Bridge program to continue with new name, structure

By Richard Nieva

Santa Clara's Bridge program, which aims to ease the transition into higher education for students of color and first-generation college students, will not end after this year, although it is currently undergoing a transformation process.

"This is an opportunity for us to really update and revise what we've been doing to be consistent with the best practices around the nation and learn from the grant and apply that to the program," said Tim Haskell, director of first year programs.

Recently, the program's future was in question with the grant from the James Irvine Foundation set to expire on June 30. The grant has funded the program since its inception in 2003. Now, the university has committed to taking on the program.

Haskell, along with Leadership Excellence and Academic Development Programs Coordinator Rosa Guerra-Sarabia, Dean of Academic Support Services for the Drahmann Center Nedra Shunk and Vice Provost for Student Life Jeanne Rosenberger, has met with Provost Lucia Gilbert several times to discuss revamping the program.

Haskell said the provost has asked them to prepare an outline of the revised program and to build a budget proposal.

"My sense is, based on what the provost has charged us to do, that it will certainly meet and exceed, to some extent, the funding from last year," Haskell said. "But that hasn't been determined at this point."

Guerra-Sarabia said they hope to get an answer before the school year ends.

Under new institutional funding, the program would be renamed the LEAD Scholars program.

The Bridge program consists of a two-and-a-half-week period during the summer immediately before fall quarter in which 30 participants undergo an intensive regimen to familiarize themselves with college life.

They enroll in English, religious studies and, in some cases, chemistry courses before the other freshmen. They are also informed of Career Center and Drahmann Center services.

Though the program is rigorously academic, the focus is also on community building and creating a support network for the students.

"Had I not gone through it, and had I not had the support system I had this year, it would be very tough for me to go through my freshman year here, which is very demanding, very challenging," said freshman Jose Arreola, a Bridge student.

These challenges were not intellectual ones for Arreola, who said he felt he was prepared academically. They instead came in the form of social hardships.

Arreola said he has experienced adversity and racism during his freshman year at Santa Clara. One example he gave was often being mistaken as someone who doesn't attend the university. Ignorant statements, compounded with being away from his family, made his first year a difficult one.

He credited his Bridge support network for helping him through it.

"I'm really not sure if I would have made it through. I might have just said, 'You know what, Santa Clara's not right for me. I want to go somewhere else,'" Arreola said.

Arreola is a first-generation college student and understands the different challenges presented to minority students.

"Everybody, no matter where you come from, needs support in their first year of college. People who need the most support are students that come from underprivileged backgrounds," he said.

Spending time with a comforting group of peers who have had similar struggles is beneficial to the students and integral to their experience, said Guerra-Sarabia, who herself is a first-generation college student.

"Overall, I think the diversity that it builds lets you have a cohort of students who are just empowered and really motivated to be good Santa Clara students," said Guerra-Sarabia.

According to Guerra-Sarabia, Bridge students become more active in university life, often times in the form of Associated Students members, community facilitators or orientation leaders.

Expansion of the program would mean doubling the amount of participants from 30 to 60 students and shortening the summer component to one week instead of two and a half.

A larger group and shortened duration could mean a loss of intimacy, said Arreola.

"It's tough, it's definitely tough. I have met a lot of people here that would have really benefited from Bridge," said Areolla. "That, I think, was a limitation this year -- that we couldn't take on every student that deserved it."

Added features of the program mean not only reconnecting during the rest of their first year, but during the rest of the students' four years at Santa Clara, Haskell said.

The focus now, according to both Haskell and Guerra-Sarabia, is helping students to graduate. This could include helping juniors find internship opportunities and helping with resumes, said Guerra-Sarabia.

Another objective of the expansion, Haskell said, is to embed as much of the CML and LEAD Scholars program into the rest of the general order of the university and have elements of the program touch outside aspects of university life.

One example he gave is having RLC advisors play more of a role in relationship with LEAD Scholars.

"These next steps are exciting for the university, and I think, honestly, this is something we can look at and say, 'Concrete. Santa Clara is making an effort to better support students of color, first-generation college students and students in economic need,' " he said.

The vision is grand, but Haskell said the group has to start small and build up periodically.

"I think that we have the framework in place to really expand it. It just takes time," he said.

Contact Richard Nieva at (408) 554-4546 or rnieva@scu.edu.