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Category: Press Release

iCivics Youth Fellowship Marks its Seventh Year

Posted on by Sophie Gordon

The iCivics Youth Fellowship helps students from across the country build civic leadership skills and explore how they can help make civic education relevant and accessible to all young people.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. [October 17, 2025] – Earlier this year, iCivics selected 34 talented high school students from across the country to take part in the iCivics Youth Fellowship. The students were selected after a competitive process that garnered over 500 applicants from 46 states and Washington, D.C.

The yearlong fellowship helps students develop leadership and communications skills as they collaborate with their peers and learn from experts in the field of civic education. Throughout the year, students research and explore youth engagement in civic spaces and the state of civic education across the United States. Fellows utilize their own lived experiences to become ambassadors for civic education and shed light on how civics can include student voices from every background.

The fellowship kicked off in August and moved into full gear with an in-person symposium in Washington, D.C., at the end of September.

“The Washington D.C. Symposium is a foundational experience for the Youth Fellows,” said iCivics Associate Director of Youth Engagement, Troy Petrie. “For some, it’s the first time traveling on their own. For most, it’s the first time they get to engage with viewpoints and perspectives different from their own. For all of the fellows, it’s a realization that we have more in common than we do apart. That’s exactly what the Youth Fellowship is all about.”

The fellowship will run through the 2025–26 school year, during which fellows will engage in virtual group discussions, workshops, and lectures with experts in the field, and undertake projects designed to strengthen their listening and collaborative skills. The fellows’ work centers around ensuring that civic education is available and relevant to all students in the United States.

Over the past seven years, students from across the country, representing rural, urban, and suburban school districts, have participated in the fellowship and become an integral part of informing the broader civic education movement. Fellows and alumni have shared their experiences and thoughts at convenings for the Educating for American Democracy initiative, Ronald Reagan Institute, Civic Learning Week, Commonwealth Club, and Andrew Goodman Foundation. They have been featured in media such as The Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, and WBUR in Boston.

iCivics is proud to announce this year’s participants:

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Kosomak L.

Athena C.

Maxine P.

Colorado

Florida

Georgia

Lorenzo W.

Justin C.

Frank U.

Dante E.

Naomi L.

Illinois

Iowa

Kentucky

Jackson T.

Jocelyn M.

Katherine H.

Ava June T.

Maine

Maryland

Michigan

William C.

Makayli G.

Raizel H.

Rebecca M.

Logan S.

Minnesota

Missouri

New Jersey

Fatima A.

Abdullahi H.

Ridhima K.

Kayla H.

New York

Ohio

Pennsylvania 

Eva F.

Summer H.

Camryn H.

Charlie L.

Landon F.

Miguel R. M.

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Majdi A.

Marco M.

Wyatt H.

Lahpo K.

Virginia

Wisconsin

Alumni Mentors

Jacqueline A.

Ayden B.

Ethan W.

Liana A. ‘23 (ME)

Addison A. ‘23 (LA)

Imre H. ‘24 (OH)

Anvitha M. ‘21 (CA)

Bradley M. ‘24 (CA)

Carina M. ‘24 (WA)

Fola O. ‘23 (MI)

Tanner O. ‘24 (NM)

iCivics Investigation Declaration Game Wins GEE! Award

Posted on by Sophie Gordon

iCivics’ newest game, Investigation Declaration, won the Formal Learning category at the annual GEE! Learning Game Awards, which recognize excellence in educational game design.

Winners were announced on Aug. 21 at the Play Make Learn Conference, which is hosted by the UW-Madison School of Education’s Department of Curriculum and Instruction and the office of Professional Learning and Community Education (PLACE).

“Play Make Learn is a fantastic opportunity to gather with folks that share a desire to create really great experiences for all kinds of learners,” said Senior Director of Digital Learning Carrie Ray-Hill. “It was incredible to hear our game announced as a winner.”

