Showing Up, Remaining Engaged, and Partaking as Students: Resilience Among Students of Mexican Descent

Abstract

This paper examines the ways in which 12 high school students of Mexican descent remain resilient amid difficult and stressful realities. Through an examination of students' interview responses, a case is made that students' ability to engage in school and figure out everyday ways to partake as students are signs of resilience. This work suggests the need to shift from a focus on single, specific stressful situations or experiences to a more accurate and less essentialized understanding of both constraints and capabilities around student engagement and well-being.

Keywords:

• resilience
• urban youth
• urban schools
• adolescents
• academic engagement
• learning