Social Impact Leadership Online
Develop your leadership skills as you design and implement a social impact project in your local school or community. You’ll collaborate with peers from across the globe to learn how to:
- Create positive social impact
- Evaluate your community through an assets-based lens
- Develop transferable skills in problem-solving, marketing, team building, leadership, and public speaking
- Execute an actionable project
The online course offers opportunities for you to work individually or as a team as you design and implement your projects. Registering as a team offers a per-person tuition discount for each student.
This course has a unique meeting schedule to allow you time to work outside of class on your project design and implementation. The first three weeks of the course is comprised synchronous meetings two times per week; after that, we move to a weekly meeting schedule. The course will offer two optional office-hour sessions for you to check in with instructors and receive one-on-one feedback on your project design.
At a glance
WHO
Domestic and international high school students. Must have a high-intermediate (B2)+ level of English
WINTER SESSION Dates
January 5–March 12, 2026
Mondays and/or Thursdays
4:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. CST
registration deadline
December 12, 2025
cost
There are three registration types to choose from:
- Three/four-person team, per-student tuition cost: $325
- Individual student tuition cost: $475
- Two-person team, per-student tuition cost: $400
Phase 1: Social Impact Fundamentals learning objectives
- Identify what drives people to initiate changes & self-examination of strengths and weaknesses in initiating change.
- Investigate and analyze ways to make an impact.
- Build team-building, leadership, problem-solving and feedback-sharing skills.
- Examine communities through an asset-based lens to identify issues, potential solutions, stakeholders and beneficiaries.
Phase 2: Project design and implementation
- Design action steps toward a meaningful social impact project.
- Identify strategies for tracking impact and communicating project outcomes.
- Develop promotional materials to increase awareness.
- Launch project and address hurdles and adaptations.
- Evaluate outcomes and develop project extensions.
Credit option
International students may have the opportunity to work with Forward International Academy (FIA), a Wisconsin-based high school, to receive U.S. high school credit upon successful completion of the program. Students interested in earning credit should fill out the interest form here or contact FIA’s Student Service Coordinator, Mighty Lou Tinambacan, at mightyltp@usuniversitypathways.com for more information.
Best public college, 2026
U.S. News & World Report
Volunteers produced, 2023
Peace Corps