High school project idea · Law, Policy & Society
Discover which decisions happen in public meetings, staff offices, boards, commissions, contracts, and informal networks.
Map the formal and practical decision system around one local issue without confusing influence with proof of wrongdoing.
Why this project matters
Map the formal and practical decision system around one local issue without confusing influence with proof of wrongdoing. This project feels different from a school assignment because the student serves young residents and community members trying to participate effectively, creates something visible, tests it honestly, responds to feedback, and explains the decisions behind the final result.
What you will create
Use these deliverables as milestones for Map Who Has Power in Your Town. Adapt the details to your interests, available time, and real-world opportunities.
Research jurisdiction, elected and appointed roles, staff authority, advisory bodies, funding, public process, organized interests, access, and uncertainty. Document the needs, constraints, credible sources, and perspectives of young residents and community members trying to participate effectively.
Turn the evidence into a focused plan for the local power map and civic action guide, including success criteria, ethical boundaries, scope, and a realistic path to completion.
Create the first complete version of the local power map and civic action guide. Include an issue definition, decision timeline, institutional map, stakeholder profiles, public entry points, source notes, and participation guide.
review the map with civically knowledgeable people and test whether a new participant can identify the right decision maker and next step Record what happened, what failed, what users or reviewers said, and which changes you made.
Publish the final local power map and civic action guide with a portfolio-ready case study showing the challenge, evidence, process, revisions, results, limits, and next version.
Make the work stronger
For Map Who Has Power in Your Town, use these checkpoints to protect the quality of the work without turning the project into a performance for admissions.
Skills you can build
College application value
Can demonstrate initiative, curiosity, reflection, and growth through the student’s choices, response to setbacks, work with young residents and community members trying to participate effectively, and development of Stakeholder Mapping, Institutional Research, and Civic Strategy.
The goal of Map Who Has Power in Your Town is not to manufacture an impressive activity. Do real work, keep evidence of the process, and reflect honestly on what changed.
Related college majors
Use Map Who Has Power in Your Town as a clue, then open a related major guide to compare coursework, career directions, reality checks, and other ways to test the field.
Study how property, finance, communities, and development decisions connect.
Study how groups, institutions, culture, and inequality shape people’s lives, then use evidence to explain patterns bigger than any one person.
Understand how cities grow, function, divide resources, and change.
Map Who Has Power in Your Town is an original Compass educational starting point designed around real work, visible evidence, feedback, and reflection. It is not an admissions guarantee.