Positive YD

I knew right away my ideology would positive youth development. When I first began the YD program during my undergraduate career I resonated with positive YD on so many levels. No matter what space I entered I always found myself practicing positive YD.

I am familiar with PASA as well as New Urban Arts, so I decided check out FabNewport. This non profit makes my heart so happy! I stumbled upon this video on their website (18) Introduction to FabNewport's Lab in Action - YouTube I loved when Amie the instructor said "there's something for everybody, no matter your interests or the type of learner you are or what your skills are you can find your niche". I can feel how welcoming and positive this space is for young people. They are encouraged to be creative, make mistakes and to have fun. I also love the STEM aspect of FabNewport and how some of the young women mentioned that they would like to be engineers someday because of this organization! 

I next wanted to explore the PASA website because I have not been involved with that organization since my undergraduate career and I wanted to see what is the same and what is different. The quote that resonated with me the most was "Hands-on learning is at the core of PASA’s expanded learning strategy." This brought me back to my days as a preschool teacher where I wanted to bring the ideology of positive YD into my classroom space. I came up with our "creation station" where the students had access to many different materials to create whatever they imagined. I was going off of that hands-on learning approach where my students could use their imaginations, problem solve and create something they could be proud of. This was one of my greatest accomplishments as a preschool teacher because each and every student no matter their skill set or type of learner they were, they all enjoyed the creation station and created beautiful pieces of art. Some would tell stories with a 3D structure, some would dump glitter onto a page and ask me to frame it, their imaginations ran wild. I love the way PASA caters to all students and their interests in a hand-on approach, it keeps youth invested and engaged. 

Before even beginning to read "I Know What I Believe: Using Theory to Prepare Youth Workers", I knew it was going to be impactful to me. The authors have been such a vital part in preparing me to be the youth worker I am today and I could not wait to dive in. The quote that resonated with me the most was "in this frame, young people are situated as individuals with emotional, physical, academic, moral, and social potential (Walker et. al, 2011)." I whole heartedly believe this to be true when it comes to positive YD. Every young person has their own unique identity as well their own unique needs. I think sometimes, depending on the space youth are seen as a collective group and that can be harmful in many ways. This reminds me of the class discussion we had a few weeks back discussing the differences between child development and youth development. When youth are seen as a collective group in my mind, they are being measured the same when it comes to meeting milestones and reaching their goals. From what I know now as a youth worker I know that each young person is different and unique in every aspect.