Crossing the Bridge: Student Visits

Students attend the Summer Program and are off to college! Then what?

Crossing the Bridge does not stop at the Summer Program.  After one week of intensive college preparation, students are off to college. Once students have started school, Assistant Director, Casey Crisp keeps in contact with them constantly through Facebook, email, and phone. Crisp Explains, “This contact definitely helps keep the students accountable, but the main goal is to keep an open line of communication and be here to support them with any troubles they may be facing in their first year of college.”

The most important part of this contact is student visits. Many Bridges students stay close by at colleges such as South Carolina, Winthrop, and Morehouse, so Crisp visits students once a semester, usually around midterm to check in with them and see how their transition is going. She talks to students about all facets of their college experience to get a good understanding of how they are doing socially as well as academically.

On her visits, Casey emphasizes to students the magnitude of on campus resources. No matter what a student is going through the chance is that other students are having the same problems and there are ways to get help on campus. Whether the issues are social, academic, or financial.

“I always want them to know that I am not coming from a place of judgment, I am not a parent figure who is going to come down on them if they make a mistake I want them to always fell they can be honest with me… there is a really fine line between them viewing me as someone who is watching them and monitoring them versus someone who is really there just to support them.” 

- Casey Crisp, Assistant Director Bridges to a Brighter Future

For more info about Crossing the Bridge’s student visits listen to my podcast!

Thanks for reading, check back for more posts soon!

Lindsey A.