Search

This study examined the social networks of 26 postsecondary students with mobility and sensory disabilities regarding their perceptions of career preparation and career choice confidence. Social networks have been shown to contribute to postsecondary students' academic success and establishing a successful career for those with and without disabilities. This study examined the social capital resulting from social networks consisting of parents, family, friends, acquaintances (e.g., teachers, counselors, advisors), and interest groups or hobbies. Participants rated their perceptions of career preparation and career choice confidence twice during the study: once in the early weeks of a summer employment internship and after a career-focused presentation and internship completion. Measures of career preparation included self-rated abilities in (a) finding a job, (b) interviewing successfully, (c) keeping a job, and (d) resolving career accommodation challenges. Results showed that social capital contributed significantly to perceptions of career preparation. Career choice confidence remained stable suggesting satisfaction with their choice. A path analysis examined both career variables in conjunction with demographic factors, finding that social capital increased with age. Analyses suggested a number of other relationships between social capital, career perceptions, and demographic variables indicating complexities that warrant additional research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summer camp is a common seasonal employment setting for emerging adults in North America (American Camp Association, 2016), and although scholars have identified camp as a developmental setting for youth participants (e.g., Garst et al., 2009), far less is known about camp as a developmental employment setting that supports emerging adults' identity development (Johnson et al., 2011; Povilaitis & Sibthorp, 2022; Warner, Godwin et al., 2021). Using narrative identity as a theoretical framework, the purpose of this study was to compare the meaning emerging adults associated with camp employment and non-camp employment, as well as examine the developmental characteristics of employment linked to how emerging adults make meaning about these experiences. To this end, former emerging adult summer camp staff (N = 66) were asked to share an account of a specific experience that made them think about who they were and who they wanted to become when working at a camp and a non-camp employment setting. Participants were also asked to identify whether developmental characteristics were present for each employment setting. The results suggested that there was evidence of more complex meaning-making in participants' accounts of camp employment than their accounts of non-camp employment experiences. The results also suggested that when participants reported having supportive coworkers and feeling they made a difference their camp employment narratives contained more evidence of complex meaning-making than the narratives of participants that did not report these characteristics. No developmental characteristics were significant predictors of meaning-making complexity present in non-camp employment narratives. The results provide support for camp employment as a developmental setting by identifying characteristics linked to the meaning emerging adults draw from their experiences working in this setting. Camp administrators may use these results as evidence of the potential non-monetary value of camp employment. Further, these results suggest that when emerging adult staff perceive their camp employment as having a supportive social environment and providing them opportunities to make a difference, the seasonal employment experience is more likely to become an experience that supports their development. These key findings can be used to communicate the value of camp employment to potential employees and those advising them, such as parents or mentors; further, increasing the perceived value of camp employment amongst current staff members only serves to bolster the advocacy for camp work as a developmental setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the impact of summer job programs on student outcomes, focusing on the Boston Summer Youth Employment Program's effects on high school graduation rates, attendance, and academic performance. Topics include the program's positive influence on graduation rates, improved attendance, and initial grade-point average (GPA) boost, particularly among certain student groups.

