Abstract:
This paper describes the study of a past servicelearning program that resulted in a unique opportunity for students in a college of agricultural sciences and natural resources to mentor at an alternative school for at-risk youth. It investigates the benefits in general of the service-learning program for both groups, the additional benefits of including the opportunity to mentor the at-risk youth by college age students and the techniques used to gather and analyze the information gathered. It utilizes a mixed paradigm design to analyze qualitative and quantities data from three specific sources, including responses to a survey of former landscape architecture students who participated in the program, interviews with the teachers of the at-risk youth, and the youth's own journal entries. This system proves to be a valuable, holistic method for evaluating qualitative data. The study also finds positive reactions from both groups of students to the servicelearning program itself. Furthermore, the landscape architecture students agreed that the project was one of the most valuable studio experiences they had undertaken while in college. The study results also suggest that mentoring can enhance the servicelearning experience for both groups of very diverse students.
Keywords:
at-risk youth, mentoring, service projects, service learning
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