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The activity that we did during our mentee and mentor meet-up was at Passion Works. The middle school girls and mentors painted together on the same cloth. Each person painted something different that represented something non-appearance related that they liked about themselves. This activity turned into a project about empowering each individual to share a story and feelings about oneself. The mentees and mentors also had the opportunity to learn more about each other and plan a one-on-one get-together outside of our group meeting. Our time at Passion Works Studio advanced the intercultural knowledge of each middle schooler. This resulted in contextualized cultural, social, and economic difference analyses within the adolescent girls educational experiences. The painting project helped empower the girls, improved their self-efficacy, and demonstrated effective mentorship.
While reflecting on the Young Women Leaders Programs approach to mentorship and love yourself week at Ohio University, it is important to consider the ways in which Henneberger, Deutsch, Lawrence, and Sovik-Johnston suggest benefits and levels of importance in mentoring programs as explained research suggests that relationally based programs such as mentoring programs that focus on relational and social skills may be particularly useful for adolescent girls (Henneberger, Deutsch, Lawrence, Sovik-Johnson, 2012, p. 132). While at Passion Works it was clear to see the social and relational skills being enhanced for the middle school mentees. The research on specific mentoring programs suggests that there are positive outcomes to them. Mentees in these programs may develop improved social ability as one example. These improved skills are all values that are at the core and foundation of the Young Women Leaders Program. These core values were demonstrated through the activity at Passion Works.
When it comes to cultural, social, and economic differences within the mentee and mentoring group and educational experience differences it is important to recognize the use of global and school self-esteem in the middle schools. As explained competence is one of two dimensions of global self-esteem (the other is self-liking) and school self-esteem has been linked to academic competence (Henneberger, Deutsch, Lawrence, Sovik-Johnson, 2012, p. 139). The middle school girls in this study did not experience the same drop in self-esteem when compared to the group as a whole. In class, we talked about how middle school girls’ self-esteem lowers during elementary school which is why the Young Women Leaders Program is very important for rebuilding this self-esteem. The activities we do during our meetings on Wednesday support the mission of the Young Women Leaders Program. For example, at Passion Works, the activity of making art encourages self-esteem, and sharing our art with the group encourages self-competence. This contributes to the appreciation of intersectionality and culture among the group because the mentees were able to learn about each others differences and similarities. The mentees were also able to individually reflect on the spaces that they identify with and how theyre intersectional. The service-learning component of this class provides a supportive environment to encourage and promote growth, learning, and social self-worth. It is clear to note that this service-learning component not only impacted women mentors’ positive and high self-esteem levels but also can be shown to improve self-worth in the mentees.
Sources:
- Henneberger, Angela K., Deutsch, Nancy L., Lawrence, Edith C., Sovik-Johnston, Amanda. (2012). The Young Women Leaders Program: A Mentoring Program Targeted Toward Adolescent Girls. Springer Science Business Media New York.
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