Citizen Redefined Camp

Citizen Redefined Camp is an overnight, week-long civic leadership experience where student leaders explore what it means to boldly show up for their campuses and communities as citizens.

Over the course of the intensive camp, a cohort of students who are committed to developing their civic skills come together to ask themselves, “What does it mean to be a powerful, responsible citizen? And how can I be active in the process of creating the America that I want to see?”

We agree with Citizen University that citizenship is not a legal designation but a way of living as a problem-solving contributor in a self-governing community.  However, most Americans do not receive civic training to prepare for this critical role.

Engaged student leaders have an extraordinary power–and responsibility–to affect change on campus, in the community, and in our nation. Citizen Redefined Camp offers a highly immersive, hands-on opportunity for involved student leaders to reflect on, develop, and fully step into self-defined identities as citizens. In doing so, they graduate from camp prepared to pursue social change with a stronger sense of their power in within our national fabric.

Camp History and Development

Citizen Redefined Camp was an outgrowth of NCCE’s ongoing partnership with the national civic civic organization, Citizen University (CU).

In spring of 2023, NCCE began collaborating with Citizen University, a non-profit organization headquartered in Seattle Washington with the mission to build a culture of powerful, responsible citizenship across the country. They design gatherings, rituals, and workshops for people who are searching for new ways to strengthen civic culture in their towns. Through their programs, they spark new ways of thinking about citizenship, deepen the resolve to take responsibility, and rekindle faith in our democracy and one another. Citizen University developed a K-12 curriculum, Citizen Redefined, that equips individuals to be civic culture catalysts.  NCCE is the first organization to expand this curriculum into a higher education context.

NCCE hosted the CU staff for two train-the-trainer sessions in 2023, where campus administrators from the NCCE network learned the Citizen Redefined curriculum to take back their campus for implementation.

Inspired by the CU model and content, NCCE formed Citizen Redefined Camp. At CR Camp, NCCE facilitates the Citizen Redefined curriculum in a unique setting which involves student leaders representing campuses statewide. The inaugural cohort of Citizen Redefined Camp graduated in Summer 2024.