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LegiSchool Project

The LegiSchool Project is a civic education collaboration between California State University, Sacramento, and the California State Legislature, administered by the Center for California Studies. The Project’s mission is to engage California’s high school students in matters of public policy and state government by creating opportunities for students and state leaders to meet and share ideas on issues affecting Californians. In doing so, we hope to motivate young people to take an interest in the public life around them and to encourage their active participation in our political process.

For the 2023-2024 school year, LegiSchool will continue to offer online programming. Our student-led Virtual Town Hall Meetings, Summer Civics Institute, sponsored contests and curriculum materials are all ways that students can learn to take initiative, be involved and connect to state government and public service. LegiSchool's curriculum materials in particular, are designed to provide a broad, easy-to-understand background on the complex issues faced by the state. The materials help students develop the basic knowledge needed to form educated, thoughtful opinions on the issues at hand.

Learn more about LegiSchool by reading the LegiSchool blog!

Want to know more about this year's plan? Check out the 2023/24 Legischool Newsletter!

Want to get on our mailing lists about Town Halls, Contests, and Internship opportunities? Fill out our online form.

Town Hall Meetings

Teachers and students will be able to participate in our Town Hall Meetings by joining us in person or participating in our online Q&A during our livestream. Our Town Hall Meetings will give students the chance to discuss important policy issues and will feature LegiSchool Civics Institute Alumni as our panel moderators. Please contact rotcehernandez@csus.edu to register your class.

2023-2024 Town Hall Meetings

  • October 20, 2023: Mental Health, Teens and Social Services
  • December 15, 2023: Social Justice Issues in California
  • February 16, 2024: Technology, Privacy and Social Media
  • April 26, 2024: Climate Change and Environmental Justice

2022-2023 Town Hall Meetings

Please click the link to view the meetings

Recordings of previous Town Hall Meetings

If you are an educator interested in registering your class to our Virtual Town Hall Meetings, please contact legischool@csus.edu for more information. Supplemental curriculum guides are offered for each Virtual Town Hall Meeting.

2017 photo contest winner

Contests

LegiSchool facilitates three contests each year that are available to California high school students. See below for date and topic information for each contest. If you have any questions, please email legischool@csus.edu.

Video Contest

Join students from across the state and participate in our newest contest! Whether through ASMR, skits, dances, memes, fan cams, lip-syncing or funny edits, show us how creative you can be when discussing the political process! Complete details available Spring 2024.

Deadline: May 31, 2024

Essay Contest

New social media platforms continue to thrive and grow, and the age of internet consumers continues to decrease. What are the effects of social media on younger children? Should internet and social media be more controlled? Does a relationship between mental health and social media exist?

Information available fall 2023

California Through My Eyes Photo Contest

How do you envision California? What represents California to you? Poverty? Wealth? Technology? Farms? Water? Mountains? Towns? People? Cities? Cars? Hiking Trails? Family? Community? Landscapes?

These are just some of the images that students are invited to photograph for LegiSchool’s annual photo contest. The photo can be of a person, place or anything - big or small. The first place winner receives $100 and four runners-up receive $50 each. Open to all current high school students in California.

Please check back next year for information on the 2024 Photo Contest.

2020 LegiSchool Civics Virtual Institute

2024 LegiSchool Civics Virtual Institute

The LegiSchool Civics Virtual Institute gives a select number of California high school students the unique opportunity to participate in an intensive 4-week online summer program that explores important policy issues in California and provides students the tools to develop leadership and professional skills. A stipend will be provided to the student at the completion of the summer program.

Students will learn about each of the three branches of government with an emphasis on public service and the political process. Activities include: online discussions to learn more about state agencies and the judicial branch, research projects focused on important California policy issues, and speaker sessions and professional workshops led by the branch experts themselves.

The LegiSchool Civics Virtual Institute is an online summer internship program and is not a Sacramento State college course.

Who can apply?

Applicants must be CA high school juniors or seniors for the 2024 – 2025 school year OR recently graduated in spring 2024. Example: A high school senior that graduated in May 2024 can apply. Applications are open to high school students in the state of California only.

What are the dates and participation requirements?

Participants must have reliable internet access and have access to a computer and webcam for online webinars and presentations on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and be willing to commit to the entirety of the program, June 24, 2024 - July 19, 2024.

When are interviews?

Invitations to interview will be sent to a limited number of applicants on June 10th. Interviews will take place via zoom from June 10th - June 14th.

APPLY NOW! https://ccsapply.smapply.io/prog/legischool_civics_institute/

Priority Deadline: May 31, 2024

General Deadline, June 7, 2024