Our Civic Digital Platform
EXPERIENCING DEMOCRACY BY PRACTICING IT
Our civic digital platform is the technical foundation of The America I Want initiative. It enables students to collect insights from interviews, organize and analyze the results across multiple demographics, and compare perspectives within their school, across their state, and nationwide. Through the platform, patterns, contrasts, and shared concerns become visible. For civics teachers, the platform is both a powerful classroom tool and a shared workspace that connects educators across schools and states. It is through this civic digital platform that students and communities across the country begin to see one another’s ideas—and freely discuss them with each other.
The America I Want puts students at the center of their own learning and engagement. They interview and poll peers and community members, return data to the classroom, and lead inquiry and discussions. While the civics teacher offers guidance, it is the students who take the lead in deepening their understanding of democracy.
Empowering Young Change-Makers to Build the America We All Want.
“The America I Want” initiative empowers high school students and their communities around the country to engage in discussions about their aspirations for America. In a time when our national identity and shared assumptions feel fragmented and unclear, this program encourages students to come together to explore and articulate their visions for the future. We are creating an entirely new way of teaching and experiencing civics.
Our dedicated platform enables students to share their perspectives, categorized by school, state, and region, while analyzing these insights alongside national trends. Using Word Clouds as a primary visual tool, students gain the groundwork for discussion and debate, which can ultimately lead them to explore new possibilities and take action.
Our program will spark a national conversation rooted in our schools and communities about America. By gathering data and conducting interviews under the guidance of their civics teachers, students lay the groundwork for discussion and debate, which can ultimately lead them to explore new possibilities and take action.
Step 4: Visualize
Word clouds provide a powerful way to visualize Americans’ aspirations for their country. The size of each word reflects its frequency, allowing students to quickly identify key themes and ideas. Their clarity makes it easier to initiate discussion and explore how words carry different meanings for different people. Word clouds also offer an effective way to represent the qualitative data gathered through surveys and interviews.
Step 5: Connect
The program’s first phase culminates in a student-led meeting where students, community members, and local representatives come together to discuss the findings. Using the Word Clouds as a catalyst, participants explore similarities and differences at the school, community, state, and national levels. The exchange encourages dialogue across generations and helps identify actionable steps that can lead to change.
Step 5: Expand
If America is too vast to know itself, as someone once observed, the platform helps bridge that gap by connecting students across the country. From Florida to Alaska and Maine to Hawaii, students compare similarities and differences reflected in their Word Clouds. Through in-person or virtual conversations, they come to know one another through shared patterns and contrasting perspectives—marking the beginning of a student-led national conversation about America.
Step 4: Visualize
Word clouds provide a powerful way to visualize Americans’ aspirations for their country. The size of each word reflects its frequency, allowing students to quickly identify key themes and ideas. Their clarity makes it easier to initiate discussion and explore how words carry different meanings for different people. Word clouds also offer an effective way to represent the qualitative data gathered through surveys and interviews.
Step 5: Connect
The program’s first phase culminates in a student-led meeting where students, community members, and local representatives come together to discuss the findings. Using the Word Clouds as a catalyst, participants explore similarities and differences at the school, community, state, and national levels. The exchange encourages dialogue across generations and helps identify actionable steps that can lead to change.
Step 5: Expand
If America is too vast to know itself, as someone once observed, the platform helps bridge that gap by connecting students across the country. From Florida to Alaska and Maine to Hawaii, students compare similarities and differences reflected in their Word Clouds. Through in-person or virtual conversations, they come to know one another through shared patterns and contrasting perspectives—marking the beginning of a student-led national conversation about America.
Teachers, Are You Ready to Make Our Students’ Voices Heard?"
Our team will guide you through each step of the program, providing you with a comprehensive manual filled with insights and best practices from schools across the country. Don’t miss out on being part of an American conversation—get in touch today!
Chris Sheehan- Author/ Editor
We also have been practicing Democracy by listening
Influential Voices: Listening, Discussing and Making Things Happen
Our program draws in leaders who are willing to listen, engage, and learn alongside students. As students discuss and debate the issues raised in their classrooms and across schools, they begin to identify concrete pathways toward the country they want to build. Working together with community leaders and legislators, students move their ideas beyond conversation and toward action—legislative and otherwise.
The America I Want Video Submissions
At the conclusion of each interview with peers and community members, students will invite participants to record a 30-second video beginning with the words “The America I Want Is…” Here are some examples.
Invest in Our Next Generation of Citizens and Leaders
Our initiative is the result of more than three years of development and testing, funded by Linley Foundation. Its launch has proven successful with teachers, students and community members alike. Your investment will allow us to scale this civics initiative—opening it to schools and communities across the country. Our immediate goal is to engage at least one school in every state, establishing a truly national presence before opening the initiative to schools nationwide. We have begun a national conversation led by students. By supporting this work, you are helping cultivate a generation that leaves school civically literate and practiced in participation—ready to engage in a democracy that depends on the voices of ordinary citizens.