NAIS Student Civic Leadership Summit

The program is open to high school students in grades 9-12 with an interest in civic action and community engagement, who are traveling with a faculty advisor from their school attending the NNSP Annual Conference.

The program will take place at a hotel in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. We have arranged a campus of hotels for the student summit and the NNSP Annual Conference that are all conveniently located within walking distance of each other.

The all-inclusive fee is $1,495 per student. This covers all summit sessions, evening activities, meals, hotel accommodations, and daytime and nighttime supervision and security.

The deposit deadline to save a spot for your student cohort has been extended to Decmeber 5, 2025. Please note all payments are nonrefundable. Stay tuned for other important dates and deadlines, and please reach out to programsupport@closeup.org with any questions!

The NNSP Annual Conference serves all educators interested in the intersection of community engagement, social impact, and traditional academic curriculum. It runs concurrently to this student summit. Educators attending the conference will take part in a professional development experience that is unique to community engagement and social impact work in K-12 education. NNSP Annual Conference attendees serve as chaperones and faculty advisors to their school’s summit delegation.

The minimum number of students is four. We ask that schools bring a cohort of 4-8 students.

Students stay at a hotel in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. Students and faculty advisors will stay at the same hotel. There two students per room and each student has their own bed. Students room with other students from their school. School coordinators assign roommates.

No. Close Up provides night monitors in each hallway who check the students into their rooms each night and are available should they need anything overnight.

Yes. You can observe the students in action at any point during the program and we have dedicated school advisor check-ins each day.

Program days typically run from 9am to 10pm. Students engage in a variety of experiential, academic, and social activities in both large-group and small-group settings, facilitated by Close Up program instructors. While students have the opportunity to explore the nation’s capital, most programming takes place at the hotel.

Upon arrival in Washington, D.C., every student is assigned to a homeroom group that includes one Close Up program instructor and a small core group of students. Students take part in daily discussions, debriefs, and feedback sessions.

Upon arrival, students are assigned to a homeroom group with a program instructor and 20-25 students from other schools. This allows students to hear from, learn from, and meet peers with different perspectives from across the country. Homeroom groups participate in discussions, debriefs, and workshops together each day. Students are together by school for action planning sessions throughout the week and to prepare for presenting at the NNSP Annual Conference.

Students must travel together as a school cohort with a faculty advisor attending the NNSP Annual Conference. Please contact us at programsupport@closeup.org with any questions.

Close Up is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, civic education organization that informs, inspires, and empowers young people to become active citizens. Since 1971, we have partnered with school districts nationwide to serve more than one million students and educators through experiential learning programs in our nation’s capital and in local communities, professional development, and curriculum design and consulting. Our goal is to connect what students learn in class to the real world around them and help them articulate their own views, listen to those of others, and engage with people of different backgrounds with tolerance and understanding. To learn more, visit www.CloseUp.org. 

The National Association of Independent Schools is a nonprofit membership association dedicated to unlocking the extraordinary potential in students, independent schools, and their communities. We provide services to more than 2,000 schools and associations of schools in the United States and internationally. To learn more, visit NAIS.org.