PORTLAND, OR (KPTV) - Students are great at prepping for tests, but now, many at Roosevelt High School are using their study skills to help people become American citizens.

Every Wednesday for eight weeks, students at the high school will lead a class for more than 50 people in the area seeking citizenship. Class participants will learn the ins-and-outs of the American citizenship test.

If you think back to your high school years, do you recall any formative experiences with nonprofits? I remember saving a lot of aluminum cans for causes near and far, but the growing clutter became a source of ongoing frustration for some key family members. It is much less common, however, for high school students to have experience managing a successful nonprofit organization, particularly one focused on one of the most closely watched issues of today: immigration.

Lincoln High's student-run nonprofit Mission: Citizen has come a long way from the idea in 2009 that Constitution-savvy teens could apply their knowledge to teaching citizenship classes.For eight years, the volunteer group has given immigrants a path to citizenship by teaching them the Constitutional and governmental knowledge they need to pass their citizenship test.

PORTLAND, Ore. — Lincoln High School is known for its strong Constitution team, but this year leaders accomplished something that’s never been done.
They were awarded a nearly $50,000 grant for their Mission Citizen program.
Danny Cohen, a 17-year-old senior, is not even old enough to vote, but he was recognized for his work teaching adults on their path to U.S. citizenship.
“Basically, we teach naturalization classes to immigrants in the Portland area. We teach many hundreds of immigrants a year, and we’re expanding very quickly. One of the key aspects of our organization is that we are run entirely by students,” he said.
Danny and a group of student teachers teach people from many different countries about American history, so they can pass their citizenship test.

A group of high schoolers sits around discussing bureaucracy, naturalization, intercultural understanding and public policy. And they’re not talking about these topics the way you might expect from teenagers, with words that have clearly been reiterated from their teachers and parents. Their words are thoughtful and complex, and utterly surprising in the very best way.

They may not have been old enough to vote, but that didn’t stop six Lincoln High School students from helping others earn their right to pick our political leaders. Inspired by their rigorous study of the US Constitution for a national civics competition, the students formed Mission: Citizen in 2009 to help immigrants pass their naturalization tests and become American citizens. Since then, dozens of Lincoln students have taught free eight-week courses to about 60 immigrants. Some, like Chan Chanthakoun, an immigrant from Laos, passed on the first try.

If you'd just spent months studying the birth of democracy and understood amendments, vetoes and the separation of powers, you'd pass your civics tests and count the days till summer, right?
Not six Lincoln High School students who met through the school's U.S. Constitution team. They decided their training was just a preamble to the real world. They wanted to apply their knowledge to serve the community.

Most United States citizens didn’t have to take a test to earn this status: Citizenship was granted simply because of birthright.

But every year, hundreds of thousands of people take the naturalization test, during which they have to orally answer 10 questions from a list of 100.

Applicants don’t get to choose the questions, and they’re not multiple choice. The questions can range from “What is one power of the federal government?” to “What did Susan B. Anthony do?” to “What are two Cabinet-level positions?” So, it should be obvious why this might not be a test many could pass without studying.

Tualatin Public Library, 18878 S.W. Martinazzi Ave., is offering free classes to people preparing to become citizens of the United States. The course materials and teachers are provided by Mission: Citizen, a nonprofit organization run by students and founded by alumni of Lincoln High School's Constitution Team.

A group of high schoolers sits around discussing bureaucracy, naturalization, intercultural understanding and public policy. And they’re not talking about these topics the way you might expect from teenagers, with words that have clearly been reiterated from their teachers and parents. Their words are thoughtful and complex, and utterly surprising in the very best way.