What is iEngage?
This camp is a free summer civics day camp for upcoming 5th-9th graders that is modeled after Baylor University’s iEngage camp, the 2022 recipient of the Sandra Day O’Connor Advancement in Civic Education award.
iEngage Indiana is a free five-day civics day camp that provides Columbus area youth with an opportunity to learn how to make a difference in their school, neighborhood, and community. iEngage focuses on developing young people’s civic and political competence and strengthening their community and political engagement through inquiry-based civics projects in which they research and act upon local community issues. Following presentations by local non-for profit organizations, campers in small groups, based on grade level, will choose an issue to explore.
What do iEngage campers do?
The camp utilizes an action civics model of inquiry to foster participants’ understanding of and engagement in civic life. Participants build important civic knowledge and skills as they interact with local civic leaders and elected officials, spend time learning about the legal process, play iCivics games, examine primary source materials, collaborate with like-minded peers, and engage in a community issues advocacy project. iEngage is designed to help students learn about the structure of government, what it means to be an active and engaged citizen in their community, and how they can work to make a change even as a young person.
Who leads the camp?
With support from Indiana University Columbus and Indiana University’s Center on Representative Government (CoRG), the camp is directed by Dr. Stephanie Serriere (IU Columbus).
Local pre-service and in-service teachers serve as the counselors for each of the small groups.
In their small, grade-level group, youth select an issue in their community and carry out an inquiry project that culminates in a public presentation of their recommendations.
By spending a week immersed in learning civic principles and engaging in fun, age-appropriate civic activities students gain valuable civics content knowledge and apply this knowledge in a real-world setting. iEngage provides an opportunity for young people to explore how local, state, and national governments are responding to issues that all citizens face and how they, as young people, can get involved in creating change.
iEngage Youth Civic Empowerment camp is made possible by generous donations and partnership from the Council for Youth Development (CYD), Foundation for Youth (FFY), Bartholomew Consolidated School Corporation (BCSC), Heritage Fund’s Positive Change grant, Cummins Foundation, Duke Energy, Don & Dody Harvey Philanthropic Fund, IU’s Office of School and Community Partnerships’ Lilly Endowment for Indiana Youth Programs on Campus (IYPC), IU Columbus, IU’s Political and Civic Engagement Program (PACE), and IU’s Center on Representative Government.
Thanks to these partners, the amazing and interactive iEngage camp, is free for youth who are currently in 4th-8th grade!
