PCOE 2301C - Building Leadership in Adolescent Girls through Mentorship

Youth mentoring programs have proliferated in recent years. This course identifies why mentoring programs have become popular tools to promote self-esteem amongst adolescents, as well as what effective mentoring looks like. In this service-learning course, students have the opportunity to be paired with local area middle school 7th and 8th graders and Ohio University’s Women’s Center to conduct the Young Women’s Leaders Program. This program has a gendered focus in looking at the experiences of women but is open to anyone who believes they would benefit from a program with that lens. If students would like to be considered as a mentor, they are required to complete both a BCI and FBI background check. The fee for this totals $62 and should be paid for by the student. Additionally, the service learning requires that students continue mentoring at the middle school through the spring term on Wednesdays (3:05-5:05), though they will no longer be enrolled in the course. For those unable to commit to that service learning, there is an alternate service learning option that will enable students to create workshops that may be used with parents of those in the Young Women Leaders Program. In addition to information on mentoring generally, this course takes a gendered approach to understanding the particular challenges that adolescent girls face both within and outside of school. This is a designated service-learning course.

Credit Hours: 3
Repeat/Retake Information: May be retaken two times excluding withdrawals, but only last course taken counts.
Lecture/Lab Hours: 3.0 lecture
Grades: Eligible Grades: A-F,WP,WF,WN,FN,AU,I
Learning Outcomes:

Students will be able to contextualize cultural, social and economic differences within adolescent girls’ educational experiences.
Students will be able to articulate how mentorship, gender, and girlhood studies apply to their own lives and the community in which they live.
Students will be able to articulate the linkage between effective mentorship and improved self-efficacy for adolescents.
Students will be able to identify best practices in adolescent mentoring programs.
Students will be able to identify common issues regarding leadership development and self-confidence in female adolescence.