Author: SNANT300
Title: Say Yes to Education; Student volunteers' perspectives on their
training specifically with mental health
About the Author: I am currently a senior psychology major and in the process of
applying to graduate school for my masters in mental health
counseling. I have done research on Say Yes to Education Syracuse Chapter before on their student volunteer program
and want to further study how their counseling support system
works. I want to have a career as a therapist so I feel that this
project is personally relevant to me and my future. It will help
me to better understand how non for profit organizations
establish mental health benefits for their clients.
Keywords: Mental health, Education, Volunteer, Syracuse, Counseling
Abstract: Say Yes to Education is a national non for profit education
foundation that was founded in 1987 by George Weiss. The
mission of Say Yes is to increase high school and college
graduation rates for the inner city children and adolescents
throughout the nation. The foundation has several chapters one
in Syracuse New York. The chapter strives to offer children in
the program after school tutoring, summer programs,
mentoring, school day intervention, family outreach,
scholarships, social work assistance, psychological services,
health care and legal assistance. The children can enroll in Say
Yes as early as Kindergarten and the goal is for them to stay
with Say Yes to graduate high school and if they do they receive
a large scholarship to a list of participating universities and
colleges. Hopefully the students who participate and benefit
from Say Yes to Education will eventually give back to their
communities. Say Yes employs not only professionals in
education but also gives Syracuse University students the
opportunity to volunteer in the after school program, and to be
paid interns during the summer program.
My project aims to understand the experience of the student
volunteers and interns. Everything from how they initially head
about Say Yes, why they chose to volunteer their time with Say
Yes, to their personal perceptions of the program. I want to
understand the training process they go through, and how much
of the training includes a focus on mental health. My
recommendations include how to improve the training process,
with a focus on mental health education.
Initial Exercises: My Life as a Writer and Researcher
Throughout my college experience my writing and researching
assignments have been limited. As a psychology major I have
had the ability to choose from an extensive variety of courses
and most of the ones I took were test-based classes. My minor is
in marketing and those classes were mostly project based and
group intensive. The only major writing classes I have taken
were WRT 105 and WRT 205. I found these classes to be helpful
and to make me feel more confident with my writing abilities.
As much as I don’t enjoy writing, I feel that those two classes
were important and believe that students should have to take a
writing class every year. Especially being a student at a large
university I feel that there is a large variety of teaching styles
and many do not focus on writing skills. While I feel fairly
competent as a student writer I know that my writing could be
greatly improved.
Until this assignment I would never choose to describe myself
as a student researcher, however as a senior looking back at my
entire experience I can point out several specific instances. The
one class that focused heavily on research was Community
psychology. I first took community psychology to learn what it
was and went on to take the lab version of the class. In the lab
our responsibility was to identify an organization in the
community that we as students could collaborate with as
researchers. We needed to establish a relationship in which we
could determine with the organization a specific need that we
could fulfill for them with our research skills. It was important
from a community psychology perspective to not dictate to the
organization what we felt their need was, but rather let them
rely on our research skills to help them. As a class we worked
with “Making Waves” which was started by a woman who
wanted to help children with disabilities gain more confidence
within themselves and interact with other children through
water therapy. Her main issue was that she was not very
organized and needed help identifying if she could become a
non for profit organization, and how she could gain funding in
order to be sustainable. We spent the semester meeting with
entrepreneurship experts, and people who were knowledgeable
about obtaining grants and funding. Along with looking into
these options for her we researched other organizations that did
something similar to her in order to give her a different
perspective. Also we spent time trying to reach out to the
Syracuse University campus and student body in order to gain
support with volunteer efforts and fundraising for Making
Waves. My individual project focused on the Say Yes to
Education Syracuse Chapter and their volunteer program.
When I first reached out to Say Yes and explained that I would
love to work with them as a researcher and wanted to help fulfill
one of their needs, their main need was to have a systematic
way to evaluate their student volunteers. I then spent time with
their volunteer coordinator determining what was important to
know about their volunteer’s experiences. Then I created a
survey that could be taken online by all of the student
volunteers at the conclusion of their semester. The results could
then be evaluated by the volunteer coordinator and changes
made to the program. Say Yes wants to be a sustainable
program in the Syracuse community and my research efforts
hopefully helped the organization become stronger.
My Syracuse University Story
I arrived at Syracuse University in late August of the summer of
2006 very naive and pretty ignorant of everything Syracuse had
to offer and was about. You would think that I would have had
more knowledge of the University I was about to attend for the
next four years but I chose Syracuse on a whim and still do not
know what attracted me to it. I don’t remember anything about
the tour guides who showed me around during college visits, I
do know it was raining and cold. I did not know how large a
presence Greek life had on the campus and I had no idea what I
wanted my major to be.
Luckily for me I was placed in Lawrinson hall with a great group
of girls that I am still friends with as a senior. High school did
not prepare me very well for college academics. I was always the
student that did her homework but never needed to study for
the test to get an A. College was new in that not only was there
homework and reading to prioritize but exams that made up
your entire grade. While classes took some getting used to, I
found my major of psychology because I enjoyed the material so
much. I have definitely had a lot of hit or miss experiences with
professors and word of mouth from other students is honestly
the best way to decipher if their class is even worth your time or
money. I did not make the decision to pursue psychology as my
career path until my senior year, and have since applied to
graduate school for a masters in mental health counseling. It is
something I am very excited about because I believe it will be a
career I will truly enjoy.
When I joined Greek life the spring of my sophomore year I
could not have been more ecstatic, it gave me so much more on
the campus to experience. Not only is being in a sorority a great
way to meet many more people and have a great social life but it
also hands you opportunities. It gave me the opportunity to
hold a leadership position that I can now put on my resume. It
gave me endless opportunities to participate in fun
philanthropic activities. It also gives you a sense of belonging on
a very large campus. As a senior living in the chapter house of
Kappa Alpha Theta, it has been a highlight of my college
experience. Living with thirty girls teaches a lot of patience, but
also gives you support and a great time that you will probably
never be able to recreate.
Initial Readings
So far this semester we have read several different types of
materials. From “My Freshman Year” a novel depicting a
professors research experience going back to college to
understand the perspectives of her freshman students. This
novel was a compilation of her ethnographic field notes and
conclusions from her year at AnyU. We also read several
materials to understand the array of scholarship in action
projects that are possibilities for us to scope our research
projects around. We also have read several speeches given by
Chancellor Cantor at other universities advertising and
explaining the goals and thus far accomplishments of
scholarship in action.
