Hospice

The Hospice of the Florida Suncoast and the University of South Florida St. Petersburg plan to partner Hospice’s nationally recognized teen program with USF St. Petersburg’s distinctive Leadership Studies program.  This partnership encourages at-risk and disadvantaged high school youth to attend college to develop leadership knowledge and skills for personal growth, career development and community-building.  Most of these students will work and live in their original communities thus increasing the general quality of life through enhanced leadership at all levels of civic engagement.

Program
This partnership builds on Hospice’s successful teen program , Hospice Youth Providing Encouragement (HYPE), by identifying emerging leaders in high school who may qualify for admission to the USF St. Petersburg and thus enroll in the Leadership Studies program. These emerging leaders receive mentoring and, as needed, tutoring from USF St. Petersburg students and staff. Former high school HYPE participants who are now USF St. Petersburg students have formed a student organization for the purpose of providing the needed support and mentoring.

USF HYPE sponsors joint activities with high school HYPE chapters. In addition to core Hospice programs, this includes advisors and workshops to assist with making application to USF , including SAT preparation, if needed.  Once the HYPE students enroll at USF, they begin USF St. Petersburg’s Leadership Studies program and upper-division USF HYPE students continue the mentoring process. In turn, USF HYPE students are mentored by faculty, staff, and adult Hospice staff and volunteers.

This process is self sustaining with students learning and mentoring throughout all levels to uplift one another.

Hospice Youth Providing Encouragement
Hospice Youth Providing Encouragement (HYPE) is a youth directed program that provides opportunities for high school students of the mid-town area of St Pete to provide volunteer services for hospice patients (and others who are disabled or home bound) in their community.  These experiences support hospice patients as well as empower youth who may otherwise lack opportunities for fully recognizing their self worth and leadership potential.

• Funded by the Eckerd Family Foundation in March 2005, and operating under the auspices of The Hospice of the Florida Suncoast, the program trains, coordinates, and supports the teens as they provide a variety of care giving services such as
• Lifetime Legacies (assist patients in telling their life stories) via video interviews, scrapbooks, slide shows, etc;
• Cheer Teams (create art projects or flower arrangements and deliver to patients);
• the HYPE performing arts team which provides musical performances (song or dance) to encourage patients

The program is organized to provide the teens with opportunities for personal growth, as well as leadership development.  Using a team structure, teens work with other teens according to their activity interests and their availability schedule.  Each team has a teen captain who coordinates attendance, transportation, etc, and the entire group has selected a leadership team, which is responsible for meeting agendas, conducting the meetings, coordinating and presenting additional activities such as participation in fundraisers and outreach events.

Surveys of HYPE students who have volunteered for 5 months or longer indicate the following outcomes:

• After training, 90% participate in an average of 3.1 activities/month
• 50% of youth have leadership roles, including team captains, leadership team, and outreach speakers
• 77% of youth leaders are rated as “good leaders” by adult program staff.  In informal feedback from the teens, 58% were rated as “good leaders.” 
• 92% of teens report increased appreciation of older Hospice patients and their life stories
• 89% report better understanding of death as a normal part of the life cycle, and better understanding of the life stages and dying processes
• 100% indicate that they have a greater sense of belonging
• 100% say they have a more positive outlook on life
• 90% complete assignments, with 36% showing “perfect attendance” on every assignment
• 100% gave positive responses regarding their satisfaction with HYPE volunteer experiences
• 100% experienced a greater sense of “giving back” and found their volunteer work to be personally rewarding
• 100% found peer-to-peer mentoring to be valuable, with 45% saying it was VERY valuable and 18% saying EXTREMELY valuable

Building on these impressive outcomes, Hospice and USF St. Petersburg propose to provide the most worthy and meritorious of these students with leadership study and development at the collegiate level.

Leadership Studies

• USF St. Petersburg’s Leadership Studies is an academic program that emphasizes ethics and the critical connections between theory and practice. It develops leadership knowledge and skills and, along the way, it develops interpersonal understanding and competence. A variety of teaching methods are used including interactive classroom activities and service learning. Since HYPE already employs student based experiential learning, course assignments easily build on familiar themes and experiences. This is a natural connection that facilitates higher level learning.
• The Leadership Studies program can result in a minor that consists of six courses that range from the introductory skill based course, Leadership Fundamentals, which students take their first year, to field practice in the Community Leadership Practicum.  It culminates in upper-division courses such as the popular Ethics and Power in Leadership. Since Leadership Studies can result in a minor, all students are free to choose any major.

Students consistently report significant learning with 96% rating the courses as very good or excellent. Each course has specified learning objectives and outcomes. For example, Leadership Fundamentals requires students to:

• Explore their personal leadership characteristics and potentials, and be able to use this self -knowledge to enhance existing leadership strengths and to acquire new leadership skills.
• Develop specific communication skills and be able to apply them to improve group effectiveness.
• Study group dynamics and be able to apply specific principles and skills to improve group effectiveness.
• Analyze the ethical dimensions of leadership and be able to recognize the moral dimensions of leadership issues and use basic ethical principles to make decisions.
• Identify basic characteristics of complex organizations and be able to recommend an effective a change process and general organizational structure.
• Examine the nature and importance of community building and be able to use this knowledge, as well as the foregoing knowledge and skills, to improve one’s community.

Student reflection papers and activity based assessments document that almost 100% of students demonstrate at least acceptable accomplishment of learning objectives and outcomes for all courses. This is required in order to pass the course.

Funding Sought

A total of $12,000 is sought to provide scholarships to six promising first year students who demonstrate exceptional promise for leadership through Hospice’s teen leadership development programs. Each scholarship includes tuition, fees and books for Leadership Fundamentals, Community Leadership Practicum, and Ethics and Power in Leadership. Each also includes a paid practicum with Hospice or other social service agency ($500) and preparation for the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) as needed.

Students would be expected to pass courses with at least a “B” and maintain an overall 2.5 GPA to continue in the program.