Curious about the structure, purpose, and impact of the Policy Institute?
Learn more about the program from the people who've experienced it!
Applications for Summer 2025 are open until March 3, 2025 at 11:59pm.
For more information about how to apply, please use the links below to look through the application details and requirements. Note: for GDS student application, you must be logged into your GDS Google account to apply. For DMV-area students, you can apply without using a Google login. Questions? Email us at policyinstitute@gds.org.
An Incubator for Activism
Currently in its 11th year, the Georgetown Day School Policy Institute is an incubator for activism. For four weeks each summer, High School students learn about pressing social justice issues of global and/or national importance by working with advocates, engaging in direct conversation with policymakers, traveling to “ground zero” cities where the focus issue is most prevalent, and building relationships with individuals at the heart of the issue. It is a truly student-led, interactive learning experience through which participants use the world around them as a classroom and ultimately, construct an action project to create meaningful and informed change.
The seven tracks for Summer 2025 are:
AI in a Human World
Bodily Autonomy and Consent
Church and State: One Nation Under God?
Criminal Justice
Equity in Higher Education
Politics and Powerlines: Energy Use in Society
Waging Life: The Immigrant Experience
The dates for the 2025 Policy Institute are June 23-July 18 (with a day off for July 4), and it will run in person Monday - Friday, generally from 9am-3pm. There will be two nights of out-of-town travel taking place in either the first or second week of the program, and a special culminating event happening on Thursday evening, July 17, that is mandatory for all participants. Students who apply and are accepted into the program must confirm their commitment to attending all four weeks. Students with service-learning requirements at their school are eligible to receive 40 hours of credit upon completion of the Institute for their leadership and advocacy work.
The GDS Policy Institute Institute honors the dignity and worth of persons impacted by inequity, injustice, and oppression and strives to create a more socially just community and world.
