Mission and Cornerstones
WHAT IS THE SUMMER YOUTH INSTITUTE?
Summer Youth Institute (SYI) is a 15-day experience that brings together students from around the state to who are interested in making a positive change in their community.
MISSION: Training Youth Leaders to Discuss, Engage and Uniquely Solve Community Issues.
CORNERSTONES:
The four cornerstones that are emphasized before during and after SYI are Relationship building, History, Diversity, and Civic Engagement.
1. Students learn the importance of listening, respectful dialogue and how to build strong relationships.
2. Comprehensive Civil Rights Movement history is taught to the students as a way to show where Mississippi has been and to show a continuity of change.
3. Diversity is seen as crucial element to the program. Diversity of counselors and students is one part and the second part is teaching the importance of diversity.
4. All students go back to their community with a project that they want to accomplish. During SYI the students learn skills and attend workshops to help them be civically engaged.
PRIMARY TACTICS:
- Using, Welcome Table curriculum, a system using stories to convey and exemplify universal truths, these training sessions provide a safe space in which participants can learn to listen to and trust each other.
- Students learn about the past of Mississippi by participating in field trips, speaking with past leaders, reading about the history, and watching documentaries. Philadelphia, Mississippi and the Mississippi Delta provide pilgrimage opportunities, leaders like Gov. William Winter and Myrlie Evers-Williams help connect the past with the present and the books and documentaries help teach a fuller history.
- Diversity workshops are used to help students think about identity and society. Students learn that all members are crucial to the health of the community.
- Workshops on leadership, public speaking and organizing help prepare students for their final community projects. Students present their projects at a final banquet ceremony.
MISSISSIPPI YOUTH CIRCLE
The Summer Youth Institute is a catalyst to inspire students to become and stay engaged in their communities. Students from the first SYI helped create a student network of progressive youth groups to encourage more student engagement, called the Mississippi Youth Circle.
MS Youth Circle uses social networking and youth summits to help continue the work and ideas of the Summer Youth Institute.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Susan Glisson, Ph.D.
Executive Director
662-915-6727
glisson@olemiss.edu
Charles Tucker
Associate Director
662-915-1605
charles@olemiss.edu
Patrick Weems
Project Coordinator
662-915-6734
Phweems@gmail.com
