Summer 2023

GirlPower! 

In this course, we will be working with our community partner, the local non-profit organization; the IPRC, Independent Publishing Resource Center.  Our project is to coordinate a series of *rap sessions* with local teen girls about current issues in their lives. We will use these group conversations to encourage the girls to become a part of our ZINE project - where they will write, edit, and publish a grassroots, mini-magazine with our class.  In preparation for this project, we will read feminist scholarship about teenage girls as well as focus groups and zine publishing methodologies.

Course Description: 

Middle School Equity & Inclusion is a hybridized capstone offered each Summer.  Through text and community engagement PSU students will observe and reflect on race, language, and class privilege as they are encountered by immigrant children and their families.

Summer Youth Enrichment. This summer, we will be working as tutors/mentors with the 6-week summer program Upward Bound on the PSU campus.  We will be part of the summer session of this college preparatory program offering assistance to approximately 90 low-income and first generation high school students.  98% of participants ultimately graduate from high school, 95% of participants enter college after high school graduation, and 80% of our high school graduates since 200 are still in college or have graduated.

WORKING WITH LATINE YOUTH SUMMER CAPSTONE

Since 2007, this course has offered students the opportunity to work with Latine youth enrolled in Latino Network's Summer Youth Programs. Students work directly with youth in community-based settings. On a case-by-case basis, students may also choose to complete indirect service options such as research, data collection, and curriculum development. This is not guaranteed; all students should expect to work directly with youth.

Mentoring & Empowerment at NAYA

This class is an opportunity to explore hands-on the complexity surrounding education, equity, and empowerment, with a specific focus on collaborative peer mentoring, which often includes academic tutoring. Our community partner is the Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA). At NAYA, students will have the opportunity to interact with bright youth from diverse cultures and work with them on improving their academics and future prospects.

Multimedia Production Team

The Multimedia Production Online Capstone addresses community issues and needs by developing educational interactive online media. Continuously taught since 1999, the class has undergone adjustment to the changes in technology - from output on CD-ROMs and video, to web pages and blogs developed entirely by teams of students working completely online and working remotely, from around the world!

Queer & Trans Youth

It is estimated that 1 in 10 individuals identify as a sexual minority. Often an already challenging stage in identity development, gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender & questioning (LGBTQ) youth face a set of issues unique to their daily lives.