Inspiring Higher Education Aspirations in Youth

Being an adult youth worker, sometimes it can be a challenge to get one-on-one conversations going with kids, and if and when that opportunity arises, to get them to trust you enough to share their personal feelings, experiences and dreams.

I feel fortunate that I have had that opportunity a number of times through my role at Project Success. As a Facilitator, I have the opportunity to learn about and engage with a number of our students not only in the classroom, but also in the lunch room, on field trips, on camping trips in the Boundary Waters, during play rehearsals and on car rides home.

This past spring the students of Anwatin Middle School performed “Beauty and the Beast.” It was both a fantastic experience and a wonderful way to see the students blossom, gain confidence and develop a real sense of community. During the rehearsals we offer transportation to students, and on one particular afternoon I had the opportunity to take home one of my students who was in the musical, Angel.

On our drive we were talking about school, teachers, and students, and then the conversation shifted to family and where his family is from originally.  I just let him talk and he told me a story about one of his favorite memories being with his uncle in Mexico.  His uncle owns a panaderia (bakery) close to a beach in Mexico.  The bakery specializes in pan dulce (“sweet bread”). He told me how he loved to wake up while it was still dark out to bake fresh bread with his uncle. He talked about the smell, and how he liked to interact with the customers when they came in to buy the bread he just made. He went on about his ideas on making different types of breads, and how he would do things differently with the breads he would create.

As I listened, he did not specifically say that he had an interest in cooking, but the way he told the story and spoke about his ideas you could tell that he had a passion for good food and culinary arts. I decided to reach out to Kitchen Window (a local kitchen specialty store with classes), and see if I could sign him up for a class. They happily offered him a seat, and he attended and took the Fundamentals of Modern Sauces class where he was able to have hands-on experience creating a variety of sauces that top a salad or compliment a pork loin. Angel also learned how to cook the perfect steak, which was pretty exciting to watch.

After class he was given a tour of the entire facility, and had some time to ask questions of the chef. He went home with a ton of food and baking essentials.We had a great follow up conversation on the way home. He was asking all kinds of questions about finding culinary and/or arts colleges, which was inspiring that he was actively thinking about a future in this field. The following week he took a friend to Kitchen Window and learned how to make doughnuts and cookies…and so he begins to pay it forward.

My Project Success colleagues and I are with our students each month in the classroom and we see them after school, on weekends, at the theater, and during the summer. By just “being there” to listen with the intention to learn and facilitate each student’s self-exploration, we can catch these opportunities to help them explore a passion they haven’t quite articulated, learn a bit more about themselves and their future possibilities, and maybe inspire their own peers in the process. We help them dream, plan and succeed.  

Thanks to Kitchen Window for helping Angel explore the world of culinary arts and subsequently discovering new possibilities on his freshly expanded horizons.

Gina originally wrote this post as a guest contributor for for the Young Education Professionals Twin Cities Blog “Extra Credit,” and it was entitled “Tapping Into Youth Passions to Inspire Higher Education Aspirations.”

Click here to see the original post on “Extra Credit”