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Summer Bridge Program - History
History of the Summer Bridge Program
Student retention across the nation is of major concern for faculty and administrators of institutions of higher education. Of even greater concern are the retention and success rates of many minority students, in particular African-American students. Therefore, African American members of the faculty and staff of Anne Arundel Community College joined together as the Black Student Success Team (BSST) to address this national concern at the local level by supporting and further developing college-wide strategies to retain and graduate African American students.
Participate in Summer Bridge and then move on to the Student Achievement and Success Program (SASP).
The BSST at AACC was established in 2000. The African American faculty and staff held brainstorming meetings to generate programs that would:
One outgrowth of these brainstorming sessions was to initiate a Summer Bridge Program that provides assistance to incoming African American students to assure their success when they enter AACC.
Beginning in 2001, the Summer Bridge Program utilized the efforts of AACC’s faculty and staff to introduce approximately 25 students each summer to the college’s numerous programs as well as to reinforce students’ academic skills.
The Summer Bridge Program, a joint faculty and student services initiative, is part of a broader, year-round college-wide program, the Student Achievement and Success Program (SASP), that serves under-prepared newly enrolled students. Faculty continues to serve as mentors - monitoring and supporting -Summer Bridge students as they complete Summer Bridge and move in to the Student Achievement and Success Program (SASP).
"One thing that impressed me about the Summer Bridge Program was how many teachers were willing to take the time and help us."
SBP Student, 2003
Mission of the Black Student Success Team
The mission of the Black Student Success Team is to augment the existing college-wide programs and activities at AACC to more effectively and expeditiously improve the success rates of the African American students (recruitment, retention and goal attainment) through collaboration with the various responsible departments reflecting the college's Strategic Plan.
The BSST team works to enable more African-American students to fully develop their talents, energy and interests, to pursue their unique potential and to achieve an intellectually, culturally and economically satisfying relationship with society. Such opportunity should be easily accessible and readily available to all of the African-American residents in Anne Arundel County.
Last Updated: May 7 2008 2:13PM
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