State Seal of Civic Engagement

What problem(s)/issue(s) are you trying to address through the civic engagement project(s)/activities? Why is this meaningful to you? How do/did you intend to make a positive difference in your immediate community (such as with one’s peers, class, school, neighborhood, city, etc.) or for a democratic idea (such as for equity and justice)?

What actions/activities did you take on? How did you investigate the root causes of the problem(s) using different lenses? What new insights did you gain?

How did you engage with others to understand multiple perspectives? What were your conclusions? What additional insights did you gain?

What informed action did you take on to build awareness of the issue(s) and/or your conclusion(s)? How did you engage with your community, institutional decision-makers, and/or governing entities (including other avenues to influence for change, such as protests, consumer boycotting, etc.)?

What did you learn about yourself, the community, and how power dynamics in our society work? What civic knowledge/skills did you apply and/or master? Which ones will you continue to work on? (See student self-assessments of civic competencies for ideas: https://docs.google.com/document/d/12aaoWPCTu585wUqfGTQtOg0YqHTiC2Ih/edit) How did your efforts impact the community or the common good (or not)? What else could you (or someone else) have done, or could continue to do, to create deeper or more lasting change? How did you personally grow through the project/activity (sample framing: “I used to think …, now I think…”)?