“My Freshman Year” brought up several important aspects of
college life that are interesting to think about as a current
college student. I felt for the most part Professor Nathan’s
account of her year at the university was an accurate
representation of a typical university. The part I took the most
interest in was her evaluation of community. Nathan looks at
the abundant opportunities the University offers to establish
multiple communities. Whether it was amongst the freshman
floors, or larger groups trying to engage students with similar
interests, several things became clear to her. First it is true that
the University made a great effort to create and foster
communities, in order to make students feel welcome and a
sense of belonging. Second she noted that even with all of their
effort it did not really work. While many students will join
groups and clubs their communities develop in a limited
manner. Students find their niche within their close group of
friends and prefer to keep their community amongst these few
people rather than spread themselves thin and be a part of
many communities.
The speeches by Chancellor Cantor were broad explanations of
Scholarship in action with some examples of the work being
done within the program. I found her speech about scholarship
in action being a “two way street” as interesting and made a lot
of sense to me, in terms of what I believe the program to be. Not
only is scholarship in action meant to engage students with
academic research that has real life implications but it is also
meant to involve the community on a local and global level.
Scholarship in action is meant to strengthen students
understanding as their role as citizens, and role in the global
community, and foster a sense of responsibility. The program is
meant to foster the work of undergraduate students at a
research university and can be used as a model for many other
universities. While scholarship in action seems like a idealistic
abstract idea for many students at Syracuse, if they are properly
educated on the opportunities the program has created I think
they will see that it actually can accomplish a lot of good work.
The speeches by Chancellor Cantor seem like they should be
given to the undergraduate student body in order to catch their
attention and possible interest in scholarship in action.
The Intimate University
“The Intimate University” by Nancy Abelmann is a story but
crafted from the compilation of Abelmann’s ethnographies.
Abelmann is a professor at the University of Illinois and seeking
to understand her Korean American undergraduate students.
Among many of the things she is trying to understand are the
stereotypes placed on Asian America students and the pressures
they feel. One of the many outlets that Abelmann discovers for
these students is religion specifically the Korean American AAC,
which is an Evangelical church. Many of the students
participated in youth bible study groups during high school,
which led to their decision to attend the U of I. Part of the
reason the church had such a strong influence is because it is a
primary means of social support for immigrants, which filters
down to the second generation. While many of them sought the
experience of U of I, there were also many students who did not
want to attend U of I at all because they felt it brought a
negative connotation because of who they were. They felt they
would be looked down upon.
Abelmann also looks at the exclusion of the segregated
from the segregated. She found many students who did not fit
any of the stereotypes of secluded groups of Korean American
students, and also felt they did not fit anywhere else. This was
mainly because of class difference. One of the many students
Abelmann talks to is Mary, whose parents came to America for
the quintessential American dream, to make a better life. The
reality is they worked low wage jobs, an extraordinary number
of hours, just to give Mary an opportunity. Mary even sees it
that they would have probably been better off in Korea. Mary
also ends up disliking the entire college experience. While she
has high aspirations she feels limited in what she will be able to
achieve because of her negative experience. Negative in that she
felt she did not fit in with anyone, U of I was nowhere near her
first choice of Universities, and she was confined academically.
Another finding of Abelmann’s which was confusing to her was
the idea that many of the Korean American students spent a lot
of energy trying to shy away from stereotypes of their race. Even
within AAC church which was 95% Korean American, and
completely dominated by their race they still wanted to be
individualized. Another conclusion Abelmann reiterates is the
fact that universities attempt to achieve a certain level of
diversity, and this is measured on the differences in race. At the
U of I while Korean Americans are largely represented they add
to this level of diversity and are considered a minority.
There are many resemblances between the U of I and SU mainly
like many college campuses although not all; they both seem to
be their own little bubbles within larger communities. Also as
we have already learned in class, however I personally have not
noticed it as such, SU is considered one of the top most
segregated campuses. Professor Abelmann also clearly notes the
segregation that takes place at the U of I. As one of my
classmates had mentioned is the fact that as SU students we
have very prevalent stereotypes of the Asian American students
on our campus and they resonate with those that the students of
U of I hold.
Fieldwork Jottings:
As a senior I live in my sorority house and during a meal I
observed and made jottings on the conversations had been a
group of sisters.
The kitchen and general dining area for the sisters is a
communal space where anyone can come over to eat not only
the sisters that live in. Being that initiation for our chapter was
this past weekend, there are additionally 46 new sisters
welcome to eat at the house and the atmosphere during lunch
showed the anticipation and excitement for the new members.
Several new sisters came to the lunch and it was interesting to
see their reactions to the environment, and also how the older
sisters welcomed them. There are certain social cues one follows
living in a sorority, during the meal time it is necessary for a girl
who does not live in to sign up in order to eat, also they must
sign up for what exactly what they want to eat once they know
what the meal being made consists of. It dawned on me with
some of the new members present that these steps must be
learned, and it is the responsibility of older members to teach
them, however since it becomes such an informal process to
older girls it seems second nature.
It was also interesting to see the seating arrangements and
general conversation that took place during the meal. It was
comforting to see that new members integrated with older ones,
since that is the desire and expectations of the chapter. There
are several tables sisters can sit at to eat usually seating between
four and six girls, also there is one bigger table that can seat
around 8 but usually ends up seating closer to 12. It is
something to take note of that the biggest tables fills up first
trying to accommodate all of the sisters present, not wanting to
exclude anyone even though there are several other tables and
chairs. As I think about other meals had at the house, I realize
that this is the custom routine. As a member of this group it is
reassuring to see the thought fullness taken by others to try and
include everyone.
Question: As this research process has progressed my main question is
What is the training process for student volunteers
and what is their perception of Say Yes's goal to
provide mental health support?
Basic Questions to be answered
1. Who does Say Yes hire to provide the mental health support
for the students in their program?
2. How does the counseling program work, and can the families
of the students take advantage of the support of is it only for the
students?
3. How does Say Yes plan to make their counseling program
sustainable for their students, How long can they use the
resources of the counselors?
