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Shaping civic-minded students at Rio Americano through CIVITAS program

Shaping civic-minded students at Rio Americano through CIVITAS program

When U.S. Representative Ami Bera stepped inside of Rio Americano High School on Oct. 11, he entered an atmosphere buzzing with curiosity. Civic-minded 11th and 12th-grade students gathered in the performing arts center with notebooks in hand ready to ask him questions about today’s pressing issues. 

More than just a Q&A, this was an opportunity for students to exercise their voice and engage with a local congressman face-to-face, providing a rich learning experience students can take into their careers after high school.

The room was filled with conversations surrounding artificial intelligence, social media, mental health and more topics affecting high schoolers and the country as a whole.

Bera’s visit resonated deeply with students from CIVITAS, Rio Americano’s four-year interdisciplinary political studies and public service academy, a program that has been unraveling similar topics in class every week.

CIVITAS, which means citizenship or citizen community in Latin, exposes students to a specialized curriculum that involves political science, state and local government, international relations, speech and communications and eventually Advanced Placement (AP) capstone classes including AP seminar and AP research. These classes are spread between students’ 9th-grade year and 12th-grade year.

CIVITAS also requires students to complete 100 hours of community service and participate in a civic engagement internship.

Overall, the program is a true reflection of the work being done by San Juan Unified School District to provide advanced opportunities geared towards preparing students for post-secondary education, career and life.

“The program really has some fantastic opportunities for [students] to really find their niche and what they are interested in and then explore that and launch them into their careers,” said Leigh Sumers, teacher and CIVITAS coordinator at Rio Americano.

Several students have volunteered as tutors at San Juan Unified elementary schools, others have volunteered at local park and recreation centers. All students are quickly discovering what local issues and topics interest them the most through their community service and internship opportunities.

“CIVITAS taught me that we have to find what we care about and what we’re passionate about and we have to actually go out and do something about it because if we all just shut off then nothing gets done and the world doesn’t get better,” said 11th-grader Priya Rajappa.

When it comes to real-world, post-secondary experiences, CIVITAS is preparing students as 9th-graders to start thinking about areas that they would like to positively influence. Then, they are equipping students to volunteer in those areas, exposing them to a network of people and experiences that launch students into action and help them make more informed decisions about their future endeavors.

“If I wasn’t in CIVITAS I would actually have no idea what I was going to do,” said 11th-grader Paige Saumure. “I would not be as passionate as I am about civics at all or about our government, so I know it is going to make me a good citizen and make me a good voter once I am able to vote and potentially, hopefully make me a good representative in the future.”

In particular, CIVITAS students praise the speech and communications class for equipping them with practical skills to become better public speakers and better interviewees for their internship opportunities.

“I think that was the most useful class for me, it helped me get more confident in public speaking and it helped me develop my writing, which I think now is something I really want to pursue in the future,” said 11th-grader Mia Rousseau.

Overall, Rio Americano’s focus is to build students who are informed, equipped and a positive active participant in their communities.

“I think it is really important for students even if they know they don’t want to go into politics to have some basic level of understanding about how their political system works because this is what is going to govern the rest of our lives,” said 11th-grader Julia Sanders.

Learn more about the CIVITAS program at Rio Americano and how to apply by visiting sanjuan.edu/rioamericanocivitas.