Local CYFAR Program Spotlight

Youth Engaged in Technology

“Joe” was far from the model student when he first joined the Youth Engaged in Technology (YET) program. Due to an unstable living situation, the tenth-grader from Washington, Pa., had changed schools three times in three years and spent most afternoons in detention.

YET members get ready to search for a geocache.

But, as the year progressed, Joe’s teachers noticed he was performing better in class, especially on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Asked why, he said detention wasn’t an option because he had somewhere important to be: his YET club.

Launched in July 2003 and backed by a CYFAR grant, the Pennsylvania YET project helps 9-11 graders in Washington and Potter counties hone their technology skills, job skills and life skills. The YET members—at-risk teens who are referred by teachers, guidance counselors, principals and other high school personnel—meet twice a week during the school year to explore subjects like robotics, GPS and Web development.

When Dr. Daniel Perkins wrote the initial grant in 2003, Pennsylvania was experiencing a major “brain drain,” i.e. a loss of its brightest young adults to other states. To offset this emigration, the YET project director and Penn State University professor decided to reach out to the state’s rural-based youth.

During a nanotechnology camp at Penn State, a YET member
inspects a silicon wafer with a laser.

“At the time, many people thought they needed to move out of the rural areas of Pennsylvania in order to find technology jobs,” says Phil Hoy, the YET state project coordinator and Perkins’ main collaborator. “We wanted to focus on the fact that you can live in a rural area and still have a remote technology job if you have the right skills.”

Galeton High School, the site of the Potter County YET program, is located in a rural area with low population density. Recruiting students has been tricky, but the program did see significant membership in 2005-2006, when 31 students took part in the club meetings, events, field trips, service activities and student-led workshops. Perhaps more impressive, almost 60 percent of those students had a 75 percent attendance record or better.

Numerous youth at Washington High School have also gained the skills necessary for a technology career close to, or away from, home. Washington is more small-town than rural, but it has suffered economically because of limited job opportunities. Nevertheless, it seems Washington’s youth are creating job opportunities for themselves. In 2005-2006, 45 students enrolled in the YET club. And, like the Potter County program, more than half of them had a 75 percent attendance record or better.

Of course, there’s plenty of incentive for youth to attend the YET meetings in both counties. Those who go to at least 75 percent of the meetings can spend part of their summer at a 4-H GIS camp or a nanotech camp at Penn State, among other cool field trips.

“The kids may not have that much experience with technology, but they pick it up quickly when they have to teach someone else.”

~Phil Hoy

The YET curriculum, which is posted online (see link below), is available to anyone who wants to use it. However, adopting the YET program requires access to a computer lab, and that requires support from the community. “It’s important to get the space and time from the schools, but also from local organizations for things like transportation for youth,” says Hoy.

YET members shoot footage for a social
responsibility video related to youth drug
and alcohol use.

It doesn’t hurt to befriend the IT staff, either. Hoy says some of the computers at Galeton High School were older and weren’t always compatible with the new software. On the flip side, the computer lab at Washington High School was brand new, but they had strict rules about downloading and installing software. “The key is not to march in and say ‘make it happen!’ to the IT person, but rather to work with them.”

Staying flexible with the curriculum has been another key to the program’s success. Twice a year, the YET faculty and staff have a face-to-face meeting to discuss what works and what doesn’t. “Someone might say ‘It’s great to teach the kids how to use the GPS units, but this video on GPS was really boring,” Hoy explains. “So the delivery is always changing.”

Hoy also talks with the site coordinators every other week to ask them about their club’s achievements, challenges and plans for sustainability. Additionally, the YET team meets monthly to share experiences and to discuss program-related issues.

As a further gauge of strengths and weaknesses, the YET staff uses an objective evaluation. In each of the four curriculum sections, including computers, GIS, GPS and robotics, there is a pre/post test that measures the knowledge each youth gains. To measure life skills, youth take the “Skills for Everyday Living” survey, designed by Perkins and Dr. Claudia Mincemoyer, at the beginning and toward the end of the program.

As part of YET’s community service
projects, youth teach seniors how to use a
computer and surf the Web.

Hoy says the YET members often learn the most about technology by educating others. “After a ‘Teens Teaching Seniors’ project, one kid said he didn’t realize he knew so much about computers. The kids may not have that much experience with technology, but they pick it up quickly when they have to teach someone else.”

Teaching seniors computer skills is just one example of the service-learning activities that YET members engage in year-round. They also conduct GPS/GIS workshops for grade-schoolers, build Web sites for local nonprofits and help to coordinate fundraisers. Last year, the Washington club organized and promoted a hunger awareness project in collaboration with local agencies. The event brought in $20,000 for the local food bank.

Although many of the youth struggle socially or academically in school, they tend to come out of their shells through the YET program and excel at the curriculum. This not only gives them self-confidence, but a passion for learning. Along with Joe from Washington, who found his calling in Web design and developed sites for his rock band, his church group and area businesses, some 200 youth have found their own flair for technology.

In the process, says Hoy, they become self-learners. “Some club members have said to us, ‘We’ve been doing Web development, but if we could use Dreamweaver or Fireworks or Flash software, we could do even better things. So they’re stepping up and asking to learn even more.”

Links
YET home page, http://cyfar.cas.psu.edu/YET
YET curriculum (and other resources), http://cyfar.cas.psu.edu/YET/Resources2.htm
YET evaluation tools, http://cyfar.cas.psu.edu/YET/Evaluation.html
Pennsylvania CYFAR home page, http://cyfar.cas.psu.edu

All photos courtesy of Penn State University