More in depth
1. How can students who act as volunteers for Say Yes to
Education actively participate in the therapeutic aspect of the
program, how are they trained to deal with the emotional
stressors the students they are tutoring face?
2. Do the students who participate in Say Yes recognize the
counseling and support they are receiving? Do they think it is a
necessary part of the program?
Revisions of Questions 4.14.10
1. How does Say Yes recruit Syracuse University students to be
volunteers or paid tutors?
2. What is the perception of Say Yes from a Syracuse University
students point of view?
3. What kind of training do the student volunteers receive,
either for the after school program, or summer internship and is
mental health education included?
4. What is the perception of Say Yes from students who have
graduated from Syracuse city schools and now attend Syracuse
University with Say Yes financial assistance?
5. Is mental health a talked about topic or focus within the
program for the volunteers, and students participating?
Plan: My plan as of right now is to contact the Say Yes to Education
office at Syracuse University and try to set up a meeting with
someone involved in the social work and psychological services
side of the chapter. From there I would like to be able to
interview that person formally and collect data on the basic
questions that I have constructed. I would also like to interview
a student who has completed the Say Yes program through high
school and is either in college or has graduated. From there I
will hopefully be able to develop a more in depth research
question that will make my research more meaningful on a
fulfilling level. I think Say Yes is a invaluable program and the
fact they they recognize mental health as a vital aspect to
success is also invaluable.
For the week of 3.8.10 I have an interview planned with a Say
Yes to Education volunteer.
For the week of 4.4.10 I have an interview planned with a Say
Yes summer intern
I would also like to set up an interview with a graduate of the
Say Yes to education program
I interviewed two students who graduated high school from
schools in the Syracuse City School district and now attend
Syracuse University with funding through Say Yes.
I also observed two different mental health clinics, mainly
jottings were taken from the waiting rooms of both offices and
then the meanings interpreted.
Data: Interview # 1 March 8, 2010
Say Yes to Education volunteer/work study employee “Kate”
All names have been changed in this summary of the interview
I decided to interview a Say Yes to Education volunteer to try
and better understand the perspective of the students who work
for Say Yes. First off Kate is a freshman at Syracuse University
and first heard of the Say Yes program through the activities fair
that is held on the quad in the beginning of the fall semester.
Kate had also seen many posters in her dorm and dining hall
advertising Say Yes’s need for volunteers. At the table she talked
to three different students already involved in the program and
because of her enthusiasm they gave her a free t-shirt and
explained to her how to sign up for the “mentoring program”.
Kate described the process of signing up to be a volunteer as
very easy, it was an online system and she consequentially
received emails to attend an information session. The
information session was held on campus and Kate described the
atmosphere as all students with one adult leading the meeting.
The meeting focused mainly on the success of Say Yes as a
national organization, also on their summer program. Kate
found this slightly confusing because her original idea of Say
Yes was that it was a local organization. One main point that
stuck with Kate from the meeting was that students can make a
big difference in these kids lives, and they do not have to go all
the time to the schools, just consistently.
From this point, this surprised me a lot but Kate received no
formal training before being thrown into the after school
program. She took a bus, which she said is very reliable from
campus to the elementary school Mickinly Brighton. Her first
impression of the school was that physically the structure was
very nice, and seemed brand new. The kids were relatively well
behaved, although she came to this conclusion only after
visiting other schools. Kate believed the program to be very well
organized, and described the leadership as being divided into
two positions. “Sarah” was the behind the scenes administrative
side, and “Mr. Smith” was the face of the program, the one all of
the kids recognized, and acted as the disciplinarian. Kate’s time
at the school was split between controlling chaos during snack
time, which was the first half hour of the program, and then the
kids were split into different classrooms to participate in
different activities. Kate’s job was to help the teacher in charge
of the classroom; some of the themes of the rooms she
described include speech, math, and dancing. They usually
spent time doing homework, an activity related to the room, and
just hanging out. When I asked Kate what she thought the kids
perceptions of Say Yes were, and if they knew what they were
even there for, she gave me the following responses; “they
definitely knew they were in the Say Yes to Education program
and most loved it, some cried but only because they wanted to
go home”. Kate also said “95% of the parents really seemed to
care, and thought of Say Yes as a safe place for their kids to be
after school”. I also asked Kate if she thought the kids really
understood the benefits they could receive from Say Yes,
specifically that they could receive scholarships to college. Kate
believes that the kids knew it was a good thing, but not to the
extent that they could receive free college tuition. It is also
important to remember Kate mainly worked with third grade
students. Kate did stress the fact that a common threat as
punishment for misbehavior was being kicked out of the
program. She said this really worked with the kids and they
knew it would be a really awful thing to be kicked out.
When I explained to Kate that my focus of Say Yes is on the
mental health provisions for the kids, she told me how one of
the first people the volunteers were introduced to was the head
counselor. She introduced herself as a counselor and Kate is
pretty sure she is a social worker, and that her job was to help
where it was needed, specifically kids with emotional problems.
She introduced herself to the kids as a helper. Although when I
asked if this was the person the parents interacted with the
most Kate said no it was usually Mr. Smith, and the counselor
only intervened with behavioral problem students if it was
emotionally based disturbance.
Kate decided to work for Say Yes when she found out it was a
work-study job, she said the transition from volunteer to
employee was fairly easy and the result was more responsibility.
While she did have a formal interview she talked to the
volunteer coordinator and was placed at a different school. Kate
now works at Fraser elementary, which explained to me to be
not as nice as her last school and the kids are harder to handle.
Her job is now as a mentor, she is assigned one specific student
to work with every week for the first hour she is at the school.
She is supposed to help the child with their homework, hangout,
do activities, all one on one in the library. One thing I found
interesting was that it was stressed to identify herself as a
friend, and not a tutor or mentor. Kate said the reasoning she
was given for this is because they do not want the children to
relate any connotations to the mentors besides someone who
wants to be spending their time with the student. Kate
described her student as a feisty, very smart, somewhat
rebellious kindergartener. When I asked Kate why she thinks
this one student was assigned a mentor, because not all are, she
said she believes it is because her student has behavioral
problems in the classroom because she is bored and needs extra
stimulation. It is someone who could be very successful through
Say Yes but needs the one on one guidance so that they do not
get lost in the shuffle. Another very important point that was
made to the mentors was to not talk about their own families
until their student opens up to them about their own. While
many of the students have a “regular” family structure, many do
not. While the students were not formally trained in mental
health, little things such as this seem to be a part of teaching
them to be emotionally sensitive to the kids.
