Creative Projects
08 · Creative Projects & Portfolio Strategy
Jordan, the programs you're targeting — Georgetown, UVA, and Howard — don't require engineering prototypes or AI models. What they do reward is something harder to fake: evidence that you've used tools to investigate real problems and produced work that exists beyond the classroom. Your funding disparities investigation is currently an experience on your resume. The projects below turn it into a published deliverable — and then build a connective portfolio that shows admissions committees your four activities aren't scattered interests but a single, coherent civic leadership practice.
Project 1: The Funding Equity Policy Brief & Data Summary
This is your centerpiece project. It takes your school funding disparities investigation and formalizes it into a professional-grade civic journalism product — something that could be submitted to a local news outlet, shared with a school board, or posted as a standalone public resource.
What You'll Produce: A published policy brief (8–12 pages) with original data analysis, visualizations, and specific policy recommendations — plus a companion web page that makes the data publicly accessible.
| Component | Tool / Format | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Data Collection & Cleaning | Google Sheets or Python (Pandas) | Organize your existing research into a structured, cite-able dataset using public budget records |
| Visualizations | Datawrapper (free) or Google Sheets charts | Create 4–6 publication-ready charts: bar comparisons, per-pupil spending maps, trend lines |
| Policy Brief | Google Docs → PDF | Written document with executive summary, methodology, findings, and 3–5 specific recommendations |
| Public Data Page | GitHub Pages or Google Sites | A simple website hosting your charts and brief so anyone can access the data |
| Submission Targets | Local newspaper op-ed, student journalism platform, school board presentation | Gives the work real-world publication and civic impact |
Build Plan:
- Phase 1 — Structure Your Data: Compile the findings from your investigation into a clean spreadsheet. Columns should include: district name, total budget, enrollment, per-pupil spending, % free/reduced lunch, and any demographic data available from public sources (state DOE, Census SDFF data). Aim for at least 15–20 comparison points.
- Phase 2 — Analyze & Visualize: Calculate per-pupil spending ratios. Create charts that make the disparities visually undeniable — a side-by-side bar chart is worth more than a paragraph of explanation. Datawrapper is free and produces embeddable, professional-quality charts without any coding.
- Phase 3 — Write the Brief: Follow a standard policy brief structure: (1) Executive Summary, (2) Background, (3) Methodology, (4) Key Findings with embedded charts, (5) Policy Recommendations, (6) Sources. Write for a non-expert audience — a school board member or local journalist should be able to understand every page.
- Phase 4 — Publish: Submit the brief as an op-ed or data feature to your local newspaper. Simultaneously, post the full brief and interactive charts on a simple public website. Present it to your school board or local officials if possible — this creates a documented civic impact moment.
Deliverable Specs: The finished product should include: (1) a PDF policy brief with a professional cover page, (2) a minimum of 4 original data visualizations, (3) a public-facing web page, and (4) documentation of at least one submission or presentation to a real audience (newspaper, school board, civic organization).
Why this matters for your schools: Georgetown's admissions readers see thousands of applicants who say they care about equity. Very few hand them a published policy brief with original data. This is the difference between claiming interest and demonstrating competency.
Project 2: The Civic Leadership Portfolio — Connecting Your Four Activities
Jordan, you have four activities — MUN administration, Lincoln-Douglas debate (constitutional law focus), voter registration, and investigative journalism on funding disparities. Individually, each is solid. But admissions committees often scan activity lists quickly and see four separate things. This project makes them see one integrated practice.
What You'll Build: A digital portfolio (website or structured document) that maps how your four activities connect into a single civic leadership narrative, with each activity documented as a "chapter" that feeds into the next.
| Activity | Role in the Narrative | Documentation to Create |
|---|---|---|
| MUN Administration | Where you learned to organize civic institutions — logistics, diplomacy, governance structures | Brief write-up of your administrative role, what you built or managed, and what you learned about institutional design |
| LD Debate (Constitutional Law) | Where you developed analytical rigor — learning to construct and deconstruct legal and policy arguments | 1–2 examples of resolutions you debated, your core arguments, and how this shaped your policy thinking |
| Voter Registration (400+) | Where you moved from theory to action — direct civic engagement at scale | Summary statistics of your drives, methods used, barriers encountered, and lessons learned |
| Funding Disparities Investigation | Where you applied evidence-based inquiry to a real problem — the capstone of the arc | Link to your published policy brief (Project 1 above) |
Build Plan:
- Format Option A (Recommended): A single-page website (Google Sites, Notion public page, or GitHub Pages) with four sections, each containing a 200–300 word write-up, relevant images or documents, and a clear narrative thread explaining how each activity led to the next.
- Format Option B: A designed PDF portfolio (using Canva or Google Slides exported to PDF) — useful if you want to attach it as a supplemental material where schools accept additional uploads.
- The Connective Thread: Your portfolio's introduction should articulate the throughline explicitly. Something like: "I've spent three years building a civic practice — learning how institutions work (MUN), how to argue for justice within them (LD), how to bring people into them (voter registration), and how to hold them accountable (funding investigation)." That sentence is your narrative spine.
Deliverable Specs: The finished portfolio should include: (1) an introduction stating the connective thesis (150–200 words), (2) four activity sections with write-ups and supporting evidence, (3) a conclusion reflecting on what you've learned and where you're headed, and (4) a link to the funding equity policy brief as the portfolio's capstone piece.
School-Specific Portfolio Deployment
| School | What They Want to See | How to Deploy Your Projects |
|---|---|---|
| Georgetown (SFS/Gov) | Policy analysis chops, quantitative evidence, professional-grade civic work | Lead with the Policy Brief. Reference it in your Georgetown essays as evidence of your research methodology. The portfolio shows depth across the four activities Georgetown values. |
| UVA | Public service, interdisciplinary thinking, Virginia civic tradition | Emphasize both projects equally. UVA's holistic review rewards applicants who show range and coherence — the portfolio directly demonstrates this. |
| Howard | Social justice commitment, community-rooted leadership, Black political tradition | Lead with the voter registration data and the community impact of your funding investigation. The portfolio's narrative of building civic power from the ground up aligns directly with Howard's mission. |
What You Haven't Provided — And What to Clarify
Jordan, a few gaps will affect how you execute these projects:
- Technical skills: You have not provided information about coding experience, data analysis coursework, or familiarity with tools like Python or spreadsheet formulas. If you have no data analysis background, use Google Sheets and Datawrapper for Project 1 — both are free, require zero coding, and still produce professional results. Do not let a lack of coding experience stop you from publishing this work.
- Investigation details: You have not shared the specific data or scope of your funding disparities investigation. The more concrete data you already have, the faster Phase 1 of Project 1 will go. Please compile what you've gathered so the project scope can be calibrated.
- Supplemental upload policies: Check whether Georgetown, UVA, and Howard accept additional materials or portfolio links in their applications. If they do, the civic leadership portfolio (Project 2) becomes a direct submission asset, not just background.
Priority order: Start with Project 1 (the policy brief) immediately — it has the longest lead time due to data work and the publication submission cycle. Project 2 (the portfolio) can be assembled in a few focused sessions once Project 1 is complete, since it primarily involves writing and organizing existing material. The policy brief is both a standalone deliverable and the capstone of your portfolio, so everything builds from there.