Summer Youth Employment Programs (SYEPs) help connect youth to opportunities for career exploration, skill development, and mentorship. Despite heightened investment in SYEPs, research regarding positive impacts is limited. Most of the common SYEP evaluation strategies are rooted in deficit thinking and focus on outcomes such as reducing violent crime, risk behaviors, gaps in unemployment, and increasing educational attainment. Despite recent shifts toward approaches that acknowledge structural oppression in adolescent research more broadly, evaluations of SYEPs often perpetuate a discourse of deficiency about marginalized communities by emphasizing disparities without acknowledging the systemic forces that create them. In this article, we utilize the Five Cs of Positive Youth Development to present an alternative set of outcomes identified from focus groups and surveys with youth ages 16 to 24 who participated in SummerWorks, a 10-week SYEP located in Washtenaw County, Michigan. Specifically, we find that SYEPs may help youth make the transition to adulthood, build community and increase their social capital, and access knowledge, resources, and opportunities. Through this approach, we hope to expand the literature on the impacts of SYEPs and encourage antiracist evaluation strategies that build on these findings and challenge deficit thinking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Liminal spaces occur separately from everyday life and are important to human development. Due to increased technological connectivity, young people are rarely separated from their home lives. Understanding young adulthood is a transitional time and summer camps can be settings for development, the purpose of this study was to understand the nature of summer camp employment as a liminal space. Individuals from a national (USA) study of summer camp employment (n = 77, M age = 21.3) participated in in-depth interviews. Participants were 77.9% White (n = 60), 9.1% Black or African American, 9.1% Multi-Racial, 2.6% Asian, and 1.3% Latinx. About 64.9% identified as female (n = 50), 33.8% identified as male, and 1.3% identified as gender non-conforming. Interview transcripts were inductively analyzed using thematic coding. Participants described camp as a liminal space with four dimensions of separation: physical, psychological, social, and technological. They also described experiencing a liminal time of life. In combination, the separation and time-of-life dimensions created an experience of liminal intensity manifested through a closed social system, blurred boundaries between work and non-work life, and increased autonomy. A revised conceptualization of liminal space is suggested and considerations regarding liminal intensity for young people are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the research is to apply a hedonic pricing model to an apartment rental market in the city of Varna, Bulgaria. This widespread model has been used extensively in the various aspects of the rental markets. The sample size of the study is 59 apartments for rent offered on the market in "Chaika" living estate in the city of Varna, published online at "ALO.bg" as of September 1, 2023. We have chosen this specific date, because at that time the market is very brisk. On one hand, the demand of the apartments increases, because of the beginning of the school year, and on the other hand, this period coincides with seasonal layoff unemployment and seasonal labor moving out of the apartments, which they have been renting for the summer jobs. The results of the study explain above 90 percent of variation in rents in Varna, emphasizing the most important factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gun homicide rates have risen 35% across the USA since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. One promising intervention to prevent violent crime is summer youth employment programs (SYEPs), which provide youth with meaningful workplace experiences, prosocial engagements, and developmental opportunities during the summer months, when many otherwise lack structure. This paper presents a cost analysis of violence prevention-focused SYEPs to help implementers understand the costs generally and in their own community contexts—to advocate for adoption and secure funding of, effectively budget for, and successfully implement SYEPs. Researchers use an ingredient-based costing approach and provide a template for implementers to use and adapt for their context. SYEPs with the goal of reaching youth who are justice-involved or at risk of being victims or perpetrators of violence can cost $3331 per youth assisted, with 54% of this cost directly paid to youth through stipends. Cost per youth is driven by the intensity of the mentoring and support that community organizations provide to the program participants. Knowing the cost per youth assisted can inform further analysis, implementation, and expansion of SYEPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the steps to having a difficult discussion and the necessity of the foundational skills such as problematic behavior which degrades productivity, effectiveness and/or efficiency, and other staff pick up slack for an underperforming employee creating stress and resentment.

Recently there has been an emphasis on how time spent outside of the classroom can affect student outcomes, including high school graduation, with the hope of closing academic achievement gaps along socioeconomic and racial lines. This paper provides experimental evidence regarding a particular type of out-of-school activity—early work experience—on high school academic outcomes for low-income inner-city youth. Using randomized admissions lotteries for students who applied to the Boston Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP), we estimate the effect of being selected to participate on academic outcomes as measured by administrative school records. We find that SYEP lottery winners are 4.4 percentage points more likely to graduate from high school on time and 2.5 percentage points less likely to drop out of high school during the four years after participating in the program relative to the control group. These improvements appear to be driven by better attendance and course performance in the year after being selected for the program, with the program's impact on attendance persisting into the second year. Survey data suggest that the Boston SYEP may affect academic outcomes by increasing aspirations to attend college, gaining basic work habits, and improving social skills during the summer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I first met Shôn in October 1973. I had just started Part III of the Cambridge Mathematical Tripos – a post-graduate course that was retrospectively awarded a Masters' Degree in Mathematics. After a summer job working with Ted Broadbent on aircraft noise at the Royal Aircraft Establishment in Farnborough, I had decided do a PhD in Aeroacoustics. I asked Sir James Lighthill for advice and he told me that he was now focused on biomechanics but a new professor had recently arrived in the Cambridge Department of Engineering and that I should ask him. I made contact with Shôn, saw him in his office that afternoon, and he agreed to supervise me for a PhD. As quickly and simply as that, I was on a path that for me was transformational, not only an exciting research future, but the start of my transition from mathematics into engineering. Throughout my career, Shôn continued to be a major influence on me as he has for many others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The Autism (formerly Asperger) Summer Employment Program (ASEP) was a community-based pilot program designed to provide summer vocational support to autistic university and college students. The ASEP was the initiative of community agencies interested in identifying service gaps for autistic adults during transition periods, such as entering the workforce following post-secondary education. The current study reports on a program evaluation of the ASEP developed by a community agency in Toronto in which two workforce specialists provided ongoing training and support for 17 autistic adults over a fourmonth summer period. Twelve participants obtained paid employment, three obtained volunteer positions, and two were unsuccessful in obtaining summer placements. Methods: Evaluation of the ASEP was based on responses to a questionnaire by participants and reports from employers. Participants completed questionnaires before and after the program, while employers completed questionnaires at the end of the program. Results: Self-rated autism symptom severity was high and correlated with some self-reported job-related knowledge and skills. Participants reported a significant increase in their job-related knowledge and skills from pre- to post-program. At the conclusion of the program, employers reviewed participant's job as "good" on average. When asked if participants would be considered for future employment, most employers responded positively, while some had some concerns. Conclusion: Overall, the results suggest that with appropriate support, successful summer vocational experiences are accessible to autistic students. Clinical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An interview with Steve Pollock, is presented, discussing his early experiences and influential relationships that shaped his career in quality management. Topics include his first job cutting grass, which instilled a systematic approach to tasks, the lifelong learning discipline taught by his parents, and the mentorship he received from his father, which has guided him throughout his career.