Overall Kate believes that the mental health aspect of Say Yes
was “emphasized but not advertised” to the volunteers because
she thinks it would scare some of the potential volunteers off
knowing in advance some of the kids are already “messed up”.
She believes the mentoring program is important to keep the
kids emotionally stable and that is why their commitment to
being consistently at one of the schools is so important. Kate
told me a story she was told about a child who thought it was a
Tuesday, which is the day their mentor is supposed to come,
when actually it was a Monday. This threw the child off so much
they freaked out and couldn’t calm down until someone
explained what day it was.
This interview was very helpful to me in understanding the
process of becoming a student volunteer and or employee. It
was good to see what aspects of the program are stressed, and
how they are taught to deal with the students. I am looking
forward to interviewing one of the social worker/counselors
that work at one of the Say Yes schools to better understand
their role.
Project Fieldwork Events 1 & 2:
While my project focuses specifically on Say Yes to Education
and their approach to mental health, I was recently at two
different mental health providers offices and took notes in the
waiting rooms of both. One office was on a college campus and
the other a public behavioral therapy clinic.
The first office I was in was on a college campus, the
atmosphere was cheery and the building itself a former house,
so it had a very comfortable and inviting feel to it. In the waiting
room there were magazines, many comfortable chairs to sit in
grouped in several different ways so that people could sit
together or be removed from socializing. There were several
tissue boxes and many informational pamphlets on different
types of mental illnesses and how to seek out support. It makes
sense that the people waiting in this office were college
students, and the front desk was also run by a student. The only
adults seen were who I assumed to be the professionals when
they would come into the waiting room and discretely invite
their next patient in. It was something that I definitely took note
of, that if the counselor seemed to already know their patient
they were very quiet about inviting that student back to their
office, almost if not to embarrass them in front of the other
clients. I took note of it because while i sat in this office a lot of
what i thought about was the stigma associated with mental
illness. I wondered if the other students waiting were at all
nervous that the person across from them was judging them, or
if they worried that someone even saw them come into the
building. As someone who is pursuing a career in mental health
I obviously think that it is unnecessary to feel embarrassed
about seeking help for an illness just like it would be silly to feel
embarrassed to go to a regular doctor for a physical sickness.
The second office I took notes in was in a larger medical and
office building in a city. The office for mental health was clearly
labeled on the second floor, the waiting room was just like a
doctors office, in that it had a receptionist, some chairs, and
some magazines. It did not have any other identifying factors
that would lead anyone who was lost to believe it was a mental
health office. The other people in the waiting room were a
mother and her two young sons probably around the ages of 4
and 6. Also a grandmother were her two grandsons also around
the ages of 3 and 5, and a woman who might have been their
mother. I first wondered who in the two groups of people the
patient was, in one group it was the adult woman and the other
the six year old son. Both situations surprised me, but it also
made me think about how you really can't see many mental
illnesses at all. I spent about an hour in this waiting room and it
was not the same atmosphere as the college clinic, there seemed
to be more a of desperate isolated feel to this office, maybe
because there were no windows and it seemed very closed off. I
didn't really see the doctors because they were behind a closed
door down a hallway. One time a therapist did come into the
waiting room to talk to the mother of the son she must have just
been with. Their interaction was friendly but the mother
seemed anxious and worried about the progress of her son while
the therapist was more relaxed. This office was not as
comfortable as the other one was however it is catering to a
broader more public audience.
Meaning:
My interview with a student volunteer for Say Yes to Education
gave some insight to the activities of a volunteer and their
interactions with the kids in the program. While my initial
questions were about how they student heard about the
program she made it seem more like an opportunity to interact
and play with little kids, an activity she enjoys than a job. Kate
recognized the quality and need for the program such as Say Yes
and mentioned how much effort and commitment she feels the
teachers involved give. Kate also talked about the care
volunteers must take in order to be emotionally sensitive to the
kids needs and situations. This empathy seems to be taught by
the teachers and counselor who are trying to communicate the
reality of the kids lives. Kate explained to me how consistency is
the biggest expectation of the volunteers, and I see this as one of
the efforts the Say Yes program emphasizes in order to create
some kind of stabilization in the kids lives.
Interview # 2 March 30, 2010
Interview with a “Say Yes” summer intern "Sarah"
All names have been changed in the summary of this interview
“Sarah” was one of the very first interns for the Syracuse
chapter of Say Yes to Education, and described to me the
experience along with her subsequent employment as a summer
intern for the program. Sarah originally started interning for
Say Yes in the fall of 2008 and it was not yet a fully operational
program, so her job as she described it was to do a lot of the
drudgework. The director of the program “Melissa” was Sarah’s
boss and her team along with the handful of interns was
basically starting the Syracuse chapter from scratch, which
meant a lot of hiring had to happen, and a lot of paperwork.
Sarah studied abroad the spring of 2009 and when she returned
she reached out to Melissa for a summer internship, and this is
when she found out about the opportunity to be a hands-on
intern with the kids. Sarah described her training as “really
intensive” as a sort of professional development institute. The
training lasted two weeks and the interns were paid. The
training was not just how to handle children in a classroom, but
they were taught how to develop their own curriculum. Sarah
explained to me that every intern hired, was hired on the basis
that they had some kind of skill they were willing to teach,
Sarah taught art and sculpture. Sarah said that while they
needed lesson plans to follow, the main objective of the summer
program wasn’t to make the kids sit through school, but to have
an “engaging, fun, learning experience”.
When I told Sarah about the focus of my research, and asked for
her experience with the mental health side of Say Yes she told
me about the following. The training devoted to mental health
issues was a big part of their overall training, it was taken very
seriously. She said they mostly were taught how to be prepared
for situations, and specifically how to file domestic violence and
accident reports. Sarah then explained the hierarchy of people
that were at the summer program to deal with issues with the
kids. At the top is the site director, and just below them are
graduates or graduate student site director assistants, and
below them the interns. There was also psychological staff
present but they only intervened after a site director or assistant
deemed it necessary. While Sarah stressed to me that it wasn’t
as often as you might expect that you would need help from one
of the directors they were nice to have around because “when
you are running a classroom of 20 you can’t take your eyes off of
19 to take care of 1”.
