Youth Leaders in Kūpuna Health- Microcredential Program

Brief Description:
Youth Leaders in Kūpuna Health exposes students to career opportunities in aging. By providing real world experiences with residents at Arcadia senior living — shadowing nurses and activities staff — they see firsthand the skill, dignity, and connection in this work. By the end of the summer, they’ve developed and implemented their own service learning project and earned a UH digital badge for it: real, portable proof of eldercare training and professionalism. The digital badge demonstrates a verifiable set of skills that are recognized by employers.
Background:
UH Center on Aging has created this microcredential program n partnership with the Hawaii Workforce Pipeline (HWP), Arcadia, Hawaii Department of Education (HDOE), and the Kūpuna Collective. The goal is to foster in high school students an increased awareness and understanding about aging, stronger empathy towards older adults, better soft skills including person-centered communication, and feel empowered to take action to improve the lives of older adults. The program targets public high school students in Health Career and Technical Education and Health Academy programs as well as private high school students.
Students earn a UH-issued digital badge. For students going to college, the digital badge can be part of their college and scholarship applications. For students who plan to work after high school, the badge can be part of their resume, LinkedIn profile, and email signature. COA is building industry recognition for this badge across senior living communities and other organizations in the Kūpuna Collective and aging network. 
Earning Criteria:
  • Complete mandatory eldercare training that includes empathy, person-centered communication, and dementia care, 
  • Complete a minimum of 60hrs of onsite work-based learning
  • Participate in regular check-ins to share progress, successes, and challenges
  • Design and implement a service project aligned to supporting eldercare needs
  • Submit a final work-based learning written reflection
  • Conduct oral presentation of service project learning and outcomes
Skills:
  1. Elderly care
  2. Empathy
  3. Empowerment
  4. Companionship
Alignments:
Association for Gerontology in Higher Education Gerontology Competency Framework
This digital badge aligns with national standards across gerontology education, workforce development, and service-learning. Competencies are informed by the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education Gerontology Competency Framework.
National Youth Leadership Council K–12 Service-Learning Standards
This digital badge aligns with national standards across gerontology education, workforce development, and service-learning. The experiential components reflect best practices from the National Youth Leadership Council K–12 Service-Learning Standards. 
National Association of Colleges and Employers
The program also supports career readiness competencies identified by the National Association of Colleges and Employers 
For more information, contact Christy Nishita, Ph.D at cnishita@hawaii.edu

To enhance the well-being of older adults through interdisciplinary and collaborative efforts in research, educational programs, and service to the community

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  • Mail : uhcoa@hawaii.edu

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