31. Youth Development is About Helping Students Reach Their Full Potential

Youth development requires meeting students where they’re at. At Map Academy, that means understanding that some students might have experienced trauma that has caused them to struggle in previous schools. That’s why Map educators prioritize fostering mutual trust with their students.

In this episode, we hear from Anre Dowell (Community Support Partner). During his time at Map, Anre used his youth development experience to build strong, genuine relationships with students — including Anthony and Carlie, who also share their stories in this episode. Anthony and Carlie say that Anre consistently pushed them to engage. But first, Anre got to know them, what brought them to Map, and the reasons why they might not be able to focus on academics. “If you lock in and you keep going back … we'll eventually build the bond,” Anre says.

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Education Disruption is a podcast by Rachel Babcock and Josh Charpentier, founders of Map Academy — a free, public charter high school open to all Massachusetts students.

More about Map Academy: themapacademy.org

Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/themapacademy

This podcast is a Hairpin production: hairpin.org