Education Pathways: How It Works

An Overview of Education Pathways

Abdulkhaliq Mohamed, Partnership Director & Community Leadership Partnership Manager (and former Education Pathways Partnership Manager), University Neighborhood Partners

The goal of UNP’s Education Pathways partnerships is to increase educational opportunities for youth and families by building the capacity of educational systems, nonprofit organizations, and community advocates and leaders.

Three key stakeholders, the University of Utah, the Salt Lake City School District, and Salt Lake Commuity College are working in partnership to:

• Create a college-going culture within schools;
• Provide encouragement, support, mentorship, and advocacy;
• Engage parents, students, administration and teachers in communication and collaboration;
• Re-center youth and parent voices and their involvement in education systems.

Education Pathways Partners & Programs

Clemente Partnership: 3 Years Strong

Various writers, Utah Humanities

Take some eager high school learners who would be the first in their families to attend college, add college professors passionate about their subjects, bring in talented undergraduates from those colleges, let this team teach the five essential subjects of the humanities, and watch what happens. That is what Utah Humanities (UH) has been doing with a pilot course at East High School in Salt Lake City called “The Clemente Course in the Humanities.”

A community partnership between the University of Utah Honors College, Westminster College Honors Program, East High, University Neighborhood Partners, and UH, the Clemente Course, according to one student, “has helped me be a better student in speaking my mind. It’s a warm environment that helps me become stronger. I have become a better thinker with many points of view.”

The Clemente Course is designed to excite underserved young people about college and give them the critical thinking skills necessary to succeed there. Loosely modeled on the Clemente Course at Harlan Academy in Chicago, the only other Clemente Course for high school students in the country, this twosemester elective introduces students to big ideas in philosophy, literature, history, art history, and critical writing and challenges them to ask questions, develop their own answers, and write with power.

Student reaction to this experiment? New confidence in their abilities and curiosity about their world.

A number of writers from Utah Humanities contributed to this article.

My Education Pathway

Trisha Rhone, Student, University of Utah

I plan to receive my undergraduate degree from the University of Utah in Communication, Economics, or Political Science. My long term goal is to pursue a Juris Doctorate or Ph.D. and start an organization that connects underrepresented communities, or women and children, with legal assistance.

The experiences that have most influenced my decision to pursue higher education are the opportunities to work with mentors, and to be a mentor myself.

Mestizo Arts & Activism (MAA) is a collective where college students and high school students work together to spread messages through a positive light. MAA has taught me how to creatively voice and spread diverse opinions throughout the community. MAA provided me with opportunities to listen to guest speakers on topics focusing on higher education and diversity. Being in the place of a mentee has helped me understand the important influence that someone can have on your life. As a student, my mentors have helped me make certain decisions to better my experience with secondary education. Programs like MAA help open doors to activism and make higher education more realistic for underrepresented students of color.

Through an ethnic studies course I took in high school, I was able to become a part of the Adelante Partnership at Jackson Elementary. Adelante’s goal is to create changes in public education, focused on encouraging critical thinking and learning. Acting as a mentor to students in the classroom helped me experience firsthand what it is like to change systems that have been around for years. As a mentor I have learned that the slightest amount of belief in someone can change their lives for the better.

Being able to experience roles as both a mentor and mentee has put my goals and aspirations into perspective. My involvement with Adelante and MAA has driven me to consider creating my own organization that changes the status quo.

Trisha was the recipient of the UNP Meritus I Scholarship in 2014.