Imagine 12 high school students giving up a week of their summer vacation to study politics at a college level. You don’t really need to imagine, all you have to do is stop by the New Hampshire Institute of Politics.

From July 12 to 19, 12 students from eight different high schools around New Hampshire attended the Civic Leadership Academy, a week-long study of civics and leadership run by the New Hampshire Institute of Politics.

This 4-year-old program has been reinvented by professor Peter Josephson to include the main features of a college experience, especially a Saint Anselm College experience, which entails a service project, Portraits of Civic Greatness and philosophy. In order to achieve this, the students took excerpts from Alexis De Tocqueville’s “Democracy in America” and “Portraits of Civic Leadership.”

De Tocqueville, one of the greatest politics theorists, showed the students why he believed that democracy is the best form of government.

“The readings from Alexis de Tocqueville were very hard for them, but I think by the end of the week they were seeing how Tocqueville’s observations of our political life raise precisely those questions of judgment and virtue. One student mentioned to Ann that he’d never read a book like “Democracy in America” before – one that really requires us to ask questions and reflect on the meaning of our lives,” said Josephson.

“Portraits of Civic Leadership” are modeled after Saint Anselm College’s program of humanities, where the students take a look at historical figures, some well-known and other more obscure who have made an impact on their societies. The well-known figures were George Washington, Edward R. Murrow, and the Greensboro students; while the more obscure ones were Ernie Pyle, George Soros and Archbishop Rummel.

“There are an infinite number of ways to lead,” said Danielle Berry during one of the discussions on “Portraits of Civic Leadership.”

Students also attended various panel discussions and listened to speakers on politics and leadership in New Hampshire. Some of the prominent speakers included Sen. Lou D’Allesandro, the Honorable Donna Sytek, Gov. Michael Dukakis, Associate Justice Gary Hicks and Mayor Frank Guinta.

“I did not know it was possible to meet so many prominent figures in our state in one week, let alone a lifetime!” said Isabel Rollinson. “Even if it was all accomplished in 14-hour days!”

Students also took some time to relax. What little recreation time the students had was spent bowling, watching movies and attending a Fisher Cats game.

Although they had early mornings and a great deal of reading, they were up all hours of the night. At first it was latenight talks, but that soon transformed into some late night dance parties.

While most of these students had prior knowledge of and activities in civics, a few still felt going in that, “I didn’t really know much going in, but I feel like I have learned a great deal,” said Robert Cautela.

Students were left with a new perspective.

As John Chambers of Bow described it, “We learned a lot about how great New Hampshire is and I appreciate the state much more now. Did you know it’s the third largest legislative body in the English-speaking world behind the U.S. Congress and British Parliament?”