Service Learning and Community Collaboration: Designing Cross-Generational Intervention Projects for Pre-Adolescent Girls

This article describes the HighVisions/GreatDreams initiative, an ongoing educational project for sixth grade girls in Roosevelt County, New Mexico. HighVisions/GreatDreams is a day-long workshop designed to encourage sixth grade girls to think about personal agency and choice-making, especially in terms of health, relationships, and careers. This service learning project has also been structured as a communication training that combines elements of self-disclosure, small group discussion, and public speaking. This analysis of the HighVisions/GreatDreams project is offered as a case study for other educators and community groups seeking ideas for similar service learning projects rooted in the public schools. This article has a two-fold purpose: to offer a theoretically-informed description of a successful cross-generational community service project for pre-adolescent girls and to analyze its service learning components for advanced students. The article includes a discussion of locus of control and how this construct has been instrumental in the development of the HighVisions program. (author)