When I asked Sarah if she thought the kids were aware that they
were a part of the Say Yes to Education program and not just at
any summer camp she said surprisingly to her yes they did. She
told me how the word “college” is repeated constantly and
drilled into their heads at a very early age. She also said most
were just glad to be there regardless if they really understood. I
also asked Sarah about the parent’s attitudes. This was
surprising for me to hear but she said when she first started
interning with Say Yes back in the fall and before the program
was running many Syracuse residents were not at all happy
about their presence. She said this was because they were
worried Syracuse city schools were going to be “pigeon holed” as
inadequate. However the parents she saw of the students
involved were “ecstatic” about the program and were very
actively involved.
Finally I asked Sarah to give me her personal feelings about
being a summer intern for Say Yes to Education. She told me
she thought overall it was very “inspiring and rewarding” but at
the same time the summer experience convinced her not to do
Teach for America, which she was very seriously considering
after college. She thought it gave her a good look at how a nonfor profit works, “like an unorganized business”, and it made
her decide she did not want to take that career path in her life.
Interview # 3 April 9, 2010
Interview with a Syracuse University student “Brad”, a Say Yes
graduate
All names in the summary of this interview have been changed
Brad graduated high school from the Syracuse City
School District, and told me how only about 25% of all of the
students in his high school ever graduate. Brad's dad was
addicted to crack cocaine, he was raised by his mother with his
three other brothers. His younger brother has been to jail
countless times and has several mental health issues. Say Yes to
Education was established in Syracuse when Brad was a senior
and while the program is meant to start when the students are
in kindergarten they offered Brad’s graduating class the
financial incentive of free tuition if they applied and were
accepted to a University. Brad expressed his initial disbelief that
it could be “that simple, with no catch”. Brad explained to me
how around 1/3 of Syracuse’s population is on welfare and his
view of Say Yes is that they might be able to break this cycle.
Brad expressed his awe of the program to me and really thinks
it is a great thing. Say Yes addresses the issues of the students
lives, whether it might be the lack of health care, or resources
they face outside of the schools. “Say Yes gets you what you
need” is how Brad explained the idea of the four obstacles Say
yes is attempting to overcome. He believes that like in the
suburban schools Say Yes will provide the opportunities and
access to mental health care, and more than just advocacy.
Brad now volunteers as a Say Yes to Education “buddy” at
Fraser elementary school. This was Brad’s school and he told
me he specifically asked to be placed there. When I told Brad
my focus was on mental health he expressed his desire to
become a social worker. As far as his personal experience with
this aspect of Say Yes, it is limited because he is only
experiencing the financial portion of their efforts. As a volunteer
he said he has never met the counselors although he knows they
are there. As far as training went Brad said that they did not
receive any and this definitely bothered him, he found this part
of the program unorganized. Brad said that he is personally
sensitive to many of the kids because of his background and
feels like he can relate.
Meaning Part 2:
After my interview with Brad I felt like there was a lot I could
interpret and address in terms of meaning. First of all his
overall appreciation for Say Yes to Education was apparent
along with his understanding of how disadvantaged the city
schools are. I felt his appreciation for the program when he
could explain to me fully their mission and purpose. I tried to
take a naïve approach to the interview in that I wanted to gauge
his understanding and knowledge of Say Yes before telling him
what I already knew. Brad also knew what the city schools were
lacking. He told me a story about his younger brother having
several mental illnesses requiring therapy and medication and
this was never addressed in the city schools. At one point his
family moved to the suburbs and immediately his younger
brother was given the care that he needed. Brad told me about
his passion to be a social worker, and how he likes talking to
people. He said he thought several times about careers where he
would make much more money but he realized that he wanted
to do something he really cared about. Brad said several
insightful things about his career path and overall happiness in
life that not many freshmen might be able to conclude. Brad
told me that he has felt that he hasn’t met many students at SU
that he can have philosophical or education related
conversations with. I asked him why he thought this was and he
said because he thought many of the students just didn’t care as
much about their education. Brad also never mentioned any
other students from his high school or their opinions about Say
Yes and I have a feeling it is because he is so focused, he told me
that he feels not many students "know who they are" but he
does and this shows in his drive and personal motivation.
Interview #4 April 14, 2010
Interview with a Say Yes graduate "Kara"
All names in the summary of this interview have been changed
Kara attended Corcoran High school and is currently a
Freshman at Syracuse University. Her experience with Say Yes
is limited, in that her only relationship with the program is
financial assistance. Kara learned about Say Yes from her
guidance counselor in school. Kara explained to me that prior to
Say Yes her motivation to receive a college education was
through the Syracuse Challenge program, which I had not
previously heard of. Kara said that basically if you received a
certain GPA and achieved a certain SAT score you could go to
SU for free. Say Yes does not have minimum requirements and
allows you to choose from a list of schools but Kara chose Say
Yes so that she could live at home with her mom because Say
Yes does not provide financial assistance for room and board.
Kara said she feels like she is almost "being paid to go to school"
by Say Yes because she gets money for books and fees and what
she doesn't spend on those necessities she gets to keep. Kara
recently applied for the summer internship opportunity through
Say yes to work with elementary school students in the
program. Kara told me that she is not really aware of the full
extent to which Say Yes operates. When I asked her if she has
heard from Say Yes since being at SU she said she receives
emails once in awhile. I believe that her contact is limited
because her high school class was so new to the program and
they were really only offered the financial aspect of the program
to their benefit. Kara's overall knowledge of Say Yes was very
limited but she seemed to be genuinely grateful for the
opportunity it has given her.
Discuss:
The Syracuse City School district has a less than 30%
graduation rate. One way to address this challenge is through
the program “Say Yes to Education” which is a national non-forprofit organization that established a chapter in Syracuse, NY in
the fall of 2008. “Say Yes” is committed to increasing
graduation rates amongst inner city schools, and attempts to
achieve this by addressing four main obstacles that students
and their families face. These four obstacles are scholarship,
financial, health and legal services, and social
work/psychological assistance. The program begins at the
kindergarten level continuing through high school graduation.
