CREATED WITH THE FRANK BATTEN SCHOOL OF LEADERSHIP AND PUBLIC POLICY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
SERVICES: PROGRAM PLANNING
FUNDERS: JEFFERSON TRUST
COLLABORATORS: LORA HENDERSON SMITH
In summer 2022, iThrive Games partnered with the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy to design and deliver the Policy Leadership Advocacy by Youth, or PLAY, Program on the University of Virginia campus. With funding from the Jefferson Trust, 50 high school students experienced a weeklong exploration of policy that featured resume-building and college essay-writing workshops, lunch-and-learns with real-world policy leaders, and a field trip to the Moton Museum—the birthplace of the U.S. student civil rights movement. Each day of the PLAY Program began with an iThrive Studio workshop where teens applied game design techniques to dig into the big questions they have about social issues important to them. A suite of teen-developed game prototypes came from these daily workshops, each centering a societal challenge and possible solutions.
- "I loved learning about policy and different people's paths surrounding related areas. I loved how interactive it was and the balance between different things during the day." — Teen
- "I loved the opportunities that came out of it. I have a wonderful toolkit and network from PLAY that I am very grateful for." — Teen
- "I loved meeting new people and getting out of my comfort zone." — Teen
