30 Summer Bridge students ended their short stint at Baker last week with a slew of finals. These recent high school graduates came to Baker as a jumpstart to college, a way to put them six credit hours ahead of the rest.

“I think it’s a really good program and it’s going to prepare us for college later on,” Deamonte Sykes, a student from Sumner Academy of Arts and Sciences, said. “The professors taught us how to study and be proactive, how to ask questions and the ways of being a step ahead of everyone else.”

Most of the students in the Summer Bridge program are Kauffman Scholars. The Kauffman Scholars program is based in Kansas City, Kan., and Kansas City, Mo., and was started as an initiative to get students in these areas to attend college.

Summer Bridge Program freshmen Ana Guerrero and Tania Vega blow up balloons as apart of a prank war involving the men and women living in the New Living Center. Guerrero and Vega plan to attend the University of Kansas in the fall.Khadijah Lane

Students apply for the Kauffman Scholars program at the end of their sixth grade year and are required attend different preparatory classes. Sykes said he joined due to the program’s promise of free college.

“It definitely isn’t easy,” Sykes said. “But knowing that it is going to be worth it is what keeps me in the program and attending things like (the Summer Bridge program.)”

It was a grant from the Kauffman Foundation that helped start Baker’s Summer Bridge program four years ago. Former University President Pat Long asked the department of Student Academic Succes to develop the program as a means of providing incoming freshmen with an early and intensive collegiate experience.

During this year’s five-week program, students engage in what Director Carrie Coward Bucher calls “an academic boot camp,” earning six college credits in either the health science track or social science track. The health science classes offered were Human Genetics, led by Professor of Biology Darcy Russell, and Introduction to Psychology, taught by Assistant Professor of Psychology Robyn Long. For social sciences, Coward Bucher taught Principles of Sociology and Associate Professor of Mass Media Dave Bostwick taught Mass Media and Society.

“Our evaluations show that the (Bridge program) has a positive impact on freshman GPA, with the biggest boost going to the highest achieving students,” Coward Bucher said via email. “The program is good for the university in that it gives students an early opportunity to see our strengths, to cultivate strong ties to the university and to set a high bar for their time here.”

Although many of the Summer Bridge students won’t be attending Baker in the fall, the five-week stretch gave them a good feel for the campus. The students stayed in the New Living Center and ate in the campus cafeteria.

Sykes’ classmate Adrian Williams will be attending the University of Kansas in August but said he came to learn a lot about what it means to be a Wildcat.

“It’s a good environment here,” Williams said. “You get to be close with your professors. I saw that in only four weeks. It isn’t the school for me, but it’s a great learning environment.”

The program has served 86 students in its four years and evaluations show that early success in college is most likely to lead to further success. Coward Bucher believes that the program is not only a strong asset for the university, but has been an enjoyable part of her job as well.

“I was really thankful to have been allowed to work as the originator and director of the program and it is, easily, one of the most enjoyable parts of my job,” Coward Bucher said.