" My Passion My Life"

LOVE

Living & Overcoming W/ Virtue & Excellence

Vision:

The mission of our program is to educate and aid in the persistence in young women of color to graduation at all levels of education.

Mission:

Through this program it is our mission to develop young women of color pursuing education, psychologically, academically, and socially. Transforming them to be change agents in their own academic retention and equipping young women of color striving for education in the area of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), Arts and Education with support necessary to persistent to graduation. Our mission is to ensure that all participates leave our program with self-love, self-discipline, self-empowerment, leadership development, community engagement and the resources necessary to persist to graduation within high school and college.  

L.O.V.E (Living & Overcoming w/Virtue & Excellence) is a retention-focused program designed for women of color enrolled in high school, 2year institutions or 4year institutions. This program seeks to develop women of color pursuing education psychologically, academically, and socially. Ultimately, becoming change agents in their community, ownership in their academic retention and successful persistence to graduation. Studies have shown that students of color, who are able to develop culturally and in their identities, tend to be successful in retaining in their institution and persist to graduation (Gohn & Albin, 2006; Helms, 1993; Jones, 2001).  L.O.V.E program will equip young women of color striving for higher education with the skills and resources necessary to persist to graduation. The young ladies in our program, which are referred to as LOVE Diamonds because Diamonds sustains under high pressures of heat and diamonds, are unbreakable. After overcoming and sustaining the heat they are transformed into a unique shape. The young ladies in this program will be transformed into Diamonds, unbreakable change agents for themselves and their community. The program objective is to develop one student at a time and one year at a time, by way of three learning pillars: LOVE Self, LOVE Leadership, and LOVE Community. Without a strong ability for critical thinking, the ability to synthesis their own ideas and a strong sense of self, graduation cannot become reality for this population of students. Astin (1994) states that in order to develop ownership of ones education, it is vital to have a connection to the learning institution academically, socially and our program believes that this concept can be applied to all levels of education.

 The students of L.O.V.E will be engaged inside and outside the classroom by L.O.V.E staff, the institution educators, and community partnerships. Through our partnership with Landmark Education we will finance the participation of our students to attend a 3-day seminar, that will assistant our diamonds to develop a sense of self and ability to become aware of those events in their life that have placed a stomp in their way to persistence. L.O.V.E Diamonds will participate in bi-weekly self-development workshops in the areas of self-development, leadership development and community development.  Workshops will primarily focus on self-empowerment, academic achievement, career building and career planning within STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), Arts and Education, leadership development and community service project.  In addition to these workshops, students will engage in “Circles of Conversations” where they will engage in conversation around Self Love, Self Esteem, Dating & Violence, Emotion Abuse, Physical Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Healthy Lifestyle, Career Development, “My Dreams, & My Goals” and the importance of giving back.  In the space of seventeen weeks, students will be able to apply the student learning outcomes outlined below to their internal and external environment.  Students will then utilize these workshops as a source of aid in pursuit of completing a final project entitled “ProjectLOVE.”  In week fourteen of the program, students will be introduced to “ProjectLOVE” and expected to construct a service-learning program within their community that highlight the seven principles of development: Self Love, Self Discipline, Self Empowerment, Leadership Development & Career Planning, Integrity, Ambition and Community Involvement.  At the end of the program, students will then complete a final evaluation of L.O.V.E Diamond’s participation at the L.O.V.E GALA that will be coordinated by LOVE staff.  The gala will highlight achievements attained within the program as well as provide scholarships to graduating seniors pursuing a career in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), Higher Education, Business or Art related fields. This program is designed to guide students as they explore their significance and how they interconnect with others (Erikson, 1959). The difficulty to find a balance in their personal life, their studies and other external factors to the institution can hinder ones ability to successfully persist through school. L.O.V.E recognizes that first generation students, especially minority women, need consistent advice and guidance as it relates to self-awareness and leadership development.

L.O.V.E program desire is to provide an atmosphere where students can develop the leadership skills needed to be successful in whatever they strive to obtain. By incorporating the three learning pillars: LOVE Self, LOVE Leadership, and LOVE Community. The program will provide the tools necessary to navigate the educational pipeline. Based on the data gathered from the intervention lesson plan, I will analyze the information to improve the program and ensure that we are meeting the on going and ever changing needs of women of color and students persistence through high school and college. Assessment will occur throughout each seventeen-week cycle.

For students of color, the lack of institutional capital is quite detrimental to their academic, emotional, and psychological well-being. Because most traditional aged students arrive to campus with a dualistic way of thinking (Perry, 1968a) the collegiate process is very hard for them. Many women of color are also faced with extensive academic challenges stemming from inadequate preparation during their K-12 education (Swail, Reed & Perna, 2003). Coupled with their inability to navigate institutional systems such as financial aid, course selection, and available academic resources, the odds of retention decrease (Astin, 1984).

After in depth analysis and understanding of the challenges students of color, particularly, women of color pursuing education encounter, it is clear that there is a need for retention programs to provide support that directly offset external barriers to their education environment. A sign that development has occurred is a student’s ability to make meaning of their experiences with increased complexity (Sanford, 1967). L.O.V.E’s interventions are intended to be a source of disjuncture for women of color causing them to evaluate and re-establish their personal frame of reference (Mezirow, 1997). This retention program will implement interventions that will directly address each identified area of challenge development theory as the foundation.

Support will be provided through self-awareness and self-love activities, leadership skill building through a leadership retreat, community services project through participation in “ProjectLOVE” a service-learning project. Students will also be provided with ongoing workshops with the primary focus of LOVE Self, LOVE Leadership and LOVE Community. Additionally mentoring (faculty to student, and peer to peer) will be a consistent part of the program structure. Staff will utilize the cultural capital of each student as a means of mattering (Schlossberg, 1989), and empower them with institutional capital where needed. This information is a necessity and an asset to all students. With a passion and purpose to develop a program which meets the needs of women color in their education environment, as well as consideration of retention literature and research L.O.V.E (Living and Overcoming w/ Virtue & Excellence) was developed.

             

  References

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Brown, R.D. & Rice, M. B. (1990). Developmental Factors Associated With Self Perceptions of Mentoring Competence and Mentoring Needs. Journal of College Student Development, 31, 293-299.

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Gohn, L. A., & Albin, G. R. (Eds.). (2006). Understanding student subpopulations: A guide for student affairs professionals. Washington, DC: NASPA. [E-Book]

Hoffman, J. A. (1996). Applying Astin’s Involvement Theory to Student- Faculty Interaction.

Jones, Lee (2001). Retaining African Americans in Higher Education: Challenging Paradigms for Retaining Students, Faculty & Administrators. Sterling: Stylus Publishing.

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Perry, W.G. (1968a). Forms of Intellectual and Ethical Development in the College Years: A Scheme. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, Inc.

Perry, W.G. (1981). The Modern American College: Cognitive and Ethical Growth: The Making of Meaning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Rendón, L. I. (1994). Validating Culturally Diverse Students: Toward a New Model of Learning and Student Development. Innovative Higher Education, 19(1), 33-51.

Sanford, N. (1968). Where colleges fail: A study of student as person. San Francisco:  Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Swail, W. S., Redd, K. E., & Perna, L. W. (2003). Retaining minority students in higher education: A framework for success. ASHE-ERIC Higher Education Report Series, 30(2). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Tinto, V. (1975). Dropout from Higher Education: A Theoretical Synthesis of Recent Research. American Educational Research Association, 45(1), 89-123.