As new school year quickly approaches, transitioning from high school to college is on many students’ minds. To soothe the anxious future scholars, Bucks County Community College is once again offering its Summer Bridge Program to rising high school seniors as well as new, current and returning Bucks students, with the goal to ease their transition to college and provide them with resources to succeed in higher education.
The program is a collaboration between Bucks’ Language and Literature Program and the Academic Success Center. “For a few years, we’ve been working to the develop the program as an initiative from my department and the Academic Success Center to help students transition to college and help them get a head-start into the fall semester,” says Nicole C. Tracey, the Language and Literature Dean as well as one of the Summer Bridge Program Coordinators.
The Program officially launched in Summer 2021 and welcomed 19 students at the time.
This year, 15 students attended the Program’s orientation on June 27, 2022. Tracey disclosed that the program was “affected by the pandemic.” As travel restrictions were raised, several applicants expressed interest in the Program but were unable to fit it into their schedule. “We’re hoping that they’ll keep us in mind next year,” says Tracey.
Summer Bridge Program runs from July 6 to Aug. 12, with all in-person courses being held at the Newtown Campus. The Program enables students to get a head-start on their academic coursework by offering several different courses ranging from 1 to 4 credits over the six-week period.
“We’re offering English composition, reading and math courses, college success courses and guided studies so that the students can try to move to their next level,” Tracey explained.
The math courses are offered by the Bucks STEM Department.
Summer Bridge includes lunchtime programming between 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays so that all the Bridge students, even though they may be in different courses, can come together for various workshops and talks from visitors.
The workshops are run by the Academic Success Center and provide guidance on time management, learning strategies, class participation, and higher education terminology. One of the more popular workshops is Sylla-what? which focuses on the understanding of the syllabus and explaining how students can use it to their advantage throughout the year.
The workshops also include guest appearances from various Bucks departments such as the Financial Aid office, Advising and Transfer, and Library Services so that the students “can learn more about what’s available for them at the college,” says Tracey.
A new addition to the Summer Bridge Program this year is the involvement of Bucks’ Wellness Center which hopes to incorporate more fun activities such as a low ropes course and a group tour around Tyler Hall.
One of the requirements to participate in the Program is Placement Testing for reading and writing (if pre-requisites are not met). Placement Test in math is highly recommended (if pre-requisites are not met) but not required. “We really just want to make sure that the students are placed in the correct course from the beginning so there is no interruption within the 6-week period,” expressed Tracey.
The Program is run by Tracey as well as Denise May, a Reading coordinator; Sharon Estes, a Composition coordinator; Meg Eubank, one of Bucks’ Reading professors; and Lauren Humphries, the Academic Success Center Director.
If you have any questions about the Program, please contact the coordinators at [email protected]. Additional information about the Program can be found at www.bucks.edu/summer-bridge.