Service Learning Proposal

Service Learning Proposal for Anti-Cyber Bullying Initiative in association with Young Women Leaders Program

By Megan Kaczmarek

February 14, 2012

Meredith Tweed

WST 3371

Community Partner Profile -

Community Partner: Young Women Leaders Program at the University of Central Florida

Address:  4000 Central Florida Blvd., P.O. Box 161994, Orlando, FL 32816 

Contact:  Maria Roman - ywlp@mail.ucf.edu

Community Partner Mission Statement:  “The Young Women Leaders Program is a mentoring program sponsored by the UCF Women’s Studies Program. YWLP originated at the University of Virginia, and UCF launched the program in the Orlando community. YWLP promotes middle school girls’ leadership abilities, pairing collegiate women with middle school girls. In mentoring pairs and small groups of Big and Little Sisters, participants focus on learning competence and autonomy, independent thinking, empowerment, self-esteem, and encouraging girls to think about their futures.” (Young Women Leaders Program)

Political and/ or Social Base for the Organization:  This semester, YWLP is undertaking a project called “Leading Out Loud.”  The project “works by teaching YWLP Little Sisters to become peer advocates at their local middle schools. The girls will lead an anti-bullying day at their middle school in late March and work with their Big Sisters and schools to become leaders in their community by empowering other students to stand against aggression. The project culminates in a field trip to the University of Central Florida (UCF), where the Little Sisters will work with UCF faculty, students, and their Big Sisters to host workshops for local fifth grade boys and girls.” (“UCF College of Arts and Humanities Events”)

Needs of the Organization:  On February 18^th, YWLP is hosting a fundraiser called Slam Dunk For School Safety, to raise money for the workshops at UCF.  The official event page states: “The YWLP LOL project currently has been awarded a grant for the project but must raise even more money to ensure that students are not prohibited from attending the event because of cost. The extra money will cover the remaining food related costs for the anticipated 150 students attending the field trip.”  (UCF CAH Events)  Along with fundraising for the YWLP LOL event, volunteers will be needed to assist with various tasks at the UCF workshops.   

Proposal –

The Problem:  Bullying has become an epidemic among youth culture today.  In recent years the accessibility of texting and social media, such as MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, and blogs, has precipitated a terrible trend of cyber-bullying.  The Internet has allowed bullies to virtually harass their victims without limits.  Cyber bullying has pushed many teenage victims to commit suicide. (NPR)  Something needs to be done to help stop this trend, before more lives are senselessly lost.  Although adults can petition and pass legislation, it ultimately comes down to educating and empowering children and teenagers to take the initiative and stop bullying within their own social structures and online communities.

The Plan:  This service learning project will address cyber-bullying in two ways.  The first will be a blog focusing on girls and digital literacy.  The blog will contain the following, but is not limited to, content:

·          Research based articles on cyber-bullying

·          Links to professional resources and help with cyber-bullying

·          Zines

·          Video Blogs and PSAs

·          Articles, essays, and other contributions from young women

·          A section on the YWLP LOL workshops       

The second section of the project will be a digital literacy workshop for young women, given by Alexa Nelen and myself.  I will specifically be speaking about cyber-bullying at this workshop.

Rationale for Women’s Studies:

Bullying stifles the creativity and growth of young women.  Many girls feel marginalized and lose their voices, to peer pressure and societal expectations from a patriarchal society.  While suicide is a horrific consequence of bullying, the loss of confidence and expression in young women is tragic and unacceptable.  Girls are taking the path of least resistance, to avoid being tormented mentally, and sometimes physically.  The opinions and voices of young women matter to feminist leadership, because these young women are the leaders of tomorrow.  If they feel marginalized and powerless now, how will they develop good leadership skills?  Women need to be the allies of girls. (Baumgardener and Richards 174-176)   Bullying is a problem that is not easily resolved or fixed, because it is a systemic issue that permeates youth culture and vast expanses the Internet.  As the allies of young women, we can support, empower, and encourage them to become leaders among their peers in the fight against bullying.  Through increased digital literacy, they will also be able to take leadership initiative on the virtual front, as well.   

