Nneka Obiekwu
Research Mentor(s): Denise Jones
Mentor Department: Combined Program in Education and Psychology (CPEP)
Authors:
Session: Session 3 (11:00am – 11:50am)
Presentation Type: Poster 83
Abstract
Out-of-school time (OST) programs help youth cultivate academic and professional achievement and engage in meaningful learning beyond the classroom (Cassanda 2023). The typical belief is that Black youth are interested in careers in media, entertainment, and professional sports. A result of the fact that Black youth are heavily exposed to Black athletes and entertainers in popular culture and media (Turner 2020). This view, however, lacks youth’s perspectives and input. In an effort to address this gap, the current study explores the future aspirations and skill alignment of Black youth who participate in the Youth Civic Leadership Academy (YCLA), a program that engages students in research and leadership development through community engagement. One component of the program, the Individual Service Strategy (ISS), a detailed plan that engages students in career exploration, the unit of analysis for the current study. Qualitative and quantitative data was collected through student ISS plans (N=20), including student research on 15 occupations within their top five career clusters as determined by a survey. Within students’ top three career clusters, the relationship between student-selected occupations and corresponding job skills and work values were examined. The findings suggest that a considerable number of students show interest in jobs outside of media, entertainment, and sports. However, in alignment with the current literature, many students were interested in jobs that one might expect. Furthermore, there is commonality in the job skills that participants associated with their occupations, suggesting that students have a high sense of the core skills and work values needed for the occupations that they are interested in. The implications of the current study have the potential to inform programming that cultivates the skills and values that students find most important in an effort to tailor career development and readiness programming towards youth interests.
