Westfield State Celebrates Urban Education Summer Bridge Program Graduation

Founded in 1968, the Urban Education Program has assisted in providing college access, academic advising, and various leadership opportunities to students belonging to marginalized groups. According to their mission statement, the Urban Education Program “embraces a notion of an academic community enriched and enhanced by diversity along with varied ethnic and educational backgrounds.” The program also seeks to “increase the representation of those populations that have been historically excluded from participated in an institution of higher learning.”

La-Toya K Wilson, Director of the Urban Education Program, elaborated on their summer program which provides students with five weeks of classes and advisory meetings before the academic school year begins in the fall. “It’s a rigorous program,” she said. “We’re the oldest in the area. The program supports first-generation college students, students from a minority background, and students who come from a low socio-economic status.”

The Summer Bridge Program also provides its students with ample recreational activities, with the peer counselors arranging most of the evening entertainment. “They’re prior ‘bridge’ students, so they’ve gone through the experience. They implement the evening activities,” Wilson said. “They’ll have a paint night or make cookies and brownies. Additionally, the summer program offered a self-defense activity, as well as a talent show. “The students have so much fun,” Wilson added. These fun student activities do more than just provide entertainment. They create bonds between students to connect them to the Westfield State community. Thanks to these personal connections, the students are more likely to persist with their studies when faced with challenges. Proudly, Wilson notes, “We have a very high number of [student] retention.”

Students who complete the Summer Bridge program are provided multiple points of contact with advisors and other advocates who help them succeed. “We would work with them throughout all four years that they’re with us,” Wilson elaborated. “In addition to the professional advisors, we always have a component where the peer counselors continue working with them, so … it’s another mentor relationship that they have.”

In addition to cultivating new relationships with peers and peer counselors, students are highly encouraged to explore what being a leader means to them. “We also try to identify and push the students to seek different leadership opportunities,” Wilson said about it. “Some of the things we have are the Urban Education Ambassador Program, which is the face of urban education. We have tours, different student groups that come in, and they’re the ones that talk about the benefits of the program. We offer these leadership opportunity to the students so they can continue to see themselves as leaders today and in the future.”

This year, the Summer Bridge completion ceremony added new elements to the celebration. “This year is the first time that we did the line of legacy,” she said. “Because of how rich the program is, because of the legacy and alum—including myself—that just continue to give back and speak volumes about the program… I thought it made sense to incorporate our alums so the students understand what they’re coming into. It’s fifty-five years of legacy, fifty-five years of rich history on campus. It’s [about] wanting those that are coming through to see what they’re apart of and to feel that sense of belonging, like, ‘This is where it starts’.”

Jerren Langford, one of the graduates of the Bridge program, recounted his experience in an address by stating that it “alleviated a lot of the nerves [he] was feeling about going into college.” Langford went on to list some of his favorite parts of his time there, including movie nights, playing pool in the lounge, and being around his friends. “I found people who I can be authentically myself with,” he said during graduation. “Summer bridge is something I am thankful for and something I’m hoping I will be able to give back to long after I’ve gotten my degree.”

A written reflection from Jasmine Ingersoll recounted a similar testimony of her time there. “The program has given me so many opportunities,” she wrote. “One in particular was being able to realize that I want to help people in the healthcare setting as a nurse. The program also led me to find confidence in myself, which I will continue to carry with me throughout my life.”

Such a program was extremely transformative for Wilson’s life as well, as she is both an alum of the University as well as the Summer Bridge program. When asked what drew her to come back to work at Westfield State University, Wilson confidently answered, “Joan Fuller. I could just talk about it for days,” she said. “She was the former director. I came in quiet and timid, not being confident in anything… it really is because of her that led me to want to come back. I was a school counselor for twenty years because that’s what I wanted to do, and she herself was a school counselor prior to being a director. The program has done so much for me. It’s pushed me out of my comfort zone, it has allowed me to see things I didn’t see in myself… it had a great impact on me, and that’s why I’m here.”