Imagining what happened on this day in history is somewhat mind-boggling.  It can be hard enough to remember where I was a year ago today!  Today, there is a good reason to reflect on this day and something special to remember.  A milestone crucial to our nation’s history and our current freedoms.  225 years ago, the U.S. Constitution was signed. The rest is our nation’s history which still unfolds before us today.

A special and talented teen is part of the National Constitution Center’s celebration of this monumental anniversary.  Carter Jimenez Jenkins, a high school sophomore at JSerra Catholic High School in San Juan Capistrano, CA is helping to add the beloved former First Lady Betty Ford to the American National Tree - the popular exhibit inside The Story of We the People. The exhibit tells the stories of 100 American whose actions have shaped our constitutional History.  Each year, in collaboration with Scholastic and the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, a teen writer’s essay that tells one of these great stories is added to the American National Tree.  Congratulations Carter on winning the 2012 M.R. Robinson National Constitution Center American National Tree Award along with a $1,000 scholarship!

Teachers, you can learn more about this Award for your students at www.artandwriting.org.  And, if you are looking for classroom ideas for today and this week to honor the annivesary of the Constitution’s signing, check out all of these free resources!

Photo via seanmcmenemy