“That Full Circle Connection:” Mentoring Future Educators through Service-Learning at a Hispanic-Serving Institution

• In Event: Virtual Poster Session
  In Virtual iPresentation Only: SIG-Latina/o/x Research Issues Virtual Poster Session

Abstract

This qualitative case study explores the experiences of undergraduate students enrolled in a service-learning course at a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). Grounded in culturally sustaining pedagogies, the course paired undergraduates with fourth-grade students from a nearby elementary school for a mentoring experience. Using data from participant interviews, course artifacts, and demographic information, as well as interviews with course facilitators, the study examines how participation in the service-learning program shaped undergraduates’ understandings of cultural identity, sense of belonging, and critical consciousness within educational settings. Framed by the theory of community cultural wealth, findings indicate that undergraduates drew on their linguistic capital and activated their familial and resistant capital as key resources in their mentoring relationships.

Authors

• Kathryn Nagrotsky, University of Connecticut - Stamford

• Jenifer Gaitan, Teachers College, Columbia University

• Alyssa Hadley Dunn, University of Connecticut

• Tracy Sinclair, University of Connecticut

• Kenya Marie Overton, University of Connecticut

• Ashanti Hall, University of Connecticut