The game, developed in partnership with The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, challenges middle and high school students to track how Enlightenment ideas informed the Declaration of Independence, which then went on to influence declarations of rights and freedoms abroad. Its design takes notes from classic games such as Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? and includes puzzle and strategy elements of more modern games like Case of the Golden Idol and Return of the Obra Dinn. This complexity aims to help students discover how the ideas that influenced and shaped the Declaration of Independence went on to shape global history.

According to the official announcement, Investigation Declaration impressed judges with its aesthetic, engagement, gameplay, and accessibility features. One judge noted, “I found this a clever way of drawing connections across history. Too often we learn about one country’s perspective, not realizing the global context.”

“I was glad to see the judges appreciated Investigation Declaration’s gameplay,” Ray-Hill said. “We intentionally designed it to embrace student discovery. Players may figure out how the game works before their teachers, and that’s okay! The game gives them the freedom to play through one ‘path’ or several, empowering them to create their own narrative.”

New online game from iCivics and The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation teaches how the Declaration of Independence inspired a wave of global change

Posted on by Sophie Gordon

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (Aug. 25, 2025) – iCivics and The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation have released a new online game that shows middle- and high-school students how the Declaration of Independence captured the ideas of the Enlightenment and inspired movements toward freedom and democracy across the Atlantic world during the 18th and 19th centuries. 

Investigation Declaration takes place in an alternate time and space where an international crime conglomerate has hacked the fictional Bureau of Ideas, corrupting every file related to freedom, democracy, and individual rights. Players take the role of “Agent 6” as they pursue the origins of these files and discover how ideas spread throughout the Atlantic world in the 100 years following the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. 

As students restore the corrupted files, they discover how the ideas of natural rights, state sovereignty, and the social contract spread from Colonial Williamsburg, Paris, and Philadelphia to Haiti, Liberia, and beyond to inspire a wave of declarations of freedom and rights.

Created collaboratively by The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation and iCivics, the game takes notes from classic games such as Where in the World is Carmen San Diego? and includes puzzle and strategy elements of more modern games like Case of the Golden Idol and Return of the Obra Dinn. This complexity aims to help students discover how the ideas that influenced and shaped the Declaration of Independence went on to shape global history. This innovative approach to educational game-making earned Investigation Declaration the prestigious 2025 GEE! Award in the Formal Games category.

Investigation Declaration, which is being released in the lead-up to the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, merges the game-building expertise of iCivics and the research and education expertise of The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Inspired by historian David Armitage’s 2007 book, The Declaration of Independence: A Global History, the team looked at the U.S. Declaration as an event, a document, and a genre to be adopted and adapted by people in the years after 1776. Investigation Declaration won the prestigious 2025 winner of the prestigious GEE! Awards

“Colonial Williamsburg is always looking for new ways to bring our unique brand of history education to as many students as possible,” said The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation’s Senior Vice President of Education Mia Nagawiecki. “Thanks to our partnership with iCivics, we have extended our reach beyond our physical location and even our significant web presence to reach kids where they are and through a medium that excites them.”

Investigation Declaration represents an evolution in style for iCivics games, which has led the education gaming industry since its founding in 2009. To meet a new generation of gamers, it uses learn-as-you-play strategies employed by some of the world’s most popular games, such as Fortnite and Roblox. It challenges players to discover game elements as they explore the in-game world, which allows for a multitude of player-based paths through the experience.

“Investigation Declaration moves beyond the norms of classic iCivics gameplay to meet the moment in both gaming and civics instruction,” iCivics CEO Louise Dubé said. “The goal of iCivics has always been to meet young people where they are to teach them the complicated ideas behind our constitutional democracy. If we’re going to carry out that critical mission, we must continue to evolve.”

Teachers who use Investigation Declaration can track their efforts and enter the Civic Star Challenge to win prizes for their students and schools. 

The game is offered in English and Spanish and includes robust educator support materials designed to inspire deeper learning, engagement, and conversation in classrooms.