This is 2025 Kid Governor’s Cabinet Member Nava Ekstrand!
In April, during our Kid Governor’s Cabinet Meeting, we decorated trash/recycle bins to support my third platform point: Invite 5th graders to decorate trash and recycling bins to promote a clean school environment. After we all decorated our own bins and ended the meeting, we brought them to our schools to help make them cleaner!
While all of us decorated the same bins, we came up with many different designs! I put positive messages on my bin like “Help clean the environment!”, Kid Governor Keudy put basketballs on his to make it more fun for kids to dunk their garbage or recycling into the “net”, and Dawson made his bin a monster to “eat” the trash/recycling. All these designs made it more fun to throw trash/recycling away!
You can make a bin for your classroom or home, too! If you make a bin, please send me an email about it at Nava@CT.KidGovernor.org.
Spring is officially here, and we all must work together to keep our surrounding environment safe for people and Connecticut’s wildlife. Right now, my school and many others across Connecticut are getting ready for Green Week. Awareness posters about the environment are being made by students to post around our towns, and cleanup teams will be hitting the streets. There are several things that Nutmeggers can do locally to support green week:
Keep garbage bins secure in the garage or shed to prevent bears and raccoons from dining on this week’s dinner scraps. This is also important since animals don’t pick up after themselves! It also prevents high winds from blowing the garbage around.
Make a point to pick up any garbage at your bus stop and encourage your friends to do the same.
Go for walks in your neighborhood looking for garbage. Remember to take a bag with you!
Ask your town and school if the local transfer station has partnered with NexTrex to recycle plastic bags and fruit and veggie packaging into recycled outdoor seating, to be donated back to your town.
Look, but don’t touch! In the spring, many animals have babies, but human interference can destroy their habitats, or make the parents abandon their young.
Don’t clean out your garden beds until as late as possible. Fallen leaves and mulch give shelter to beneficial insects and animals.
I would love to hear about what you are doing to help endangered animals and the environment! You can email me at Dawson@CT.KidGovernor.org. To learn more about my fellow Cabinet Members and their platforms, head to CT.KidGovernor.org/cabinet2025!
This is Kid Governor’s Cabinet Member Nava, and today is Global Recycling Day! My platform, Reducing Littering, is perfect to focus on today as we celebrate! Specifically, the 3rd point in my plan incorporates recycling: “Inviting 5th graders to decorate trash and recycling bins in their schools to promote clean school environments”. Decorating these bins can encourage students to use them!
Did you know that according to the Environmental Protection Agency, the average American throws away 4.4 to 5 pounds of trash and litter every day? That’s way too much!
To reduce this, we must start recycling more, limit our trash use, and pick up trash and throw it where it needs to go!
You can even create art out of trash! You can make a paper flower or even a sculpture. You can also ask others to stop littering, and remind them not to put trash in recycling bins or recyclable items in trash bins!
What you do to make our Earth clean saves animals, us, and almost every living organism! Please try to recycle in order to keep our world clean and safe.
Thanks and have a happy Global Recycling Day! Nava Ekstrand Kid Governor’s Cabinet Member
Hi. My name is Khloe Wilcox and I was a final candidate in the 2024 Connecticut’s Kid Governor election. I am now a member of the Kid Governor’s Cabinet working with 2025 Kid Governor Keudy Martinez.
My platform addresses Healthy Eating. I chose this issue because a lot of kids don’t eat healthy enough. What you eat is important because it can affect your health and your energy.
My three-point platform is to:
Encourage 5th graders to advocate for better lunches with school leaders.
Give 5th graders strategies for eating healthier with input from pediatricians and mental health providers.
Put up flyers in schools that advocate for healthier eating.
Since the Statewide Election, I have taken on the goal of eating healthier myself. If you like my platform, you can encourage other people to eat healthier or even try eating healthier yourself.
It would be wonderful to hear how you’re making a difference around Healthy Eating in your own community! Email Khloe@CT.KidGovenor.org to tell me about it!
You can also visit CT.KidGovernor.org/cabinet2025 to learn about the other Cabinet Members and their platforms.