In order to address the scholarship segment of Say Yes the
program provides after school and summer, tutoring and
mentoring. Many of the tutors and mentors are Syracuse
University students and my research aims to understand many
aspects of their involvement. To overcome the financial obstacle
Say Yes provides several different grants in order to make sure
the students full tuition is covered once they are accepted to a
full time University or College. Health and legal services are
addressed through several programs. First legal services are
offered through a Say Yes legal clinic staffed by local legal
professionals and are available to help families with any
situation involving their student. Health care is addressed by
community agencies that help a family identify the best health
insurance package for them, and makes sure they can obtain
this coverage quickly. Lastly social work and psychological
services are a big part of the daily functioning of the Say Yes
program. There are social workers at the Say Yes schools full
time, during the day and after school (sayyessyracus.org). These
mental health professionals are a vital part of the process in
order for the students to succeed.
As a senior psychology major, I am preparing to continue at the
graduate level to receive my masters in mental health
counseling. As mental health is a great interest of mine and a
focus of Say Yes I decided to incorporate it into my research. My
main questions attempt to understand the recruitment process
of the Syracuse University student volunteers, what their
training process was like, and if mental health was included?
Another important focus of my research was the overall
perception of Say Yes to Education through the eyes of student
volunteers and graduates of the program. Overall I strived to
gauge the level of awareness student volunteers and Say Yes
graduates have of mental health. This level of awareness
included their opinions, stereotypes, stigmas, and consideration
of the importance of mental health assistance.
To start off my research I collected several materials directly
from the Say Yes to Education office on the Syracuse University
campus. These materials were mostly brochures, informative
packets, and statistics about the Syracuse City School District.
Along with gathering this information I also went online and
looked at the national Say Yes to Education website and the
Syracuse chapter website. These websites are well organized
and the Syracuse chapter site has an up to date list of events for
the public to access. While I had a general understanding of the
Say Yes program from previous experience with the
organization I wanted to make sure I had all of my facts strait
and a clear picture of the Syracuse Chapter. One interesting
observation I had from searching the Syracuse Say Yes website
was the mission statement of the organization included that
mental health was a necessary obstacle to address, however the
programs tab of the website lacked any links to a related
segment. The health and wellness link only explains medical
health care options and does not mention psychological
services.
In order to gain different perspectives of the program I
conducted several interviews. My first interview was with a
Syracuse University student who has volunteered and worked
for Say Yes during the 2009-2010 academic year. “Kate” is a
freshman at SU who started volunteering with Say Yes during
her fall semester. She first learned about the program through
the student activities fair held on the quad every fall. The Say
yes table caught her eye because she had also seen many posters
in her dorm and when she stopped to talked to several students
operating the table she became more intrigued. She decided to
volunteer for Say Yes because it was an opportunity to “play
with kids” which as Kate explained to me is not an experience
you come by often on a college campus because we are secluded
in such an age homogeneous environment. From this point, this
surprised me a lot but Kate received no formal training before
being thrown into the after school program. She took a bus,
which she said is very reliable from campus to the elementary
school McKinley Brighton. Her first impression of the school
was that physically the structure was very nice, and seemed
brand new. The kids were relatively well behaved, although she
came to this conclusion only after visiting other schools. Kate
believed the program to be very well organized, and described
the leadership as being divided into two positions. “Sarah” was
the behind the scenes administrative side, and “Mr. Smith” was
the face of the program, the one all of the kids recognized, and
acted as the disciplinarian. Kate’s time at the school was split
between controlling chaos during snack time, which was the
first half hour of the program, and then the kids were divided
into separate classrooms to participate in different activities.
Kate’s job was to help the teacher in charge of the classroom;
some of the themes of the rooms she described included speech,
math, and dancing. They usually spent time doing homework,
an activity related to the room, and just hanging out.
When I asked Kate what she thought the kids perceptions
of Say Yes were, and if they knew what they were even there for,
she gave me the following responses; “they definitely knew they
were in the Say Yes to Education program and most loved it,
some cried but only because they wanted to go home”. Kate also
said “95% of the parents really seemed to care, and thought of
Say Yes as a safe place for their kids to be after school”. I also
asked Kate if she thought the kids really understood the benefits
they could receive from Say Yes, specifically that they could
receive scholarships to college. Kate believes that the kids knew
it was a good thing, but not to the extent that they could receive
free college tuition. It is also important to remember Kate
mainly worked with third grade students. Kate did stress the
fact that a common threat as punishment for misbehavior was
being kicked out of the program. She said this really worked
with the kids and they knew it would be a really awful thing to
be kicked out.
When I explained to Kate that my focus of Say Yes is on
the mental health provisions for the kids, she told me how one
of the first people the volunteers were introduced to was the
head counselor. She introduced herself as a counselor and Kate
is pretty sure she is a social worker, and that her job was to help
where it was needed, specifically kids with emotional problems.
She introduced herself to the kids as a helper. Although when I
asked if this was the person the parents interacted with the
most Kate said no it was usually Mr. Smith, and the counselor
only intervened with behavioral problem students if it was
emotionally based disturbance.
Kate decided to work for Say Yes when she found out it was a
work-study job, she said the transition from volunteer to
employee was fairly easy and the result was more responsibility.
While she did have a formal interview she talked to the
volunteer coordinator and was placed at a different school. Kate
now works at Fraser elementary, which explained to me to be
not as nice as her last school and the kids are harder to handle.
Her job is now as a mentor, she is assigned one specific student
to work with every week for the first hour she is at the school.
She is supposed to help the child with their homework, hangout,
do activities, all one on one in the library. One thing I found
interesting was that it was stressed to identify herself as a
friend, and not a tutor or mentor. Kate said the reasoning she
was given for this is because they do not want the children to
relate any connotations to the mentors besides someone who
wants to be spending their time with the student. Kate
described her student as a feisty, very smart, somewhat
rebellious kindergardener. When I asked Kate why she thinks
this one student was assigned a mentor, because not all are, she
said she believes it is because her student has behavioral
problems in the classroom because she is bored and needs extra
stimulation. It is someone who could be very successful through
Say Yes but needs the one-on-one guidance so that they do not
get lost in the shuffle. Another very important point that was
made to the mentors was to not talk about their own families
until their student opens up to them about their own. While
many of the students have a “regular” family structure, many do
not. While the students were not formally trained in mental
health, little things such as this seem to be a part of teaching
them to be emotionally sensitive to the kids.
