Founded in 1997 by a small group of high school and college students, New Urban Arts is the largest high school afterschool arts program in Rhode Island. New Urban Arts is an independent nonprofit, not affiliated with any larger institution. The mission is to build a vital community that empowers young people as artists and leaders to develop a…

This mixed-methods study examines an informal place- and community-based environmental education program implemented for rural, underserved high school students in Costa Rica's bio-culturally diverse Osa Peninsula. Using a community-as-pedagogy framework built on Paulo Freire's concept of a problem-posing education, we investigate how…

This chapter showcases a program that involves college student leaders to teach about the civil rights movement to K-12 students in local public schools. Voices of a student leader and high school teacher speak to the program's impact on them personally and professionally, and provide broader lessons for cultivating student leadership through the…

As she reviewed participant feedback from the out-of-school time (OST) youth development program she managed at the New-York Historical Society Museum and Library (N-YHS), the author was excited to recognize a pattern. Many of the teen participants wrote responses like "I am proud of what my team was able to accomplish" and "I…

Purpose: This paper aims to determine whether high school students can become agents of change in their local communities by participating in a formal internship program implemented through a partnership between academia (high schools and universities), nonprofit organizations and key community stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach: Pre- and…

In this article, the authors describe the experiences of five cadets and college students serving as camp leaders for the United States Air Force Academy's (USAFA) Leaders of Character Camp (LoCC). Additionally, they describe the work in which three other universities are engaged to adapt the LoCC model to their own university contexts. In so…

Pacesetting high schools, middle grades schools and technology centers have changed classroom and other practices to prepare students to meet postsecondary requirements and rising workplace needs. The strategies include raising expectations, project-based learning, guidance and advisement, improving students' reading and writing skills,…

North Queens Community High School serves approximately 200 students, 16-20 years old, as they strive to reach their personal and academic goals. All students at North Queens have previously been enrolled in high school elsewhere and are over-age and undercredited. Small class sizes, student-centered support, and an accelerated credit acquisition…

As a statewide initiative, New Jersey has been hosting teen leadership conferences for students with disabilities. The focus of the conferences is to address skills necessary to be successful in school and for transition to life after high school. The conferences are held throughout New Jersey at universities and colleges. Students with…

It is perhaps one of the best-kept secrets in educating gifted high school youth, and yet for 45 years, Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership (HOBY) has been going strong, "Motivating Tomorrow's Leaders Today." After spending nine inspirational days in 1958 with Albert Schweitzer (Nobel Prize physician and philosopher) at his clinic in the African jungle,…