Hi, my name is Nava Ekstrand and I was a final candidate in the 2024 Connecticut’s Kid Governor Election. I’m now a member of the Kid Governor’s Cabinet working with 2025 Kid Governor Keudy!
I ran on the platform addressing Littering because trash is everywhere, it hurts the environment, it kills lots of animals, and it speeds up climate change! My three-point plan to stop littering is:
Invite 5th graders to make posters about stopping littering to hang in schools.
Encourage 5th graders to participate in litter walks around their communities.
Invite 5th graders to decorate trash and recycle bins in their schools to promote clean school environments.
One of the first things I have done to advance my platform is create a display at my local library, the Public Library of New London! I won the library’s “Design Your Own Library Card” art contest and as the winner, I was able to create my own display of books. I picked out books that had to do with trash, litter, and the environment!
Any way you can, try to use my three-point plan to keep our planet and ourselves healthy or create your own plan. Remember, I would love to hear what you are doing to stop littering so please email me at Nava@CT.KidGovernor.org to tell me about it! Also remember to visit CT.KidGovernor.org/cabinet2025 to read about the other Cabinet Members’ Platforms!!
Hi, my name is Ryan Deng and I was one of the finalists in the 2024 Connecticut’s Kid Governor Statewide Election. I am now a member of the Kid Governor’s Cabinet, working with 2025 Kid Governor Keudy.
I chose Mental Health as my platform because I noticed that when students struggle with mental health issues, it becomes much harder for them to learn new things. For example, in my math class, I saw that some of my friends who had difficulty grasping new skills also struggled to cope and stay motivated. I realized that if students learned more about mental health and coping strategies, they might be able to maintain a positive mindset and overcome their challenges.
I have developed a three-point platform to address this issue:
Create educational classes to help 5th graders understand mental health and coping strategies.
Promote peer-to-peer support programs in schools where students can check in with each other.
Encourage schools to have “Friday Fun Days” with a menu of fun physical activities that students can try to reduce stress and anxiety.
Since the election, I have been working on my platform by spreading awareness of my community issue in my school. I plan to continue expanding my efforts to other schools to further raise awareness about mental health.
If you would like to support my platform, please email me at Ryan@CT.KidGovernor.org to share your thoughts! You can also visit CT.KidGovernor.org/cabinet2025to learn more about the other Kid Governor’s Cabinet Members and their platforms.
I am excited to introduce myself, Dominic DeVincentis as a member of the 2024-2025 Connecticut Kid Governor Cabinet! I am eager to bring a strong sense of leadership, creativity, and a deep passion for making a difference in this cabinet, especially when it comes to the important issue of school safety.
I pride myself on being an independent thinker who isn’t afraid to stand up for what I believe in. My leadership qualities, such as the ability to listen, collaborate, and inspire others have played a key role in shaping my platform. I am determined to ensure that every student feels safe and supported at school. Whether by advocating for better security measures, fostering open communication between students and staff, or promoting access to mental health resources, I aim to lead with empathy, integrity and determination.
My goal is not just to address the issues but unite my peers, educators, and families in creating a more inclusive and secure school environment.
In addition to my dedication to school safety, I also have a wide range of interests and skills. I am an accomplished Lego builder, often creating complex structures that showcase my problem-solving skills and creativity. I also have a huge interest in history, particularly learning about the Titanic. I believe this shows my curiosity and commitment to learning.
When I’m not studying or building, I enjoy sports such as football, basketball, kickball, and hiking, as well as seeking out the thrill of fast rollercoasters.
At home, I live with my mom, dad, sister, and our large rescue dog, Bubba. Bubba offers plenty of love and companionship to me as I embark on this exciting new journey. He is always by my side, and I always do my best to take care of him since we rescued him. Sometimes I feel like we rescued each other. My commitment to my family, my dog, my community, and my school has always been and will always be my priority.
As part of the Kid Governor Cabinet, I will work alongside other student leaders to drive change and expand the voices of young people across Connecticut. My focus on school safety is something that will resonate with many students, teachers, and families throughout the state. I also cannot wait to work and corroborate with the other student leaders on their platforms. I am so excited to see the positive impact we will make as part of the 2024-2025 Cabinet!
