Rich participant data yielded five themes clustered into three patterns consistent with
work hope theory: goals, pathways, and agency. Two themes in the first pattern, (a)
meaningful learning, and (b) exploring career possibilities, focused on students’ WBE
goals. Consistent with the pathways component of work hope theory, the themes in
pattern two highlighted the WBE context and emphasized (a) the importance of
relationships, and (b) growing up. The construct of agency in work hope theory was
highlighted in the third pattern and represented the students’ sense of autonomy and
confidence intertwined. These findings suggested that a work hope framework may help
us to understand the powerful effects of WBE in re-engaging many at-risk youth.