For the six high school students who presented at the University of Illinois’ Undergraduate Research Symposium, it was all about that “a-ha!” moment.
“We noticed a connection between crime and poverty in our community, and we thought it would be a good idea to talk about that problem and to dig into it with research,” said Mariya McCullough, a student at Kenneth D. Bailey Academy in Danville, Ill.
“And not everybody has the answers,” added classmate Ariel Gosser. “When we asked questions about crime and poverty, it was hard for interviewees to answer those.”
On Thursday, April 25, McCullough and Gosser stood at the Illini Union with fellow Bailey Academy students Armarni Eaton, Tashonna Jones, Krissa Sims, Cyntavia Suggs beside their poster presentation, “The Flaws of Our Community: Is There a Connection Between Crime and Poverty?” The students spent the 2023-24 academic year collectively exploring this question through a youth participatory action research program, or YPAR, piloted at Bailey Academy thanks to a grant from the Institute for Government and Public Affairs.
YPAR positions young people as co-researchers alongside adults like teachers, health educators, church elders or out-of-school time volunteers. As part of this project, over the course of the year, students researched issues that affect their communities and then select policy actions that might successfully intervene in the problem. By centering youth voice, YPAR provides young people with the confidence to communicate about problems that affect them and opportunities to apply solutions at the policy-level to create beneficial community change.
“At first I was scared that the research process might intimidate them,” said Elizabeth (Libby) Schnepel, the Bailey Academy teacher who heads the class implementing YPAR. “But somewhere along the way, the students realized that they were actually researching themselves. That was a wakeup call. That was an epiphany, and that was when the project become meaningful.”
Schnepel was guided in the YPAR experience by Daniela Markazi, a doctoral student in informatics, and Kate Suchodolski, a master’s student in the Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communications program.
“For me, the most meaningful part has been seeing student engagement increase throughout the year,” said Suchodolski. “Sometimes in the beginning, students have their heads down and don’t want to talk with you. But then, as they warm up, they start having their own ideas and proposing new research areas.”
Markazi agreed that the students became more invested in the process once they had an object on which to apply their research skills.
“Choosing the topic helped everyone have that ‘a-ha!’ moment—helped everyone to feel like, ‘Ok, now we know what we’re doing,’” Markazi said. “Once we found the topic of poverty and crime, we were off.”
For Bailey Academy students, the research process offered new opportunities for interactions with their communities.
“We interviewed a congresswoman, and we talked with people in law enforcement,” said Suggs. “We just kept on asking questions. It feels good. It feels like we did something that can benefit our community.”
One of the final steps of a YPAR program is choosing a cause to champion and a venue in which to advocate for it. That’s something the students still want to research, said Suchodolski, who noted that the students are continuing to perform interviews even after the symposium and have scheduled future conversations with some important leaders in their community.
A number of the student presenters are set to graduate this spring, but as a high school instructor, Schnepel notes, she would implement the YPAR program again in a heartbeat.
“The process is definitely worth it; anything that will inspire them is worth it,” she said. “This is a real proud-teacher moment. I can’t say it enough.”