Bringing Positive Psychology to the Footlights After-School Center

This paper is the report on a service learning project conducted by four students in 2006 as part of the Masters of Applied Positive Psychology program at the University of Pennsylvania. The paper describes a proposal for applying positive psychology at Footlights – a performing arts after-school center for underprivileged teenagers in Hartford, CT. The paper describes Footlights, including daily operations, instructors and participating teenagers. It then outlines a proposed application plan for introducing and using positive psychology at the center. It concludes with an overview of the relevant empirical research that constitutes the basis for the proposed application plan. Appendices give the plan in more detail and describe a particular exercise included in the plan.