CE-HSPA-1005 - Inside Local Politics
Course Description
News coverage of political events often focuses on federal politics and big elections, but the local and state levels of government are vital to daily life in America. Inside Local Politics will dive into how local and state governments impact our lives and how you can start advocating for causes at a smaller level to make meaningful changes.
Is This Course For You?
This course is perfect for you if you’re a rising sophomore, junior, or senior in high school interested in learning more about the world of politics. If you love your history, social studies, or AP Government classes, you’ll love this hands-on course where you’ll learn more about local government.
What You’ll Learn
During this course, you’ll learn about the different roles of local government and meet different people who work in local government such as staffers, lobbyists, elected officials, campaign experts, and community leaders. All of these different roles have their own responsibilities and impacts on local government, and you’ll get firsthand knowledge of what goes into working in these positions.
Local government plays a very different role in our lives compared to federal or even state government, and you’ll learn more about what actually happens behind the scenes at the local government level that you don’t see covered in the national news. You’ll pick your own research topic around an issue you believe in and figure out how you can advocate for your issue at a local level.
How You’ll Learn
Inside Local Politics is a five day course that runs from 9 am to 5 pm every day, and each day of the course will address a different facet of local government. You’ll hear from local government officials and their staff to get a thorough understanding of what goes into running different levels of government.
During this course you’ll also be researching a specific issue or cause that you’re interested in and finding out how you can advocate for it at the non-federal level. As you learn more about what different offices and levels of local and state government do, you’ll be able to gather a fuller understanding of how you can make a difference.
Skills You Walk Away With
By the of the week, you’ll walk away with:
- Knowledge of a variety of roles that go into local government.
- Understanding of how different aspects of local government work.
- Helpful tools and techniques for researching issues that pertain to local government and how to advocate for those issues.
- Knowledge of the difference between local, state, and federal government and how each level of government serves different purposes.