Civics Day Challenges the 91ÊÓƵ Community to Think and Act
- 11/10/2025
- Category: Featured Social Justice
On Wednesday, November 5th, students and faculty alike took a break from the normal schedule to devote time to community conversations about civic engagement and social justice.
Civics Day challenged us to think, as a community, about civic engagement and some key issues facing our democracy.Â
Students in 8th and 12th grade led workshops and informative sessions for their peers in Humanities classes that covered a wide range of thought-provoking topics, including:
- This land is not for sale - The government and public land use
- Influencers are not your friends - How the "Alt-right" has infiltrated politics
- The gavel vs. the crown - Checks and balances between the executive and judicial branches
- Is the Center for Disease losing control? How recent changes to the Center for Disease Control are jeopardizing its purpose
- Transgender people are not a threat - You're looking at the wrong 1%
- Indigenous rights in healthcare
- The appeal to hate - A comparative approach to authoritarianism and resistance
- Immigration enforcement and its effects on students today
- Politics as Earth's poison - How environmental policies threaten our future
- How is Project 2025 currently taking over the government? What is at stake for our democracy?
- Abort mission - Access without apology
- Trading aid for power - Who pays the cost of putting "America First"?
Curtis Hisayasu, Humanities Department Chair explains the significance of this event. "Civics education at the NWS is rooted both in the school’s commitment to global perspectives and social justice, and to the Humanities department’s mission to teaching rigorous, intersectional, critical approaches for analyzing history, politics, and culture," he says.
"On Civics Day, we bring the whole school community together (faculty and students) for conversations and learning about the contemporary status of our democracy and the many challenges we must face in order to create more inclusive, sustainable, and just communities. It is also a day of student leadership, as 12th grade and 8th grade facilitators lead workshops that they have designed in their Humanities courses, on topics that they care about."
And some of our NWS faculty also pitched in with a variety of short creative courses to bring civic engagement and social justice learning to life.
Examples included:
- Ideal State Debate - students practiced making claims and engaging in debate (using rhetorical tenets from Plato and Aristotle) to support or counter claims about the best alternative to democracy (Humanities)
- How can art be a tool for civic engagement (Intermediate Studio Art)
- “Josephine Baker, son combat pour les droits civiques" (French)
- Informing our community members where to find food amidst SNAP and WIC disruptions (Health and Wellness)
Civics Day encapsulates the 91ÊÓƵ School's commitment to social justice as a core value that underpins the interdisciplinary liberal arts curriculum and student experience. Our students demonstrated how a keen and layered understanding of social issues is imperative for developing policy-level responses and practical solutions.
