Student Bridges

Student Bridges is a non-profit, student run agency that works to improve access and success for underrepresented students on the university campus and in our neighboring communities by building partnerships at UMass, with local schools and community organizations, offering college awareness, preparation, success activities, and advocating for enhanced institutional and public policies and practices. We have several goals which include:

Strategic and sustainable approach to community partnerships
Comprehensive student-support systems for student success
Policy in action and advocacy
Student staff training and professional development
Program assessment and evaluation
Dissemination

For more information. For more information.

Outcomes

In order to meet this mission, Student Bridges has four integrated components:

One

Preparatory Mentoring

Student Bridges host the Mentor Program that aims to create a supportive environment for students through fostering connections with mentors.

The program seeks to:

Educate students about the various resources available on campus,
Assist in making connections between peers, faculty, and staff
Provide academic support through workshops, skill building and identity development.

Given the nature of a large institution, many students struggle to find individuals who share their experiences and identities. This program aims to address this concern by facilitating environments among students; where student are provided the tools to help navigate campus life and foster a sense of belonging within a larger community.

Two

Community Outreach and College Awareness

Student Bridges student coordinators work with student groups, local schools, and community-based organizations to develop and implement college awareness and preparation workshops, trips to UMass, and community-based events.

Three

Advocacy

Student Bridges works with Institutional and community stakeholders, as well as national and local coalitions to advocate for policies and practices that support college access and success for underrepresented and historically marginalized students.

Four

Retention

Student Bridges collaborates with Success Centers and Registered Student Organizations to provide support and networks for underrepresented students enrolled at UMass Amherst.

Student Bridges Academic Framework and Mentorship Model

Student Bridges Agency (SB) offers multiple courses taught by the SB Director/Faulty Advisor and one taught by the SB student coordinator(s). These course bridge academic theory and practice and engage undergraduate and graduate students as tutor mentors both in the classroom and within the community through civic engagement and community-based collaborations in cities of Amherst, Holyoke and Springfield.

List of Courses

SRVCLRNG 293: Learning through Community Engagement (Fall Only) 4 credits

Students examine how race, class and a variety of historical forces shape students' access to quality education. We look at issues of racism and inequality in educational systems, and explore how deficit perspectives, standardized testing, the dismantling of affirmative action, and rising costs have affected college access for many minoritized, low-income, first- generation, and students of color.

SRVCLRNG 393: Advanced Community Service-Learning (Spring Only) 4 credits

Students work collaboratively with the youth in their community partner sites and apply their understanding of the theoretical frameworks and associated implications learned in the classroom to a selected educational issue in collaboration with the youth/mentees. Together they develop an action project or initiative.

SRVCLRNG 398: Critical Reflection Seminar/Practicum — Ambassador Program (Fall Only) 4 credits

This seminar experience is designed as an interactive and engaged reflective learning experience in which undergraduate, graduate and high school students meet as a learning community for two semesters at UMass Amherst and at the High School partner site.

SRVCLRNG 298: Peer Mentorship for College Success (Fall and Spring) 2 credits

This course is taught by two SB coordinators and advised by SB Director/Faculty Advisor. The course is designed for paired Juniors and Seniors with First year and/or transfer students who identify as underrepresented and/or first-generation in a mentorship partnership. The aim of the course is to provide sustainable and culturally responsive mentorship for undergraduate students of the UMass campus community as a strategy for increasing persistence and educational success for historically underrepresented students.

EDUC 614: College Access and Educational Equity (Spring Only) 3 credits

In partnership with the College of Education, this course is taught by SB Director/Faculty Advisor, from the Higher Education department in the College of Education. This course examines critical questions in college access and choice and addresses theories and research related to college preparation, school structures, and inequalities in college access. The course aligns with the mission of Student Bridges and SRVCLRNG 293 course. Undergraduate and graduate students contribute to building strong bonds and mentorship with students in our partner school sites that promote college access and success for first-generation and underrepresented students.

How to Apply

Who Can Apply?

Any Five-College student can register for our courses.
Only UMass Amherst students in good academic standing or per arrangement with the Student Bridges director can apply to be a part of Student Bridges.

Application Requirements:

To be a student of our course there is no application process. Any student within the Five-College consortium can register for our courses during any Add/Drop period each semester on the UMass student system SPIRE.
To apply to be a part of the student staff team please email studentbridges@umass.edu for more details.

Lauren DuBois

CESL Program: Student Bridges
Major: Sociology

In the fall of 2009, I was accepted into the yearlong Student Bridges (SB) service learning course as a tutor/mentor (TM). The after-school program where I served is in Springfield, MA at the South End Community Center (SECC). At this after-school program the focus was on science, engineering, and technology (SET) and college positive activities, reaching youth ages 11–14. In the SB course, I learned how race, class, and other factors impact student access to quality education, and through my service, I witnessed firsthand the importance of educational programs, such as the SET program. Throughout that year of service, I began to feel a sense of meaning and worth that was missing before. I have always been described as a happy person, smiling and laughing most of the time, but after that year, I didn’t just look happy, I felt happy. The youth, the SB family, and the Springfield community partners I worked with gave me the support and love necessary for such positive growth to take place.

In the fall of 2010, I was hired by Student Bridges as a site coordinator to run the SECC site. In this new position, I worked directly with Karen Barshefsky, the 4-H Extension Educator who wrote a five-year Children, Youth, and Families at Risk grant that funded Student Bridges to be able to form a reciprocal partnership with the Springfield community. As a SB site coordinator, my responsibilities included: SET curriculum design, program and TM evaluation, supervising a team of TMs, and acting as a liaison between SB, UMass 4-H program, and the SECC. The responsibilities I had that year pushed my confidence and shaped my future goals. I knew that I wanted to remain a core member of the community partnerships in order to promote, organize, and deliver educational programs. When I heard that a 4-H Extension Educator professional position opened up to work with the grant I had been working with for the last two years, I knew that I wanted that position.

In the fall of 2011, I was hired as that 4-H Extension Educator to oversee the Springfield SET program. Working with Student Bridges and the Massachusetts 4-H Extension Youth Development Program has been a life-changing experience. I now have a career that pushes me to grow positively every day. I am doing what I love—working and interacting with people and learning about their lives, as well as my own.

Service-learning is all about relationships. In the process of building those relationships, one is also building a relationship with themselves and the world around them.