NEOA conference

April 6, 2006

Presenting at NEOA was really great. My research was well received and it was good to bring it to people who work with this population on a daily basis. I was hesitant to get on my soap box and say that I think social and emotional development should be an aspect of Upward Bound programs, but I did mention it briefly. At the end a person from SSS at UNH said that she wanted to reaffirm what I said about the importance of social and emotional development and say that it is definitely needed. As someone who works with them when they get to college, she can see that they need it. She said in reference to my findings about their attitudes toward people who have money and not wanting to be defined by their social status that these kids don’t want to be “outed” when they get to college and they are hesitant to create a community of people like them. They can’t see beyond the money issue. She also thought that my finding about peer group membership might be related to the fact that they are planning to get out. They don’t identify with a less desirable group because they want to get out of it and they are caught in the middle.