Fayetteville State University News
May 8, 2012
FSU Bronco Men Connect with Middle and High School Males About Staying in School and Looking Forward to College
On April 10th, 2012, a select group of the Fayetteville State University (FSU) Bronco Men Learning Community students hosted over 30 male middle and high school students, ages 11 to 18 years old, for a forum on the campus of FSU. The Bronco Men challenged these young men to stay in school, excel and graduate. The event entitled "Gateway to Success: Advantages of a High School Diploma" was a service-learning activity in an Introduction to Social Work class taught by Dr. Oliver Johnson, Assistant Professor of Social Work.
The Bronco Men Learning Community specific to Dr. Johnson's class was a group of 20 freshmen who took several classes together during their first year at FSU in 2011-2012. Learning communities have become increasingly common in colleges and universities and have been shown to have a number of benefits for students, including higher levels of student engagement in learning, increased academic achievement, and increased retention. In addition, faculty find them stimulating as well. Learning communities are an approach to provide a learning environment that stresses responsibility, active learning, and peer support.
The Gateway to Success program was designed to address not only the issue of retention at the middle and high school levels, but also to engage the college students on the issue of retention which affects them as well. Dr. Marsha McLean, Executive Director of Strategic Planning and Special Initiatives in Academic Affairs, brought the idea to do a service-learning project of this type to Melissa Lyon, Service Learning Program Manager in the FSU Center for Community Justice & Service Learning, and Dr. Johnson, with the hope that collectively they could engage FSU male students and show them the advantages of service and outreach to other male students who were only a few years younger than them. It also was a way to teach these college men about the theory and practice of retention and graduation.
The community youth groups in attendance were Great Oak Youth Development Center, Find-A-Friend (Fayetteville Urban Ministries), TMAC - Teens Making a Change (CommuniCare), and the FSU Office of College Access Programs that facilitates GEAR UP, Educational Talent Search, and Upward Bound. The middle and high school students, who were on spring break, were active participants in the program. The FSU Bronco Men opened the day with four short presentations on keeping it real, preparing for college, effective communication, and time management. They followed up by dialoguing with the middle and high school males in small groups about preparing for life after high school, achieving their desired life goals, and discussing how key people in their lives can help them to achieve their goals. The day concluded with the FSU Office of Admissions explaining college entrance requirements followed by a campus tour. FSU's radio station, WFSS 91.9 FM, showed its "Stay in School" video commercial, recently produced for its high school dropout prevention project, T4: Teens to the Top. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXK72enJeH0&feature=youtu.be
As hoped for by Drs. McLean and Johnson, the two groups of students learned from each other. Illustrated by their comments, the Bronco Men grew from this experience.
"I just felt that it was good for us and also them," stated one Bronco Men student. "My experience I feel was amazing. I never thought working with younger students would benefit me and make me proud of myself," stated another. Other students' comments were: "Being able to talk to middle and high school students and trying to set them up for successful futures was a great feeling." "Overall the service-learning project was one of the best experiences I have had since being in college." "If I was able to do the project again, I would do it because it felt nice to help younger males."
Comments by youth participants indicated that the event achieved its goal of encouraging them to stay in school. Some of their comments were: "It gave me a lot of advice and made me open my eyes." "It helped me because it made me want to finish high school because I know I didn't want to before." "The time management mini-group session encouraged me to further my fight against laziness." Both FSU students and participants stated that they would like to see the program continue.
This event was sponsored by the Division of Academic Affairs, the Office of Student Retention, the Center for Community Justice & Service Learning, and the FSU Department of Social Work. In addition to Dr. McLean, Dr. Johnson, and Ms. Lyon, the event was coordinated by Carolyn Newman (FSU Office of Student Retention), Monique Broadhurst (Center for Community Justice & Service Learning), and Leslie-Dawn Quick (Graduate Student in Criminal Justice and Student Service-Learning Coordinator).
FSU is the second-oldest public institution in North Carolina. A member of the University of North Carolina System, FSU has nearly 6,000 students and offers degrees in more than 60 undergraduate and graduate degree programs.
For more information, please contact Dr. Marsha McLean at (910) 672-2217 or mmclean1@uncfsu.edumailto:mmclean1@uncfsu.edu.
SANDRA M. PHOENIX
Executive Director
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