PSYC 233: To Accompany Young People in the Creation of a Hope-Filled Future

Faculty: Anne Fuller

Partner: WordPlay Cincy

Professor Anne Fuller’s PSYCH-233 class examines issues confronting adolescents and emerging adults (18-25 year olds). Topics in Fuller’s class include social relationships, families, biological and cognitive development, and how young people figure out who they want to be in the world.

Fuller states, “I want students to be able to learn about a population that they could be a part of or just a little bit younger than them. Adolescence is a population that we tend to criticize and stereotype as a society. However, more and more we are seeing the power of adolescence through movements such as climate change and Black Lives Matter. I want to have a space where students can think about that and reflect.”

This fall Dr.Fuller and her students are partnered with WordPlay Cincy, an innovative nonprofit that aims to “help young people fulfill their potential through reading, writing, and storytelling.”  WordPlay was founded in 2012 to give young people a safe, inclusive and inspiring place to come together, uncover and share personal narratives, and determine how their creativity and voices contribute to a more just and equitable community. Fuller began working with WordPlay last spring as part of her own community engaged research, and integrated service learning into her current course in an expansion of the collaboration.  Now, as part of their service experience, Fuller’s students are connecting with WordPlay’s mission, developing brochures and informational material about topics relating to adolescent development including time management, coping with stress, mental health and suicide prevention.

Fuller recalls that she did not participate in service learning in college but was involved in service around her campus. She notes that as students, they were encouraged to get outside of the campus “bubble” and interact more broadly with community.  Now as a professor, Fuller wants to help bridge that gap and encourage her students to step outside of their own bubble.  She notes:

“Participating in community-engaged learning helps students take away something from the class that will stay with them longer than memorizing statistics. It is more meaningful and in the end students get this tangible product where they can say here is something that I did for my community.”

Fuller’s student, Taj Carter, agrees and enjoys that the class pushes students to come together and discuss hard topics of adolescent well-being through discussions. He reflected:

“I believe the immersive aspect of the class allows for students to feel comfortable expressing their points of view without being judged or criticized for their opinion. Hearing different people's perspectives allow for the best growth moving forward. The only way we learn is through each other and the community engaged aspects of this class definitely highlight that!”