Before You Apply

Our students will live on campus from July 1-27 in 2018. During the academic year our students will come to Columbia's campus once a week in the fall semester for college mentoring AND once every two weeks throughout the whole academic year to work on their civic engagement projects. Think about your prior commitments and your ability to commit to the full year--are you ready?

Our days are jam packed: every night our students read 20 pages of serious political philosophy and write a one page response. Every day they have 3 hours of lessons in addition to study and homework time. Our students are amazed at how fast their reading and writing skills improve, but it comes with hard work! Our professors and teaching assistants are willing to work hard to help you improve, are you? 

In our class "freedom" and "citizenship" are not empty words. We ask how did our society get organized the way it is? Can we have true justice, freedom, and equality when we bring people together to live in a society? What would real equality look like? We look for answers in Ancient Greece, the European Enlightenment and American Revolution, and the Civil War and Civil Rights Movement. 

Our program is about engaging with society inside and outside of the classroom. In the summer you'll select the civic issue that concerns you the most. You'll spend the next nine months trying to understand the problem better, finding solutions, and getting your fellow citizens engaged. Past topics have included mass incarceration, global warming, human trafficking, immigration, and voting rights.