• mentors and mentees at detroit community schools
  • mentors and mentees at Inkster Prep
  • mentors and mentees at escuela avencemos
  • more mentors and mentees at Detroit Community Schools

Step Up: Community Engaged Learning

STEP UP: Be a leader and pay it forward

Step Up Be A LeaderThe “Step Up” program is a Community Engaged Learning (CEL) partnership that involves peer mentoring, student retention, and college/career transition skills provided by Detroit Mercy’s Institute for Leadership and Service. With previous grant support from the Ford Motor Company Fund, the program is facilitated by students in the Emerging Leaders Program (Leadership Capstone course) who “pay forward” their growing knowledge of leadership to assist K-12 students in developing their leadership capacity and help enhance student access to higher education and career development.

Each semester, approximately 250 students from local elementary, middle, and high schools participate in culturally and age appropriate six-week sessions to learn about:

  • Development of Leadership Capacity
  • Socio-emotional skills (Resiliency, Stress Management, Interpersonal Skills, etc.)
  • College and Work transition skills
  • Future educational and professional development

Outcomes of this CEL project include enhanced leadership capacity of both the University and K-12 students.

Step Up Student Timeline

This timeline outlines key assignments and milestones that guide Detroit Mercy students through the planning, delivery and reflection phases of the program. Through these assignments, student mentors apply leadership concepts in real-world settings by working with K-12 students from local schools.

Step 1

SEMESTER BEGINNING

Engaged Learning Pre-Assessment

Location and Team Preferences

Survey

Leadership Maps

Social Issues Paper

Step 2

BEFORE STEP UP

Needs Assessment

Action Plan

Team Contact

Step 3

STEP UP BEGINS

Session 1 - Meet and Greet

Sessions 2 - 6

Session 1 thought 6 Reflections

Step 4

AFTER STEP UP

Community Engaged Learning Post Survey

Step Up Experience Survey

Leadership User's Guide

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    Habitudes for Middle and High School Â鶹APP

    As a guide for their meetings with the middle and high school students, the Detroit Mercy undergraduates engage the students using a leadership curriculum called “Habitudes.”

    Habitudes combine visual images and relatable stories into leadership lesson plans that include short readings that create vivid imagery.

    The goal of these sessions is to initiate conversations among the students and to create memorable experiences. The Habitudes pertain to social emotional learning (SEL), the art of leading yourself, the art of connecting with others, and the art of being career ready.  They include the following topics and images: 

    • A Compass or a GPS – Self-awareness and self-efficacy 
    • Baggage Fees – Free yourself from baggage  
    • Big Rocks First – Setting priorities 
    • Cathedral Building – Look at the big picture 
    • Discipline Bridge – Self-management and self-discipline  
    • Drivers and Passengers – You are your worst enemy  
    • Emotional Fuel – Your inner circle  
    • Fun House Mirrors – Don’t lie to yourself  
    • Gift Factor – Gifted traits 
    • Golden Buddha – Trust what you’re good at  
    • Hosts and Guests – Relationship skills 
    • Iceberg – Your character defines you 
    • Life Sentence – One action can define you 
    • Opportunity Statue – Take the opportunity  
    • Pop Quiz – Embrace a challenge  
    • Pyrrhic Victory – Impulse control 
    • Rivers and Floods – Stay focused  
    • Salutes and Snubs – The reward of hard work 
    • Sturdy Guardrails – Setting boundaries 
    • The Oversized Gift – Trust something bigger than yourself 
    • The Starving Baker – Take care of yourself first before others 
    • Thermostat and Thermometer – Set your tone or let your tone set you 
    • Three Buckets – Stress management  
    • Tollbooths and Roadblocks – Rise to the occasion 
    • Trade Offs – Decision making  
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    Social Emotional Resiliency Skills (Big Life Journals) for Elementary School Â鶹APP

    As a guide for their meetings with elementary school students, Detroit Mercy undergraduates engage students using interactive printable lesson guides called “Big Life Journals”. These Big Life Journals are used by the undergraduates to guide them in developing their capabilities for growth, confidence, resiliency and positivity.  

    • Resilience 
    • Confidence and Self-Esteem 
    • Positivity and Connection  
    • Growth Mindset 
    • Kindness and Community 
    • Famous Failures 
    • Challenges 
    • New Year Goal Setting 
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    School Partnerships

    2024 – 2025 school partnerships

    • The Dearborn Academy
    • The Detroit Leadership Academy
    • West Village Academy
    • Inkster Preparatory Academy
    • Escuela Evancemos Academy
    • Southeastern High School
    • Field Elementary School
    • St. Thomas Montessori
    • Detroit Community High School
    • Detroit Community Schools (K-8)
    • Fostering Leadership Academy

    Previous school partnerships

    • Osborn High School
    • Frederick Douglass Academy
    • Jalen Rose Leadership Academy
    • Bishop Foley Catholic High School
    • St. Thecla Catholic School
    • University of Detroit Jesuit High School
    • Detroit City High School
    • Dickinson Elementary
    • Chesterton Academy of Our Lady of Guadalupe
    • Hamtramck High School
    • Loyola High School

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