in the community to a degree judged exceptional for someone their age.
 
Leadership
The student demonstrates an ability to work with and motivate others, has sound values, good judgment, and a sense of fairness, and has earned the respect of his or her peers.
 
Sportsmanship
The student attempts to do one’s best during athletic competition, shows respect for the rules of competition, and places the team's success above a need for personal advancement.