I study the short-run and long-run effects of exposure to peers from disrupted families in adolescence. Using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health) data, I find that girls are mostly unaffected by peers from disrupted families, while boys exposed to more peers from disrupted families exhibit more school problems in adolescence and higher arrest probabilities, less stable jobs, and higher probabilities of suffering from financial stress as young adults. These results suggest negative effects on non-cognitive skills but no effect on cognitive skills, as measured by academic performance. The dramatic increase in family disruption in the USA should thus receive more attention, as the intergenerational mobility and inequality consequences could be larger than anticipated as a result of classroom spillovers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent policy discussions have proposed government‐guaranteed jobs, including for youth. One key potential benefit of youth employment is a reduction in criminal justice contact. Prior work on summer youth employment programs has documented little‐to‐no effect of the program on crime during the program but has found decreases in violent and other serious crimes among "at‐risk" youth in the year or two after the program. We add to this picture by studying randomized lotteries for access to the New York City Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP), the largest such program in the United States. We link SYEP data to New York State criminal records data to investigate outcomes of 163,447 youth who participated in a SYEP lottery between 2005 and 2008. We find evidence that SYEP participation decreases arrests and convictions during the program summer, effects that are driven by the small fraction (3 percent) of SYEP youth who are at‐risk, as defined by having been arrested before the start of the program. We conclude that an important benefit of SYEPs is the contemporaneous effect during the program summer and that the effect is concentrated among individuals with prior contact with the criminal justice system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The main purpose of this study was to examine which job resources are most valuable for research productivity, depending on varying teaching demands. Design/methodology/approach: Data was collected from 324 management faculty at research, balanced and teaching (i.e. respectively low-, moderate- and high-teaching demands) public universities in the United States. Findings: Results showed that no single job resource predicted research productivity across all three types of schools. At research schools (i.e. low-teaching demands), productivity was positively associated with job resources including summer compensation, level of protection for untenured faculty and number of research assistant hours, while negatively associated with travel funding. At balanced schools (i.e. moderate-teaching demands), research output was positively associated with time allocated to research, grant money, travel funding and conference attendance, while negatively associated with amount of consulting hours. At teaching schools (i.e. high-teaching demands), the only significant resource was time allocated to research. Practical implications: This paper can help management faculty and business school leaders understand what resources are most appropriate given the teaching demands associated with the specific institution, and by further helping these institutions attract and retain the best possible faculty. Originality/value: This study extends prior work on academic research performance by identifying resources that can help faculty publish given different levels of teaching demands. This is important as teaching demands tend to be relatively stable within an institution, while they can vary greatly across types of institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The poem "Flirting Through Summer Jobs" by Jessica Bundschuh is presented. First Line: I. Phoenix, AZ, 1983: The Mountain Fold; Last Line: folds can be unfolded with histories intact.

Every year summer camps employ over 1.5 million mostly emerging adults to staff primarily their summer seasonal programs. Considerable literature exists on the importance of education, career-related experiences, and interpersonal and intrapersonal skills, but little is known about employer perceptions of work experiences not aligned with a job candidate's career, like seasonal summer employment. More specifially, almost no research exists on the value of seasonal summer camp work from the perspective of hiring professionals in filds outside of the camp industry. Therefore, the primary purpose of this study was to understand how hiring professionals from a variety of industries view seasonal camp employment. Specifially, the study sought to identify the effects of promotion, industry-specific work, and gender on likelihood of interviewing the candidate. A secondary purpose was to better understand how hiring professionals view social-emotional learning (SEL) skills commonly associated with summer camp work. Th s study included a panel sample of 327 hiring professionals from a variety of industries. Analysis of quantitative and qualitative data resulted in three major conclusions about seasonal summer camp employment: (a) job advancement and promotion at camp were important to employers, (b) industry-related job experience was the most important factor when evaluating job candidates, and (c) several SEL skills important to the modern workplace could be attributed to working at camp and were highly desired by hiring professionals. The findings have several implications for camp leaders. First, when retaining camp staff from summer to summer, opportunities for promotion are valuable to both staff and future employers. Second, since industry-related experience matters most to hiring professionals, camps may need to accept (a) that staff leave after one or two summers to seek job-related experience or (b) that they may need to be more creative in helping their best staff "job craft" their position to align with employees' career aspirations. Thi d, camp leaders may want to emphasize the opportunity to develop SEL skills and capacities while recruiting new staff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]