Description
This paper is based on the thesis research of the service-oriented and activist opportunity of the Young Women's Studies Club located in San Diego, California. The Young Women's Studies Club is a multi-layered, collaborative effort that bridges San Diego State University graduate and undergraduate students with the community. During a weekly lunchtime meeting held at the inner city Hoover High School, Hoover students are mentored by SDSU graduate and undergraduate mentors on issues that impact girls and women. Topics include the representations of women in media, goal setting, healthy choices, creative expression, gender and music, queer identities, and analyzing gender norms. The SDSU graduate and undergraduate student mentors are prepared for this mentoring opportunity through the Young Women's Studies Club Cultural Competency Training. Specifically, this research explores how the influence of adding and strengthening specific training components to a revised Cultural Competency Training infused with feminist pedagogical thought resulted in an increased awareness regarding feminism, feminist activism, feminist pedagogy, the importance of girl-focused spaces and relational mentoring techniques in the graduate and undergraduate mentors. This research uses the responses from three surveys throughout the semester and two focus groups to measure the effectiveness of how the mentors incorporated their new feminist pedagogical knowledge into their mentoring technique and awareness. Tracking the mentors' positive growth necessitates the inclusion of feminist pedagogical theory into feminist activist projects where mentoring takes place.
