Baker University teachers and student mentors will be collaborating to offer a month-long Summer Bridge Program on campus for the second year beginning June 18.
The Summer Bridge Program is a program in partnership with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, an organization based in Kansas City, Mo. According to its website, the mission of the foundation is “to foster a society of economically independent individuals who are engaged citizens, contributing to the improvement of their communities.”
The Summer Bridge Program offers rising college freshmen an intensive academic experience through a five-week program on Baker’s campus.
“I think it demonstrates the best of Baker in that it shows our commitment to student success,” Carrie Coward Bucher, coordinator of student achievement, said. “When I think about the opportunity to run this program, I get a big sense of pride that I work for a university that sticks so strongly to the principles of advancement through education that we are willing to invest in a program like this. It is reflective of our strong leadership and the family-like community that Baker has.”
While in the program students are enrolled in economics and sociology classes, earning six credit hours to take into their first year of college. The two courses will be Economic Analysis of Social Issues, taught by Alan Grant, professor of business and economics, and Introduction to Sociology, taught by Jacob Bucher, assistant professor of sociology.
“The time is more condensed, like a summer session equivalent in terms of the length,” Bucher said. “It’s not just, ‘here, you read this and then we’ll come talk about it in class,’ but it’s me … pounding at the issues and taking time outside of class.”
In addition to teachers for the program, student mentors are also needed. Six sophomores, juniors and seniors with at least a 3.0 GPA “who can create a fun and supportive environment in the middle of a rigorous academic schedule” are needed to act as tutors, mentors or teaching assistants.
“In the evenings, we would have a study session for about four hours … and during these study sessions, we would just help them with any homework they may have had during the day,” senior John Babb, a mentor in last year’s program, said. “Then a couple times a week we would have to mentor our particular groups and we would have something called community time where we would do a couple of fun activities and then eat some food after that.”
To apply for a position, students must submit a cover letter, resume, unofficial transcript and a faculty recommendation letter. All materials are due March 9.
Compensation includes housing and meals, along with the pay equal to Resident Assistant wages plus tutoring wages.
In its first year, students who attended the program were mostly Kauffman scholars who did not end up attending Baker. Coward Bucher is hopeful to double the enrollment of students to 30 this year, with at least 10 of those enrolling at Baker in the fall.
“We were really pleased with our success last year as we saw students acquire an understanding of what was necessary in college,” Coward Bucher said. “We had great grades and great experiences.”
