Chapter 11: Meeting: A Conduit for Vulnerability and Hope

“All real living is meeting” said Martin Buber. This research examines a program that brings together troubled youth and aspiring education majors to “meet” that inspires vulnerability and hope.

“Meeting” begins with the lifelong process of self-discovery and identity and is the lexis that brings both educators and students wholeness and life. To help us better understand this process of “meeting” we will examine a unique intervention program that embraces a humanistic and spiritual model that is transforming youth who come from high-risk settings and some of our aspiring education majors.

By “meeting” we mean the capacity for connectedness—connections with ourselves, our subjects and with our students so that they can see the world more truthfully for themselves. “Meeting” begins with the lifelong process of self-discovery and identity and is the lexis that brings both educators and students wholeness and life.