Date of Award
6-2026
Document Type
Dissertation
Publisher
Santa Clara : Santa Clara University, 2026
Degree Name
Doctor of Education (EdD)
Abstract
Boys of color arrive in educational spaces already carrying sophisticated, adversity-tested forms of community cultural wealth. Yet dominant educational frameworks operate from a deficit assumption, designing programs around what these young men lack rather than what they possess. This qualitative study examined how participation in structured experiential learning programs contributes to the development and activation of community cultural wealth among Latinx young men, and which program elements are most critical for fostering that activation.
Drawing on Bourdieu's (1986, 1990) theory of capital and field, Yosso's (2005) community cultural wealth framework, and Kolb's (2015) experiential learning cycle, this study analyzed in-depth interviews with five Summer Search Bay Area alumni using qualitative thematic analysis.
Findings reveal that participants arrived at Summer Search carrying operational forms of aspirational, familial, navigational, social, and resistant capital that predated the program by years. Rather than developing capital, Summer Search created the field conditions under which existing capital surfaced and became consciously deployable. Three program conditions emerged as most critical: a field change dramatic enough to make existing capital operative, sustained cross-cultural and cross-class contact that produced relational intelligence, and mentorship infrastructure that converted what experience revealed into deliberately portable practice. The study also identifies four distinct mentorship functions connected to each stage of Kolb's experiential learning cycle.
These findings extend Yosso's CCW framework into outdoor and wilderness settings, contribute the activation distinction as a new conceptual frame, and offer practical design principles for educators and organizations working to support Latinx young men.
Recommended Citation
Luna, José Oscar, "Breaking the Cycle: How Experiential Learning Helps Boys of Color Transform Their Lives Through Cultural Wealth" (2026). Social Justice in Educational Leadership EdD Dissertations. 29.
https://scholarcommons.scu.edu/ed_dissertations/29
