Major in Community, Youth, and Education Studies

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Major in Community, Youth, and Education Studies

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Justice is what love looks like in public.

The community, youth, and education Studies (CYES) major provides you with a strong background in youth, urban studies, and education. You will become an effective voice for social justice. You will examine how school and community programs can transform current inequities by engaging young people and their families, and help to change their social reality through educational spaces and youth programs.

CYES recognizes that activism begins at home, and prepares you to merge your classroom learning with action — on Clark’s campus and in the Worcester community. With guidance from faculty, you’ll address systemic inequality near and far, while examining your own identity and place in the world.

Catalog Requirements for:

Major

Minor

Why Major in CYES at Clark?

Complete a digital portfolio over the course of your major that outlines your accomplishments and work for change, as well as a final reflection and practice project that you’ll present before you graduate.
Engage in real, systemic community action the moment you step on campus — whether by participating in an afterschool arts and poetry program or volunteering with English language learners in Worcester.
Contribute to new knowledge through your own community-based action research, and work with leading professors to examine critical issues ranging from the achievement gap to mass incarceration.
Learn in a program featured as a “Civic Responsibility by Design” case study on the Association of American Colleges & Universities website.

This is Clark

Our Stories

Working with youth to stem injustice and foster social equality

Summer 2017 found Micky Strachota teaching summer school in Cambridge, Mass. as part of the Breakthrough Collaborative. By merging theory and practice, and encouraging working with youth as part of participatory action research projects, the CYES courses Mickey had taken gave him the foundational understanding needed to take on his work at the Collaborative.

The major does a great job of getting us not just to be critical about the world, but also to examine our identities and our place in changing the injustices around us.
—Micky Strachota
Class of 2016

Your Will. Your Way.

The Major Path

As a CYES major, you’ll pass through three gateways:

Entrance to the program
Advancing to candidacy
A praxis (reflection and action) project and portfolio defense

Admission into the program is based on your commitment to work alongside members of the community and/or youth, enact change in community contexts, and explore the relationships between theory and practice.

The major requires a series of 11 courses, which are drawn from the departments of education; history; international development, community, and environment; and sociology. These courses will guide you to critically interrogate your social world, reflexively examine your social location within that world, and actively engage in social change. The curriculum includes:

One foundation course
Three theories of understanding courses
One participatory action research methods course
Three elective courses
Three courses that support your praxis project and portfolio defense

Your portfolio can be used as part of a digital résumé.

Read the Community, Youth, and Education Studies Handbook (.pdf)

Skills you will learn include how to:

Evaluate social, cultural, political and educational inequities
Theorize identity and reflexively examine your personal location within varied social contexts
Develop theories of social change
Construct knowledge with community members through action research
Engage in collaborative community organizing

The community, youth, and education studies program has a different way of awarding honors. All students majoring in CYES will complete a senior thesis and portfolio through the required three “praxis” courses. Student work will be given a final assessment of incomplete/not pass (with instructions for revision), pass, or pass with honors.

Women’s and Gender Studies
International Development and Social Change
Sociology
Comparative Race and Ethnic Studies (concentration)
Peace Studies (concentration)

Building your foundation

The Clark Experience

We structure our curriculum around Liberal Education and Effective Practice (LEEP), which connects classroom learning with action through world and workplace experiences.

Learn More

At Clark, your education extends beyond the classroom. Visit the Career Connections Center to learn more about internship opportunities that complement your coursework and put your community, youth, and education knowledge into practice.

The CYES major is designed to help you learn outside the classroom and find ways to put your passions to good use. You should expect to participate in co-curricular events, including Difficult Dialogues seminars, special forums, and CYES student symposia.

Many students take advantage of internship opportunities during the academic year or over the summer to connect what they’re learning with their professional development.

Other opportunities include:

In alignment with Clark’s Liberal Education and Effective Practice (LEEP) curriculum, participation in a Study Abroad and Away program is an opportunity to gain world and workplace experience to complement your on-campus work. Clark approves semester, yearlong, and summer opportunities to earn credit through academic coursework, internships, community-based learning, or research. Explore our Study Abroad and Away page, where you can search programs by academic interest, location, and language; after you’ve identified some appropriate programs, ensure they fit into your four-year plan by talking with your faculty adviser as early as possible.

You can participate in Clark’s many clubs, organizations, and athletic teams as a way to complement your academic work. Here are some student organizations that might be of interest to you as a CYES student:

Internships

HOPE Coalition
Upward Bound
Claremont Academy Poetry and Art Club
Breakthrough Collaborative

Clark is committed to action-based learning, which means that as an undergraduate you can join faculty and graduate students in their research. Faculty areas of expertise include youth work, urban education, critical pedagogy, participatory action research, immigrant academic literacy, and teacher research and inquiry, among others.

You can also apply for funding to support your own research on a project of your choice during the academic year or during the summer.

Present Your Research

Clark’s annual Fall Fest and Academic Spree Day are opportunities to share your research or creative work with the Clark community while you hone your presentation skills. An example of a project presented by a CYES major is:

Mic Check: Who’s got the Power: Exploring Youth Voice in Youth-Adult Partnerships

You can also submit your research results for publication in our student-run Scholarly Undergraduate Research Journal.

At Clark you’ll get more than a great education; you’ll also be prepared for a long, productive career and life of consequence. And once you’ve completed your degree, you can join other Clark alumni who have gone on to work for great organizations and attend some of the best graduate schools in the world.

We see the CYES major as preparing our students not only to enter careers that currently exist, but also to adapt to a dynamic and diverse world and, more importantly, to become agents of future social, economic, and cultural transformations.

Some of the jobs you might go on to include:

Activist
Adjustment Counselor
Coach
Community Organizer
Community/Adult Educator
Career/College Counselor
Lawyer
Media Producer
Peace Corps Volunteer

Public Policy Advocate
Public Health Worker
Refugee Worker
Social Entrepreneur
Social Worker
Teacher
Union Organizer
Urban Planner
Volunteer Coordinator
Youth Worker

We’ve Got It Covered

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