Cactus High School
Glendale, Arizona
For over a decade, Hope Hudson has used the iCivics program in her 7th and 8th-grade classrooms, and she cannot overstate the positive impact it has had on her middle school students. The platform allows her students to explore government and civic concepts through a digital lens that feels relevant and accessible to their everyday lives.
Through interactive gameplay and lessons, her students receive continuous, hands-on practice, which is especially critical for her 8th graders preparing to take the Arizona Civics Exam for the first time. For the first time in 2026, Hope’s students competed in the iCivics Arizona Regional E-Tournament, advanced to the State E-Tournament, and proudly took home 1st place in their division!
In addition to iCivics, Hope has incorporated the AZ Law Day Contest into her curriculum, and her students have consistently finished in the top three for most years. She loves the diverse variation of topics provided each year and how this contest keeps students deeply engaged because it allows them to create something personally meaningful while perfectly aligning with Arizona State Social Studies Standards.
During the 2025-2026 school year, Hope also introduced the CSI Arizona Forensic Sketch Artist Contest to her classroom, and her students absolutely loved it. She shared that it proved to be a brilliant way to show artistically inclined students how their unique talents can be utilized in the real world, opening their eyes to legal and law enforcement career paths they never knew existed.
She believes these programs afford young people the invaluable opportunity to engage deeply with civic-related content. Hope constantly stresses to parents and students alike just how crucial civic education is for today's youth. She sees how civics teaches skills that students will use throughout their entire lives, fostering a more informed, educated, and active public as they grow into adulthood.
As an educator, Hope is incredibly appreciative that these resources are available to her, but she is even more grateful for her students, who get to interact with this vital content in dynamic ways that she could only have dreamed of growing up.