A Civics Assignment Creates Real-World Research, Art, and Advocacy

This year, Lawrenceville launched Advanced Civic Studies (taught by Hazel Baldwin-Kress) that reimagines what civic education can look like in practice. Rather than focusing solely on traditional government structures, the class challenges students to identify communities they belong to, causes they care about, and meaningful ways to create real-world impact.

“Civics is really all about engagement with one's community,” history teacher Baldwin-Kress said. “So what better way to learn than to actually do it?”

Built around a project-based learning model, the course tasks students with designing and executing initiatives that apply civic frameworks to real community needs. Students brainstorm personal connections, assess available resources, and develop projects rooted in access, opportunity, equity, and support.

One of the standout projects came from Leila Campbell ‘26, who transformed her lived experience with vision challenges into a research initiative, an art-based community workshop, and a broader advocacy effort. “I thought that it was a really captivating and under-researched topic that wholly encompassed my experience with vision issues and how I was able to cope as a kid,” she said.

With Baldwin-Kress’s guidance, Campbell shaped her idea into a project that connected her passion for art with her interest in visual perception and disability advocacy. Rather than approaching civics through policy or elections, Campbell explored how creative expression, medical outreach, and family support can also serve civic goals.

“Nobody makes change by themselves,” Baldwin-Kress said, recalling how Campbell identified her eye doctor, Dr. Noah Tannen, as a partner who could help connect her work with a broader audience.

The result is a community art workshop for children with vision impairments. The workshop is designed to build confidence, foster peer connection, and challenge limiting assumptions. “The main point of that is to both create a community… and to hopefully inspire in people the knowledge that you can do more than what you've been diagnosed with,” Campbell said.

The program also includes a support session for parents—a group Campbell believes is often overlooked. “I feel as though the parents are an underappreciated subject of the issue,” she said.

At the center of Campbell’s research is stereoblindness: the inability to perceive depth. She began with a hypothesis rooted in her own artistic experience: “If you can't see in 3D, if your world is a flat surface, then it's probably easier for you to translate what you're seeing onto a 2D canvas,” she explained.

Her research extended into art history, uncovering studies suggesting that some Old Master painters may also have been stereoblind—a discovery that validated both her instincts and her creative process. “It was really crazy because that's what I had been thinking,” she said. “And then when I looked into it, and I found these studies, I was like, ‘That is insane. I feel like more people should know about this.’”

Her work has attracted the attention of one of the leading authorities in vision care, Dr. Len Press, who has asked Campbell and Dr. Tannen to co-author an article for the Optometric Vision Development & Rehabilitation Journal. Press also invited her to collaborate with prominent neuroscientist Dr. Susan Barry, author of several books, including "Fixing My Gaze" on stereoblindness. Campbell hopes the attention will inspire others to use art as therapy for individuals with visual impairments.

“Art has been so beneficial throughout my life, and I’d love to spread how this tool could be helpful for others,” she said. “Art could be something that you never thought you’d be good at, but, paradoxically, poor vision could actually make you a better artist.”

Campbell’s project is one of many Baldwin-Kress describes as a “constellation” of civic initiatives—all rooted in different communities and concerns. Other student projects addressed media literacy, access to athletics for female athletes, literacy support for multilingual families, financial barriers to extracurricular participation, and more.

A key goal of the course, Baldwin-Kress said, is helping students understand that civic engagement is broader than politics. It can include community education, equity work, mental health advocacy, family support, and expanding access to opportunity.

“People think civics is just government,” she said. “But it’s also about access, opportunity, community support, and using your own experiences to make meaningful change.”

For many students, the course reframed their understanding of impact—showing that meaningful civic work can stem from personal passions, creative skills, and lived experience. The larger takeaway, Baldwin-Kress said, is that every member of a community matters, and that students have the power to make change right now.

For Campbell, the course served as the catalyst that transformed an idea into action—and a personal challenge into a platform for research, creativity, and service. “There's such a big benefit to art,” she said. “This could be something fun, this could be something helpful. This could be something that you never thought you'd be good at.”

For more information, contact Lisa M. Gillard H'17, director of public relations, at lgillard@lawrenceville.org.