Steps to Completion:

It is my intention to become a member of the YWLP research team, to not only provide support to what YWLP needs but also to have material on which to compose articles and contributions to the blog.  The blog and digital literacy workshop will be created with Alexa Nelen.  We are currently still working on arranging a space, time, and audience for the workshop.  If no physical space is available, we will use the Internet to live chat or create a webinar.  I will be volunteering with YWLP at the LOL workshops, and I will later blog about in detail. 

Time Line:

Week of February 20: Create, design, and bring blog online

Before February 28:

·          Complete training required to become a researcher

·          Write at least 2 postings on cyber-bullying, along with completing “other resources page”

·          Make a call for submissions from young women to the blog

Week of February 27:

·          Determine length and exact content of digital literacy workshop

Before Spring Break:

·          Complete rough draft of workshop

·          Post at least 4 articles

·          Post any submissions

After Spring Break:

·          LOL workshop

·          Write up on LOL workshop

·          TBA – Digital Literacy Workshop

Following DLW: post video of workshop on blog

"1st Young Women Leaders Program’s Slam Dunk For School Safety Basketball Fundraiser." UCF College of Arts and Humanities Events. University of Central Florida, n.d. Web. 14 Feb 2012. http://www.cah.ucf.edu/events.php?id=1901

"About YWLP." Young Women Leaders Program. University of Central Florida, n.d. Web. 14 Feb 2012. http://womensstudies.cah.ucf.edu/ywlp/index.php

Baumgardener, Jennifer, and Amy Richards. Manifest: Young Women, Feminism, and the Future. 1. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000. 174-176. Print.

 "Teens who have committed suicide after being bullied online." NPR. NPR, 2010. Web. 14 Feb 2012. <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130248877>

Power Chart

Introduction

My name is Megan.  I am a history major seeking a women’s studies certification.  I am graduating this semester, with plans to continue on to graduate school here at UCF in public history with a graduate level certification in women’s studies.  My passion for history fits well with women’s studies.  Along with women’s history, I enjoy studying Soviet history and Josef Stalin.  I have a “thing” for evil dictators, but I really enjoy studying the women who were involved with those men or the women’s lives under terrible regimes.  

In my off campus life, I am married and have a three and a half year old son.  Juggling school and home life is sometimes difficult, but it is highly rewarding.  In the three years I have been back in college, I have learned a lot about time management, caffeine intake, and functioning with sleep deprivation.     

My role as a mother puts me in a leadership role every single day.  I believe mothers are strong leaders and are almost never fully appreciated for their abilities, both within the family unit and away from it in the political arena.  Women are good leaders without being mothers, of course.  Motherhood is a slippery slope for women.  The idea that women are “designed” to be mothers is rampant.  The ideas of mothers as leaders and women as leaders desperately need to be unpacked for me, which is why it is one of my reasons for taking this course. 

  Women who choose not to have children are no more or less qualified to lead than women with children, yet they sometimes have the stigma of something being “wrong” with them because they don’t want kids.  Women with children are often seen as “bad” mothers for spending, what some may perceive as, too much time away from their kids, because they choose to have a career or pursue opportunities outside of the home and family unit.  The pressure to be Suzy homemaker or be content in traditional women’s jobs (secretary, teacher, nurse) is still out there.  For the mothers, “mommy guilt” haunts us every time we wave good-bye to our little ones at the baby sitter’s house or daycare.  For the women who choose to remain child-free, the stigmas and questions about something being “wrong” plague them.  Can’t we just be women?

Who is at home with us should be irrelevant to our leadership abilities.  On the same hand, I cannot deny the incredible strength and understanding my role as a mother has given me.  These skills, I believe, have shaped me into a pretty good leader.  The conclusion I have come to is that individual life experiences, personality, and education shape a leader.  No one experience, such as motherhood, guarantees a good or successful leader.  However, mothers deserve more respect for the leadership work they do in the home and out of the home.  Unfortunately, women as leaders and mothers as leaders are often conflated.          

I have read, understand, and agree to the terms of the course syllabus and blogging protocols.