This article presents a teaching case study of a semester-long progression of engaged learning activities in an introductory American politics course. The method enhances a traditional democratic participation assignment with authentic social network engagement. Students in the course selected democratic actions from a menu. Actions involved collaboration or conversation with family members, friends, or other contacts beyond the class roster. Students reported deep engagement with course material and enhanced efficacy and motivation to participate in democratic life in the future. Furthermore, there were sizable spillover effects within student social networks. This method is a simple and effective way to give students authentic democratic learning opportunities, empower them to mobilize others, and affect a broader group of community members.