Civic Engagement Research Paper

In 2005, Straitgate School administrators observed that the areas surrounding the school were very dirty and unsightly. It was decided that the school would organize a mass cleanup of the environment but, rather than hire professionals to handle the clean up, the school decided that the pupils and teachers would be the ones to rise up to the challenge. The administrators saw that as an opportunity to teach the pupils that they all had a moral responsibility to ensure that their environment was clean and to help the local government when they could. I was one of those pupils. I remember the walking around in the hot sun with my friends, wearing plastic gloves and picking up the litter along the streets. That was the day that I truly understood that civic engagement was more than remembering to pay taxes and vote and that it was not limited to ‘the big people’. I learned that day that civic engagement is more about what I, as a member of a society, can do to increase the quality of life in that environment and that it could

After 10 years of helping people and participating in the communities I have found myself in, I have grown to fully understand the importance of and role that civic engagement plays in the lives of the participants and the society at large. I believe that civic engagement is very important because it encourages the members of the society to be proactive about addressing problems in the community. I also think that making civic engagement a required course for all students is a way of ensuring that all Drexel students understand their civic responsibilities and are more sensitive to societal issues in any community they find themselves in. I hope that at the end of this course, I will have a full understanding of civic engagement and my civic responsibilities as an international student in