Overall Kate believes that the mental health aspect of Say
Yes was “emphasized but not advertised” to the volunteers
because she thinks it would scare some of the potential
volunteers off knowing in advance some of the kids are already
“messed up”. She believes the mentoring program is important
to keep the kids emotionally stable and that is why their
commitment to being consistently at one of the schools is so
important. Kate told me a story she was told about a child who
thought it was a Tuesday, which is the day their mentor is
supposed to come, when actually it was a Monday. This threw
the child off so much they freaked out and couldn’t calm down
until someone explained what day it was. This interview was
very helpful to me in understanding the process of becoming a
student volunteer and or employee. It was good to see what
aspects of the program are stressed, and how they are taught to
deal with the students.
My second interview was conducted with a Syracuse
University student “Sarah” who was one of the first interns for
Say Yes to Education as it was being established in Syracuse
during the fall of 2008, and she went on to work as a summer
intern for the Say Yes summer program. “Sarah” described her
work during the fall of 2008 to me as tedious. Since Sarah
worked with Say Yes from their very early days she was there for
all of the initial hiring of site directors and experienced the
process of getting the program up and running. She feels that
her role as an intern definitely helped out the directors a lot
because as she put it “they would have been up all night every
night” just to get everything done in order to start helping the
kids.
Sarah studied abroad the spring of 2009 and when she
returned she reached out to Say Yes again for a summer
internship and this is when she learned of the summer program
in which she could work directly with the kids. Sarah described
her training as “really intensive” as a sort of professional
development institute. The training lasted two weeks and the
interns were paid. The training was not just how to handle
children in a classroom, but they were taught how to develop
their own curriculum. Sarah explained to me that every intern
hired, was hired on the basis that they had some kind of skill
they were willing to teach, Sarah taught art and sculpture. Sarah
said that while they needed lesson plans to follow, the main
objective of the summer program wasn’t to make the kids sit
through school, but to have an “engaging, fun, learning
experience”.
When I told Sarah about the focus of my research, and
asked for her experience with the mental health side of Say Yes
she told me about the following. The training devoted to mental
health issues was taken very seriously. She said they mostly
were taught how to be prepared for situations, and specifically
how to file domestic violence and accident reports. Sarah then
explained the hierarchy of people that were at the summer
program to deal with issues with the kids. At the top is the site
director, and just below them are graduates or graduate student
site director assistants, and below them the interns. There was
also psychological staff present but they only intervened after a
site director or assistant deemed it necessary. While Sarah
stressed to me that it wasn’t as often as you might expect that
you would need help from one of the directors they were nice to
have around because “when you are running a classroom of 20
you can’t take your eyes off of 19 to take care of 1”.
When I asked Sarah if she thought the kids were aware
that they were a part of the Say Yes to Education program and
not just at any summer camp she said surprisingly to her yes
they did. She told me how the word “college” is repeated
constantly and drilled into their heads at a very early age. She
also said most were just glad to be there regardless if they really
understood. I also asked Sarah about the parent’s attitudes.
This was surprising for me to hear but she said when she first
started interning with Say Yes back in the fall and before the
program was running many Syracuse residents were not at all
happy about their presence. She said this was because they were
worried Syracuse city schools were going to be “pigeon holed” as
inadequate. However the parents she saw of the students
involved were “ecstatic” about the program and were very
actively involved.
Finally I asked Sarah to give me her personal feelings
about being a summer intern for Say Yes to Education. She told
me she thought overall it was very “inspiring and rewarding”
but at the same time the summer experience convinced her not
to do Teach for America, which she was very seriously
considering after college. She thought it gave her a good look at
how a non-for profit works, “like an unorganized business”, and
it made her decide she did not want to take that career path in
her life. This interview gave me a lot of insight in understanding
the differences between the summer and after school programs,
the main one seeming to be the intensity. Kate as an after school
mentor only spent about two hours per week with her buddy
while Sarah spent seven hours a day five days per week in
charge of an entire classroom. The difference in this
responsibility seems large however both of their contributions
to Say Yes equally significant to the success of the program.
My final two interviews were with students who
graduated from high school from the Syracuse City School
District and are freshman at Syracuse University. Say Yes to
Education funds both of their educations. Since Say Yes was
only established in Syracuse in 2008 these students were
already seniors in high school and did not participate in the
program, however they were offered the financial aspect of Say
Yes’s resources. In order to understand the full extent of the
situations some students from the city of Syracuse come from I
will explain a little about the backgrounds of “Brad” and “Kara”
the two students I interviewed. Both come from single parent
households. Brad’s father was a crack addict who left his mother
to care for him and three brothers alone. Kara is raised also only
by her mother. Brad’s younger brother has several mental
health issues that are not addressed by the Syracuse city
schools, and has been to jail countless times. Kara lives at home
with her mother because Say Yes only pays for tuition and not
for room and board, which she would not be able to afford.
When I asked both students how they learned about the
opportunity offered by Say Yes to finance their education their
responses were similar. Kara said that her guidance counselor
explained the resource to her and Kara related it to Syracuse
Challenge. Kara explained to me that prior to Say Yes her
motivation to receive a college education was through the
Syracuse Challenge program, which I had not previously heard
of. Kara said that basically if you received a certain GPA and
achieved a certain SAT score you could go to SU for free. Say
Yes does not have GPA requirements, the only mandates are
that you attended a Syracuse City high school from Sophomore
through senior year, you graduate, and you are accepted to a
college or University that partners with Say Yes. Brad expressed
his initial disbelief that it could be “that simple, with no catch”.
While Kara had limited knowledge of Say Yes beyond the
financial aspect, Brad volunteers for Say Yes and related to me
his experience. Brad now volunteers as a Say Yes to Education
“buddy” at Fraser elementary school. This was Brad’s school
and he told me he specifically asked to be placed there. When I
told Brad my focus was on mental health he expressed his
desire to become a social worker. As far as his personal
experience with this aspect of Say Yes, it is limited because he is
only experiencing the financial portion of their efforts. As a
volunteer he said he has never met the counselors although he
knows they are there. As far as training went Brad said that they
did not receive any and this definitely bothered him, he found
this part of the program unorganized. Brad said that he is
personally sensitive to many of the kids because of his
background and feels like he can relate. Brad was very insightful
with his explanation of what Say Yes provides. Say Yes
addresses the issues of the students lives, whether it might be
the lack of health care, or resources they face outside of the
schools. “Say Yes gets you what you need” is how Brad
explained the idea of the four obstacles Say yes is attempting to
overcome. He believes that like in the suburban schools Say Yes
will provide the opportunities and access to mental health care,
and more than just advocacy.
