Participants completed an English course to earn four St. Norbert College credits
By Jeff Kurowski | On Mission
DE PERE — A group of 11 high school students got a head start on college this summer, including earning four college credits.
St. Norbert College (SNC) brought back its Bridge to Pre-College program, which was last offered in 2020. The students met virtually for two weeks before arriving on campus on June 23 for a week of learning activities, speakers and classes.
The goal of the program is to “give them a taste of what college is like,” said Tori McNeal, assistant director for Black Student Support at SNC. “This (free) program is open to all students across the state of Wisconsin who may receive free or reduced lunch, serving different populations of students to expose them more to higher education.”
Students in the group were from Green Bay, De Pere and Milwaukee. They spent half of each day in the classroom for an English 101 course, which earned them the credits.
“The second part of the day they’ve been focusing more on career readiness, networking, for example,” said McNeal, who co-directed the program with Bola Delano-Orian, Ph.D., professor of Teacher Education and dean of Education, Community and Global Engagement at SNC.
“We had different career professionals come in to talk to them about the different fields that they’re interested in,” said McNeal. “For example, we have students interested in the medical field, so we were able to get a nurse to interact with the students.”
Program speakers also included Dominique Carter, former White House assistant director for Agricultural Services, Innovation and Workforce; Amanda Garcia, executive director of Casa ALBA Melanie in Green Bay; and Stephanie Faudoa, St. Norbert College Student Government Association president, who is an alum of the Bridge program.
“The students toured St. Norbert College and spent time visiting different departments on campus,” said McNeal. “Our Tech Bar was a huge hit. It’s where our ITS (Information Technology Services) is housed, They have different stations from podcasts to visual learning to photography. The students were able to channel their creativity.”
The Bridge students recorded a podcast in the ITS Tech Bar, located in Cofrin Hall, and shared their views about the program.
Pamela Jacome, who will be a sophomore at Notre Dame Academy in Green Bay, said that she learned a lot about herself through the Bridge experience, in addition to becoming more familiar with college life.
“I never thought I would be good with presentations or that I would be good with research,” she said. “I found out that I’m good at it. I want to do more research and more presentations at school. This inspired me to do more.”
Jacome, who wants to be a neurosurgeon, added, “We had a lot of mentors who used to be in the Bridge program. I would like to be one of those people. You should take advantage of these programs. This gives you experience. You get credits. You gain so much knowledge.”
“Seeing high school students take ownership of their futures is inspiring,” said McNeal. “I graduated from (SNC) in 2013. This kind of reminds me of when I was in school. They are getting a head start on their careers that many of us wish we had back in high school. It’s exciting to see them grow from our first virtual call at 8 a.m. in the morning until our last day.”
The Bridge students stayed in a residence hall during the week and ate meals on campus. Off-campus activities included a trip to Wisconsin Dells on the final day.
Developing friendships was a part of the experience, said Jacome.
“In the beginning, they told me it would be like a new family for us,” she said. “I’m really shy, so I never thought I would be able to connect with them. Now, I’m like, we’re going to be inseparable this summer. We made a group chat. We are going to meet two times each week.”
“We will continue to interact with (the students),” said McNeal. “We hope to do this program again, so keeping that relationship with the students is important. We are also keeping relationships with the schools.”
“We asked (the students) at the end of each day, ‘What do we like? What do we dislike? What should we keep? What should we stop? What should we change?’” she added. “We definitely want their input.”