Conferences

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February 2008: In conjunction with its Youth Purpose Academic Advisory Panel meeting, on February 7 the Center presented the public symposium, “A Conversation about Youth Entrepreneurship and Purpose.” Enthusiastic audience questions and comments reflected a strong interest in how entrepreneurship can help young people fulfill their potential and contribute to their communities. The guest speakers were:

• Richard M. Lerner, Tufts University and Advisory Panel member, provided some highlights of his research which asks how young people identify pathways to success and examines the importance of finding the best stage-context fit to maximize learning. Click here to see his PowerPoint presentation
• Joseph Mittlemann, Brown University, described the course he teaches on Entrepreneurship and Good Work that challenges students to contribute to society through work that is personally important.
• Gerald M. Richards, Bay Area Executive Director, National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), shared his experiences with at-risk high-school students who learn how academic skills can help them, their families and communities by turning their street smarts into business smarts. He introduced three young entrepreneurs who shared their personal stories.
• Andrew Kutches took a NFTE business management class while at a correctional facility, guiding him to parlay his newly acquired skills in carpentry, painting, and building into Kutches Construction Company.
• Eric Foster used the skills acquired at NFTE’s BizCamp to found All High Sports, an internet hosting site allowing high school athletes to assist recruiters by conveniently posting their statistics and video highlight footage in one place. Athletes also utilize the site’s extensive recruiter data bank.
• Warda Ali, winner of the 2007 Merrill Lynch/NFTE Bay Area Regional Business Plan Competition and the Smith Barney/NFTE National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge, turned an enhancement that extends the life of cricket bats from a service she was providing relatives and friends into a business when she launched Sure Shot Cricket Gear.

May 2006: The Center convened its Academic Advisory Panel composed of well-regarded scholars with unique perspectives on the topic of youth purpose. Center Director William Damon and Search Institute President Peter Benson shared a dialog on Youth Purpose which was enriched by perspectives from Advisory Panel members. The event culminated in a public symposium featuring three young people who shared their stories, hopes and expectations for the future. For further information, see the symposium program (pdf): Positive Youth Development in our Time: The Age of Purpose.

March 2003: The Center brought together leading scholars from several disciplines including Applied Developmental Science, Cultural Anthropology, Education, Human Development and Social Policy, and Psychology. The conference explored the concept of purpose from a variety of academic viewpoints. Each scholar contributed his or her perspective on youth purpose, such as

• the interface of personality psychology and religion
• using what is known about generative adults as a way to approach purpose in adolescents
• historical social movements as sources of purpose for youth during the 1960's
• how academic achievement motivation and psychological adjustment are related in the school context
• resiliency, identity, and competence formation processes, particularly among youth of color and from low-resource families

A key outcome was the definition of purpose as “a stable and generalized intention to accomplish something that is at once meaningful to the self and of consequence to the world beyond the self.” For further information, see: the conference summary, list of presentors and participants, consensus paper, and the meeting agenda.

April 2002: The Center organized a pre-conference at the ninth biennial meeting of the Society for Research on Adolescence. The session, "The Adolescent Search for Purpose: The Roles of Moral, Civic, and Spiritual Development," featured two panels that presented pioneering research and set the stage for group discussion about the roles of moral identity, civic engagement, cultural identity, and spirituality as sources of meaning and purpose.

June 2000: This conference, "Fostering Youth's Civic Engagement and Participation in Free and Democratic Societies," was co-sponsored by the Center, the Brown University Center for the Study of Human Development, and the Carnegie Corporation of New York. Over three days, six panels discussed political socialization and engagement, transition to citizenship, the role of schools, and the impact of service-learning. Faculty, doctoral students, and researchers attended from the United States, England, Israel, Northern Ireland, South Africa, and Russia. For further information, see the conference schedule, participants, and paper.

June 1999: The Center hosted an International Conference on Youth Citizenship that focused on the developmental needs of young people growing up in contemporary democratic societies. Distinguished scholars from several disciplines and parts of the world produced a "state-of-the-science" report on what skills, attitudes, and beliefs young people need to learn in order to become productive and socially responsible members of their societies. For further information, see: the conference description, participants, convening paper, consensus document, panel presentations, opening remarks, and Stanford Report article.