My name is Warona Sekgoma. I recently moved to East Hartford with my mom. I enjoy living here but it is still hard for me to find friends and learn all new things. I ran for Kid Governor on the platform of Self-Confidence and am now a part of Kid Governor Keudy’s Cabinet!
I chose building Self-Confidence as my community issue because I felt inspired by how my grandparents described growing up. My grandparents worry about how kids nowadays see themselves and they want me to be confident in who I am. As I have gotten older, I see a lot of insecurities in my friends and these insecurities make them hide. I want my friends to show themselves and feel confident about who they are and what they look like. To achieve this goal, I made this three-point plan:
Have 5th graders create “Positivity Boxes” with positive messages that students can read when they feel insecure so they start to feel better.
Encourage 5th graders to read affirmations during morning announcements so students start every day on the right foot.
Share student-made videos about maintaining self-esteem that teachers can show in their classrooms.
Since the election, my school has created a Positivity Box! At the end of every month, every 5th grader writes a new positive message to refill the box. This month, I am going to my principal to begin affirmation announcements. Fifth graders already do the announcements every morning in my school and I would like them to be in charge of picking the affirmations every morning.
If you would like to support my platform in your school, you can:
Design and send me a photo of your school’s Positivity Box.
Create a list of affirmations and speak to your principal about saying them at important school events.
Send in topics or advice that you would like to be discussed in self-esteem videos.
I would love to see all the amazing work you are doing around self-esteem! If you would like to, please email me at Warona@CT.KidGovernor.org. To learn more about the other Cabinet Members and their platforms, go to CT.KidGovernor.org/cabinet2025. Hope to hear from you!
Welcome to the Kid Governor’s Blog! Throughout Kid Governor Keduy’s term, he and his Cabinet Members will post about their platforms and how you can make a difference in your own school and community. Check back to read their latest posts!
To introduce you to Kid Governor Keudy’s Speaking Up for Safe & Healthy Schools platform, we are sharing his speech from Inauguration Day on January 24, 2025. You can watch Kid Governor Keudy deliver the speech or read it below!
Thanks for reading and come back soon! Conntecticut’s Kid Governor® team at The Connecticut Democracy Center
Kid Governor Keudy’s Inaugural Address:
Good morning students of Connecticut, teachers, community members, dignitaries, and those watching online.
Thank you for joining me today as I officially take on the role of Connecticut’s Kid Governor! This moment is truly special to me, and I want to begin by expressing my heartfelt gratitude to the many people who made this possible
First, I want to thank my teacher, Mrs. Mamudi, for encouraging me and supporting me throughout this journey. To my amazing classmates at Chase Elementary, thank you for your votes, your help, and your belief in me. To one of my good friends, Leena, thank you for your support and help in making this process not feel overwhelming for me. To my family, thank you for always being there to cheer me on and help me prepare.
To the 5th graders of Connecticut, thank you for listening to my ideas and trusting me with your votes. You made this possible, and I am honored to represent all of you.
Finally, a big thank-you to my new Cabinet Members, Dawson, Dominic, Khloe, Nava, Ryan, and last but not least Warona. I am so excited to work with you to make our platforms a reality.
Now, let me share more about my platform Speaking Up for Safe & Happy Schools.
I chose this platform because I believe that every student deserves to feel safe at school.
My first platform point is: Help stop bullying by reporting unsafe behavior. I chose this point because according to the U.S. Department of Education, 1 in 5 kids report experiencing bullying.
My second platform point is: Promote buddy systems to make sure nobody feels alone. I chose this idea because people feeling alone is a problem, and I believe we can help change that..
My third platform point is: Encourage 5th graders to start mental health awareness groups or clubs in their schools. I chose this 3rd point because students could really benefit from mental health tips so they can support each other.
As your Kid Governor, I’m excited to work with all of you to make our schools safer and better for everyone. I’m looking forward to meeting students across Connecticut, hearing your ideas, and turning them into actions that make a real difference. Together, we can create solutions that help us feel secure and supported every day at school. I promise to work hard, listen carefully, and lead with fairness and kindness.
Thank you for believing in me and for giving me the chance to represent you. Let’s make this year a great one for all Connecticut students and teachers!
