WELCOME

The Democracy Project of Transylvania (DPT) is a civics education program serving the middle schools of Transylvania County, NC. Community members visit classrooms to share their stories of civic engagement, and students respond by creating their own projects. A panel of judges reviews the projects, and winners are honored at an Awards Celebration each spring.

Our Mission

The Democracy Project of Transylvania partners with middle schools across the county to strengthen civics education and support the teachers who deliver it. We connect classroom curriculum to the real, lived experience of the people around our students, helping young people discover their own voice and role in our democracy.

Supporting teachers is central to how we work. DPT brings resources into the classroom that teachers would not otherwise have access to: community speakers who bring civic concepts to life, and direct funding that teacher teams can apply toward civic education in their own classrooms. We see ourselves as a partner to the curriculum, not a replacement for it.

How It Works

Each year, DPT invites community speakers, people with a wide range of backgrounds and life experience, to visit 6th, 7th, and 8th grade classrooms. Speakers share their own stories of civic engagement, giving students a chance to hear firsthand how democracy shows up in everyday life, beyond what a textbook can offer.

Students then reflect on what they have heard and begin developing their own projects in response. To support that work, DPT provides funding directly to each participating school, which teacher teams can use toward civic education in their classrooms.

As students complete their projects, whether artwork, writing, performance, or another creative format, they submit them for review. A panel of community judges evaluates every project, and the year culminates in an Awards Celebration where student work is displayed, top projects are recognized, and the whole school community comes together to celebrate what students have learned and created.

Our approach is grounded in the North Carolina Eighth Grade Social Studies Essential Standards, including how citizen participation shapes societal change and how democratic ideals inform local, state, and national government.

Our Commitment to Non-Partisanship

DPT is, by design, a non-partisan organization. Our board and volunteer speakers represent a wide range of political views, and we ask everyone involved with the program, speakers, students, and staff alike, to focus on the shared values that underlie democratic life: listening, service, mutual respect, and civic participation. We do not promote any political party, candidate, or position.

We take this seriously because we believe a strong democracy depends on hearing from a genuinely diverse range of voices, not a single point of view. When students hear from speakers with different backgrounds and different life experiences, they learn that people across the political spectrum can share a commitment to civic life. That lesson, that engaged citizenship is not the property of any one party or perspective, is one of the most important things DPT can offer.