Another part of my research explored the stigma involved with
mental health; this came about after my first two interviews.
The reactions of Sarah and Kate to my questions about mental
health were both hesitant. They both had feelings that mental
health was only brought up in terms of children who had
“issues” and there was no preventative training. This led me to
conduct two different observations in mental health offices. My
first observation was conducted at the University counseling
center, and my second at a behavioral health clinic downtown.
There were many differences between the two environments,
first off the University counseling center was in a house,
redesigned to have individual offices, and a waiting room, but
from the outside looked like a regular home. The receptionist
was a student, which might be comforting for the clientele of
students. The waiting room was like a living room with couches
and comfortable chairs, tissue boxes and plenty of magazines to
pass the time. There was also a lot of literature about mental
health, pamphlets free for students to take. The behavioral
clinic was different in that it looked like any other doctor’s office
waiting room with a few exceptions. It was inside of a larger
building housing other businesses; located on the middle of the
second floor the waiting room had no windows. The furniture
was industrial and not comfortable, there were few magazines,
and the overall atmosphere was not as welcoming as the
University counseling center. However there was one similarity
that can only be described as a feeling. As I sat in the waiting
room of these two offices there was a clear sense of
apprehension about what each person around you was thinking.
I wondered what each person was there for, which of the people
sitting in the room needed help and which were just supportive
friends or family members? I myself even worried for a few
seconds that people might mistake me for someone who was
there for treatment. This is when I reminded myself that mental
illness cannot normally be seen and understood like the flu but
both deserve treatment. Brad was the only student out of my
four interviews that recognized this stigma and discussed it with
me during our discussion. I cannot be sure his empathy is
because of his background, his desire to be a social worker, or
his worldly knowledge; maybe it is a combination of the three.
Brad seemed to understand the most out of the three volunteers
I interviewed the importance of incorporating mental health
awareness into the Say Yes program.
Say Yes Syracuse Chapter is still less than two years old and
many of the weaknesses that my research uncovers must be in
part due to the early age of the program. Along with the new
status of the program I think one of the biggest difficulties in
overcoming the obstacle of mental health is the stigma that is
associated with it. Community members must be accurately
informed on the services Say Yes offers to combat mental health
issues, and how important preventative steps are. Once there is
a better understanding on a larger communal, and family level
of mental health, I think that the services of Say Yes will be
utilized further. On the other side my research has also allowed
me to understand all of the strengths of the program and to see
how invaluable Say Yes to Education is to the children of the
city of Syracuse.
EUI Links:
Reflect:
From my research and interviews I have learned a lot about Say
Yes to Education as a program for Syracuse City Students, and
Syracuse University students. Mostly I have learned about the
process of becoming a volunteer and the impact the students
believe they have on the students they work with. I have also
learned about the training process that student volunteers and
interns go through in order to work with the children. Lastly I
learned from the student’s point of view what is being done by
Say Yes to provide mental health assistance to the kids. What
surprised me the most through my research is the lack of
training that the after school volunteers received before and
during working with their buddies. Not only a lack of mental
health training but a lack of any kind of training on how to work
with these kids. This was also surprising because of the intense
training the summer interns received prior to beginning their
jobs.
Throughout this process I have been able to understand the
severity of the situation that many of the Syracuse City students
are in. Conducting interviews with students who have come
from the Syracuse City School District and have made it to
college, a feat that many of their classmates never achieved was
invaluable. These interviews allowed me to comprehend how
essential Say Yes is for the future of the Syracuse city students.
While this research process was meant to learn about some part
of Scholarship in Action, I feel like I have become a piece of
Scholarship in Action as it was meant to be. Scholarship in
Action is meant to revive student research and involve Syracuse
University students with the Syracuse community, and I feel I
have achieved that. I feel that my research can help more
students, professors, or anyone who is interested to understand
the importance of a program such as Say Yes to Education. This
project has also reinforced my career goal to help people
through mental health guidance.
If I were to further my research with Say Yes to Education, their
volunteer program, and the mental health aspect I would like to
concentrate more on educating the community in mental
health. I think Say Yes incorporates the idea of community in
educating a child and in order for all of their obstacles to be
overcome the community must understand these four areas.
From what I have learned Say Yes seems to be excellent at
marketing themselves and their efforts on the Syracuse
University campus. A lot could be done to market and educate
the community on their efforts. In order to overcome any kind
of stigma, which I believe are based on ignorance, education is
the key. If the availability of resources offered by Say Yes to
create a mentally health environment for its students is known
by the community, larger steps towards improving the
education of Syracuse City school children could be
implemented.
Recommendations: My recommendations for the future of Say Yes to Education can
be applied through several different outlets. Since Say Yes
partners with the University and there are certain aspects of my
recommendations they might be able to fulfill, this also goes for
the Syracuse City School District.
For Say Yes to Education, the Syracuse Chapter my most
specific recommendation is for them to create a comprehensive
training program for their after school volunteers and work
study students. From my research these volunteers are clearly
invested in the welfare of the kids and want to be able to provide
the best guidance as possible, but sometimes they do not know
the best route to take. I think the training could be as simple as
an orientation with the newest group of volunteers every month
for a few hours to prepare them with the exact situation the kids
are in and what they are dealing with. Within this training
session basic reminders of the level of empathy that is necessary
to be a successful buddy could be included. Also more serious
training in what kind of signs volunteers should look for in
students who might be suffering from a mental illness or need
extra support could be covered.
From my research it seems that Say Yes does an excellent job of
marketing themselves and the opportunities they provide for
Syracuse University students to become volunteers or summer
interns. Syracuse University could partner their efforts to
attract more volunteers specifically focused on the mental
health of the students. One idea is that SU could send out
emails to psychology and social work majors in order to alert
them of the opportunity that they could participate with Say
Yes. Along with targeting certain segments of students the
University could provide incentives such as credit for their time
spent volunteering. This tangible motivation would not only
encourage more students to become involved in the program
but would be a system to ensure their commitment consistently
at least for a semester.