2 ENRIQUE ALEMÁN, JR. AND LISA MENDOZA KNECHT
ENGAGING YOUTH AS SCHOLAR LEADERS
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I am a lot more confident now when it comes to speaking up in front of a lot of people because [of my experience at AERA in] Chicago. We had to present in front of a bunch of people. So when I came back and one of the teachers was like, ‘Hey, you can present in front of the class.’ I was like, ‘Okay, sure.’ But if it was ‘last year me,’ I would’ve been like, ‘No way. You can ask someone else or something. I’m not going to present in front of all those, in front of all those kids.’ But going to Chicago and having to tell a lot of people about my project really made me more confident. McCollum High School sophomore student
D
uring the 2021-22 school year, the Trinity Youth Scholars (TYS) program was initiated between a team of university researchers and a local high school. The goal of the partnership is to engage youth in community-based research projects that will increase their civic engagement and prepare them for their transition to college. Conceptualized and implemented as a youth participatory action research (YPAR) project, TYS also seeks to understand how a culturally responsive curriculum can shape critical consciousness by engaging youth in community-based research projects that they design. Consisting of after school sessions, university and city field trips, guest speakers, and faculty and college student mentors, the partnership is now
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TRINITY LEADERSHIP FORUM
in its third year of operation at McCollum High School. Located in Harlandale ISD, the southside school district has a student enrollment of approximately 12,000 students, and is 97.9% Latina/o/x and 85.4% economically disadvantaged, 100% of students receive free lunch. The high school mirrors the district’s student population in terms of student demographics.
YPAR AS A PATHWAY TO HIGHER EDUCATION
Schools in San Antonio are historical remnants of segregation, and continue to operate in under-resourced and inequitable systems, especially on the city’s westside and southside (Cardenas, 1997). It is for this specific reason that the TYS partnership sought to
partner with teachers and youth from these neighborhoods and communities. Seeking to provide an innovative way to combat student disengagement, the partnership is community-based and youth-centric in its pedagogical and curricular approach. By shaping and developing the critical consciousness of youth, the after-school program also inculcates youth with an awareness of college and higher educational pathways. Scholars note that YPAR is a critical strategy for youth development, youth-based policy making, community organizing and education (Cammarota & Fine, 2008). This approach centers youth voices and lived experiences, and youth development is enacted through social and emotional development. As students engage in research, they develop understandings of their social
