Empowering Black and Latinx Boys in Their Postsecondary Journeys: The Role of School Communities

Mar 14, 2024

1 min

Roderick L. Carey

In a new study published in the American Educational Research Journal, Roderick L. Carey, assistant professor in the University of Delaware's College of Education and Human Development, offers a rich, ethnographic case study on how Black and Latinx boys imagine their postsecondary futures.


With attention to the students’ first-person narratives about their school experiences and personal aspirations, Carey shows how their high school—a Mid-Atlantic college preparatory school in the United States—ultimately fails to understand and support their college, career and personal aspirations for life after graduation.




“College is just one facet of a broader interconnected life that adolescents need support in imagining,” said Carey, who teaches and conducts research within CEHD’s Department of Human Development and Family Sciences. “Postsecondary future selves is a concept that folds together three pieces of that broader life—college, career and life condition, or ‘the 3Cs.’ By focusing on one, and ignoring the other two, educators miss the mark.”


Carey is available to talk about this new study as well as the possible solutions to this issue. Her has been recently featured in Technical.ly and WHYY, an NPR affiliate. 


He can be contacted via his profile. 

Connect with:
Roderick L. Carey

Roderick L. Carey

Associate Professor, Human Development and Family Sciences

Prof. Carey's research serves to make sense of the school experiences of black and Latino adolescent boys and young men in urban contexts.

Teacher EducationPost-Secondary EducationDevelopmental PsychologyAfrican American Education‎Latino Education
Powered by

You might also like...

Check out some other posts from University of Delaware

How Electric Vehicles Could Power Homes and Support the Electric Grid featured image

1 min

How Electric Vehicles Could Power Homes and Support the Electric Grid

University of Delaware researchers Willett Kempton and Rodney McGee are advancing technologies and standards that allow electric vehicles to send electricity back to homes and the power grid. Known as vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology, this approach could help consumers manage electricity costs, provide backup power and improve grid reliability. Kempton pioneered vehicle-to-grid research at the University of Delaware nearly three decades ago, helping establish the foundation for using electric vehicles as mobile energy storage systems. McGee chaired the development of SAE J3068, an automotive communications standard that supports more affordable bidirectional charging. As automakers, including Ford, move toward bringing bidirectional power technology to more affordable electric vehicles, Kempton and McGee can explain how it works, what it means for consumers and utilities, and how it could shape the future of transportation and energy. Areas of Expertise • Electric vehicles • Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology • Bidirectional charging • Energy storage • Electric power grids • Automotive engineering • Renewable energy • EV charging standards To connect with Kempton directly and arrange an interview, visit his ExpertFile profile and click on the "contact" button. Interested journalists can also email MediaRelations@udel.edu to email Kempton or McGee.

Two years after the 2024 election, where does civil discourse stand? featured image

1 min

Two years after the 2024 election, where does civil discourse stand?

Election season has brought the expected vicious political campaign ads, heated online disagreements and difficult dinner table conversations with family and friends. But the University of Delaware’s Timothy Shaffer says there’s still room for civil discourse. Shaffer, UD’s inaugural Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Chair of Civil Discourse, studies how people can engage across significant differences while maintaining the relationships and democratic institutions that make disagreement possible. As chair of UD's SNF Ithaca Initiative, Shaffer works with students, educators and civic leaders to develop and practice constructive engagement across differences. He can comment on the following through the lens of the first midterm election since the vitriolic 2024 general elections. • What has changed since 2024: How have the past two years affected the way Americans talk about politics, disagreement and democracy? • Polarization and dialogue: Is political disagreement itself the problem, or is the greater challenge engaging constructively across differences? • The role of disagreement: Why civil discourse doesn't require consensus and how listening to competing perspectives can strengthen democratic engagement. • Politics and personal relationships: How to navigate political differences with family, friends, neighbors and colleagues without letting disagreements become personal. • Social media and the 2026 election: How online environments shape political conversations, what Shaffer expects as Election Day approaches, and how people can engage more constructively across differences. To reach Shaffer and arrange an interview, visit his profile page and click on the "contact" button. Interested reporters can also send an email to MediaRelations@udel.edu.

Blood Clots Can Sideline Elite Athletes. Could Microrobots Offer a New Approach? featured image

1 min

Blood Clots Can Sideline Elite Athletes. Could Microrobots Offer a New Approach?

Blood clots have sidelined or ended the careers of several elite athletes, drawing attention to a potentially life-threatening condition. The University of Delaware's Sambeeta Das is part of a team that has developed tiny, magnetically guided robots that could offer a new approach to removing such blockages. The list of athletes affected by blood clots includes NBA champion Chris Bosh, whose career ended after recurring clots; tennis great Serena Williams, who survived two life-threatening pulmonary embolisms; San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama, who was shut down in February 2025 when deep vein thrombosis was discovered in his right shoulder; and Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts, whose recent diagnosis of blood clots in his lungs has drawn national attention. In a published study, Das and her colleagues demonstrated that magnetic microrobots could mechanically break apart clusters of human liver cancer cells and clear them from narrow channels designed to model blood vessels. The robots used mechanical forces rather than drugs or chemicals to disperse the clusters. The research offers an early proof of concept for using microrobots to remove unwanted cellular material in confined spaces. Das can discuss how the technology works, its potential application to blood-clot removal, the challenges of targeting blockages inside the body, and what further research is needed to explore its use in patients. To contact Das and arrange an interview, visit her profile and click the “Contact” button. Reporters can also email MediaRelations@udel.edu.

View all posts