NextGen Civic Leader Badge Guide
Bring Your Civic Leadership Experiences Together
Check your progress, identify your Centerpiece Activity, reflect on your experience, and complete your Badge.
Two requirements. Complete them in either order.
The NextGen Civic Leader Badge combines the range of experiences you document through the Civic Health Scorecard with deeper reflection on one significant Centerpiece Activity.
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Civic Health Scorecard
250 Points
Document the range of ways you learn, participate, connect, and contribute.
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Centerpiece Activity
100+ Hours
Reflect deeply on one significant civic leadership or community engagement experience.
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Four steps to completion.
You can work on your Scorecard and Centerpiece at the same time. Use these steps to see where you are and what comes next.
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01
Check Your Scorecard
See how close you are to 250 points and identify past experiences you may still be able to log.
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02
Identify Your Centerpiece
Choose a significant 100+ hour experience that meets the Centerpiece criteria.
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03
Complete Your Reflection
Tell the story of what you contributed, learned, and how the experience shaped you.
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04
Complete Your Badge
Confirm that both requirements are complete and review your Badge progress.
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Build your Civic Health Scorecard.
Complete Civic Actions, reflect on your experiences, and earn at least 250 points through the Civic Health Scorecard.
Already have civic or community engagement experience? Browse the Scorecard for Civic Actions that match qualifying college-level activities you have already completed.
Identify your Centerpiece Activity.
Your Centerpiece is a significant experience of 100 hours or more where you practice civic leadership and community engagement.
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100+ Hours
At least 100 hours of sustained engagement.
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Civic Leadership
Meaningful opportunities to contribute, engage, lead, learn, or work with others.
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Husky Experience
A connection with your learning, involvement, relationships, development, interests, or goals at UW.
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Reflection and/or Mentorship
Opportunities to reflect on your learning and/or receive mentorship or supervision.
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Your Centerpiece might be an internship, sustained volunteering, RSO or community leadership, research, a capstone, advocacy, study abroad, participation on an athletic team, or another significant civic leadership or community engagement experience.
Tell the story behind your Centerpiece.
The Centerpiece Reflection asks you to step back from what you did and consider what the experience meant for your development as a civic leader.
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✓ Activity & Hours
What did you do and approximately how many hours did you complete? ✓ Organizations or Groups
Where did the experience take place and who did you engage with? ✓ Husky Experience
How does the experience connect with your development at UW? |
✓ Mentorship or Supervision
Who supported, mentored, or supervised you? ✓ Reflection
How was reflection supported or built into the experience? ✓ Key Takeaways
What are the two or three most important things you learned? |
Check that both requirements are complete.
Once you have completed your Scorecard and Centerpiece requirements, review your Badge progress.
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✓ 250+ Points
Civic Health Scorecard
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✓ 100+ Hours
Centerpiece Activity & Reflection
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NextGen Civic Leader Badge FAQs
Find quick answers about Scorecard points, Centerpiece Activities, hours, reflection, and completing your Badge.
Do I need 250 points before starting my Centerpiece Activity?
No. You can complete the two Badge requirements in either order.
You can build your Civic Health Scorecard while completing your Centerpiece Activity, or you may already have a qualifying Centerpiece experience before reaching 250 points.
Can Civic Actions I completed earlier in college count toward my 250 points?
Yes. Qualifying college-level activities may be logged retroactively.
Browse the Civic Health Scorecard to identify Civic Actions that match experiences you have already completed and follow the instructions for logging the appropriate Impact.
What kinds of experiences can be a Centerpiece Activity?
A Centerpiece can take many forms, including an internship, research or a capstone, sustained volunteering, RSO or community leadership, advocacy, study abroad, participation on an athletic team, or another significant experience.
What matters is that the experience represents 100+ hours of sustained engagement and meets the Centerpiece criteria for civic leadership and community engagement, connection to your Husky Experience, and reflection and/or mentorship.
Can study abroad count as my Centerpiece Activity?
Yes. A study abroad experience can potentially serve as your Centerpiece when it meets the Badge criteria.
Think about how you engaged with communities, learned across cultures and perspectives, developed leadership, reflected on your experience, and connected that learning with your broader Husky Experience.
Can being on an athletic team count as my Centerpiece Activity?
Yes. Participation on an athletic team can potentially serve as a Centerpiece when the experience meets the Badge criteria.
Consider leadership, teamwork, mentorship, service, community engagement, responsibility to others, belonging, and the ways you contributed to your team or broader community.
Does my Centerpiece have to be academic or for course credit?
No. Your Centerpiece does not need to be academic or credit-bearing.
It should be a significant civic leadership or community engagement experience that meets the Badge criteria and connects with your broader Husky Experience.
Do the 100 hours have to happen all at once?
No. Your Centerpiece hours can accumulate over time, including across months or years of your college experience.
What matters is that the hours represent a meaningful and cohesive area of civic leadership or community engagement.
Can my Centerpiece include more than one organization?
Yes, when the experiences connect as part of a cohesive experience or issue area.
When completing your reflection, be prepared to explain what connects those experiences.
What does “connection to my Husky Experience” mean?
Think about how your Centerpiece connects with your broader experience and development as a UW student.
That might include your learning, leadership development, academic interests, relationships, community involvement, career goals, personal growth, or understanding of civic and community issues.
Do I need a mentor or supervisor?
Your Centerpiece should connect you with opportunities for reflection and/or mentorship.
The Centerpiece Reflection asks you to identify mentorship or supervision connected with your experience when applicable.
What should I write about in my Centerpiece Reflection?
Focus on what the experience meant, not simply a list of what you did.
Consider what you contributed, what you learned, how the experience connects with your Husky Experience, how reflection or mentorship supported your development, and the most important things you are taking away.
Where do I submit my Centerpiece Activity Reflection?
Use the Centerpiece Activity Reflection when you are ready to document and reflect on your experience.
Where can I check my Badge progress?
Use the NextGen Civic Leader Badge page in CommunityConnectUW to review your progress toward completion.
I need help earning or logging my 250 Scorecard points. Where should I go?
Use the Civic Health Scorecard Guide for help finding Civic Actions, logging Impacts, completing reflections, and building your Scorecard.
Want to use the Scorecard + Badge with a group?
CELE can introduce the Scorecard and Badge to students or help connect them more intentionally with an existing course, cohort, program, team, or other learning experience.
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One-Time Session
Request a Workshop
Bring a Scorecard + Badge introduction or activity to your students or group.
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Deeper Connection
Course/Cohort Integration
Connect existing learning and experiences with Scorecard actions, reflection, points, and progress toward the Badge.
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Bring your civic leadership story together.
Check your Scorecard, identify your Centerpiece, reflect on what you've learned, and recognize the civic leader you are becoming.
