What a great question.  I loved working with Project Citizen (a program from the Center for Civic Education- check it out on  www.civiced.org)  when I taught high school. Students were able to identify a issue or problem in their local community or school. They researched and created solutions in a presentation format. The best part of the project was leading students to identify leaders in the community they could present their findings and solutions to. Over the years, many of our projects did get implemented at the local/school level and students were able to see the inner workings of public policy making. These students are more likely to get involved when they get older. Call me an optimist, but when we can teach the young that anyone can influence government and be a part of public policy making, then we are on the right track. Public policy does not just start with elected officials. Anyone can influence if they persistent enough.