“My Mentor Thinks That I can Be Someone Amazing”: Drawing Out Youths’ Passions and Purpose

This qualitative descriptive study analyzed the role that natural mentors had in cultivating a sense of purpose and meaning among 38 diverse male and female high school students. The types of mentoring support provided and the students’ perceived experiences of receiving the support were considered in the analysis. Directed content analysis revealed four initial overarching types of supportive actions that were provided by mentors: emotional, instrumental, informational, and appraisal support. The types of support offered were further categorized across three dimensions of perceived support by the mentees: (a) affirmation (e.g., the experience of emotional and appraisal support), (b) cultivation (e.g., the experience of being challenged and obtaining skills), and (c) guidance (e.g., the experience of receiving information and advice). In order for mentees to perceive and accept cultivation and guidance support, they first needed to experience an affirming relationship with their mentors. Findings may inform best practices for mentoring youth toward lives of meaning and purpose.

The Fulfillment of Council on Accreditation of Parks, Recreation and Related Professions Standards Through a Youth-Adult Partnership

The Council on Accreditation of Parks, Recreation, Tourism and Related Professions (COAPRT) outlines standards for recreation programs to ensure a quality educational experience. The current case study presents findings from a youth-adult partnership in support of various COAPRT standards to assist in the development of aspiring recreation professionals. Observation and reflection data from two consecutive partnerships between youth in a high school Physical Education course and collegiate students from a Historically Black College University’s Health, Physical Education, and Recreation program are presented based on the four dimensions of Wu, Kornbluh, Weiss, and Roddy’s (2016) youth-adult partnership (Y-AP) rubric. The results are presented based on the Y-AP rubric’s dimensions: authentic decision making, natural mentors, reciprocity, and community connectedness to illustrate how they support COAPRT standards 7.01(a) (b), 7.02, and 7.03 (COAPRT, 2014). Implications are provided to support the value a Y-AP implementation can provide recreation management programs as they seek and maintain COAPRT accreditation in the development of their students.

Mobile Phone and Practice of Youth-Adult Partnership in Malaysia

The technological aspect of human relations, in the context of youth and adult partnerships, has not yet been addressed. For this reason, using the Youth-Adult Partnership (Y-AP) framework, this book chapter examines the role of mobile phone communications in the development of six constructs — authentic decision-making, natural mentors, reciprocal activity, character, compassion, and community connectivity. In this chapter, the Y-AP constructs, in tandem with the mobile phone, act as a series of human-technology interactions that can be used by youth workers to understand the dynamics of the relationship between youth and adults. The main role of this chapter is also to provide a structure that can provide guidance and understanding of the role of Malaysian youth workers when dealing with technology as a forum for collaboration between youth and adults.