THE HUMAN FACTORS WHICH ACTED AS A DRIVING FORCE FOR INSPIRING IMPOVERISHED, RURAL STUDENTS TO SUCCESSFULLY PURSUE POST-SECONDARY EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY

<p><strong>A</strong><strong>BSTRACT</strong></p> <p>THE HUMAN FACTORS WHICH ACTED AS A DRIVING FORCE FOR INSPIRING IMPOVERISHED, RURAL STUDENTS TO SUCCESSFULLY PURSUE POST-SECONDARY EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY</p> <p>By</p> <p>Adam E. Lucas</p> <p>This qualitative study explored how students from rural poverty were able to find the motivation from an adult-role model to pursue post-secondary academic opportunity. This study used an open-ended questionnaire to elicit responses from four recent high school graduates who are currently enrolled in a post-secondary academic institution. The questionnaire asked the student participants to identify a specific adult individual, as well as the attributes about this individual that acted as motivation to successfully pursue post-secondary academics. In a second phase of questionnaires, the adult-role models identified by the student participants are asked about their perception of the student participants’ motivation to pursue post-secondary academic opportunities.</p> <p>Results yielded eleven sub-themes and four overlying themes. Students were in-fact able to identify a specific adult who acted as a motivational factor for their pursuit of post-secondary academics; students could define attributes about this individual, which they deemed motivational; a differentiated and engaging relationship between the student and adult role-model participants developed; and due to the relationships cultivated in each student and adult-role model case, student participants were able to internalize how the actions exhibited by an adult-role model affected the adult-role model’s future and were therefore able to incorporate similar practices into their own lives in order to achieve successful outcomes of their own.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Education Specialist

Level thesis:degree_level

Education Specialist

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Education, Leadership and Public Service

Year dc:date.available

2019

Author dc:creator

• Lucas, Adam

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dr. Joseph Lubig

• Motivation
• Student
• Impoverished
• Rural
• Post-Secondary
• Free and Reduced Priced Lunch
• Poverty
• Secondary School

Repository record dc:identifier

https://commons.nmu.edu/theses/584

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:commons.nmu.edu:theses-1596