Streamers fall on members of the UMSL Bridge Program’s 2026 senior class during the annual Saturday Academy Award Recognition Ceremony on Saturday evening at the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center. (Photos by Derik Holtmann)

More than 200 area high school students, many donning suits or dresses and accompanied by parents and other family members, descended on the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center on Saturday evening for the University of Missouri–St. Louis Bridge Program’s annual Saturday Academy Award Recognition Ceremony.

Executive Director Channon Peoples welcomes attendees to the UMSL Bridge Program’s annual Saturday Academy Award Recognition Ceremony.

“It brings me joy to see this room filled with pride, celebration and possibility,” Executive Director Channon Peoples said as she looked out over the audience inside the Anheuser-Busch Performance Hall while delivering welcoming remarks.

The evening’s program offered an opportunity for the students in attendance to reflect on all they’d learned and how much they’d grown over the past five months – and in the case of the senior class, four years – by showing up, two Saturday mornings each month, for extra instruction in mathematics, science and written and oral communication as well as career research, personal and professional development and college planning.

The free comprehensive program has given them all a leg up in their eventual pursuit of higher education.

Jackson Paiz Rodriguez and Brooklyn Wilson served as the master and mistress of ceremonies.

“I am truly grateful for the guidance and support I have received through the Bridge Program,” said Brooklyn Wilson, a senior from Mascoutah High School dually enrolled at Southwestern Illinois College, who served as the mistress of ceremonies. “It has prepared me not only for the college application process but also the academic challenges ahead. I look forward to continuing my education and pursuing a career where I can make a meaningful difference in the lives of others.”

Saturday’s event also served as a broader celebration of the Bridge Program’s now 40-year history of expanding college access and readying area students for success.

Sharonica Hardin-Bartley, an UMSL alum and the superintendent of the School District of University City, spoke of that legacy and paid tribute to the late UMSL Chancellor Marguerite Ross Barnett, whose vision led to the creation of the program in 1986.

Saturday’s event was a chance to celebrate the legacy of the UMSL Bridge Program, which began 40 years ago through the vision of late Chancellor Marguerite Ross Barnett.

The Bridge Program began as a partnership between UMSL and two high schools in the St. Louis Public School District: Vashon and Beaumont. It soon expanded to include students from Normandy, Wellston and University City, as well, and has continued to grow in the decades since, adding after-school and summer programming, reaching back to middle school and broadening its reach to students at both public and private schools throughout the St. Louis region.

Sponsors such as the James S. McDonnell Foundation, Boeing, The Saigh Foundation, the Norman J. Stupp Foundation and the Kwame Charitable Foundation – who supported the program this year – have made that growth possible.

Hardin-Bartley borrowed from Barnett’s own words from 1989 to describe the impact that the Bridge Program was designed to make.

McCluer South-Berkeley High School senior Sarai George-Mendieta was among the student performers at the UMSL Bridge Program’s Saturday Academy Award Recognition Ceremony.

“‘The university’s Bridge Program, an important part of the Partnerships for Progress effort, is a cooperative venture with schools in the St. Louis area,’” Hardin-Bartley said in quoting Barnett. “‘It is about enlarging the pool of students who go on to college, and for increasing the number of these students who choose’ – and I will add, have the qualifications and the skills – ‘to pursue careers in math, science and technology.’

“Her vision, her groundbreaking vision – because it was one of the first of its kind 40 years ago – is still living and vibrant, and her legacy lives in all of you.”

Bridge Program alum Dr. Hosea Covington is emblematic of what the program can do, as he shared in a keynote address on Saturday.

Dr. Hosea Covington, a Bridge Program alum, delivered the keynote address at Saturday evening’s Award Recognition Ceremony.

“When I look out at the audience, I see myself,” Covington said. “I see potential. I was once in your seats. I was once master of ceremony as well. I see the next generation of doctors, engineers, teachers, entrepreneurs, artists, scientists and leaders. I see young people who may not have it all figured out yet, but they are more prepared than they realize.”

Covington grew up in Normandy and began attending the Bridge Program Saturday Academy as a high school freshman, continuing all the way through graduation. He then enlisted in the United States Army Reserves, where he spent eight years and rose to the rank of sergeant. After spending his first year training in the Army Reserves, he returned to UMSL as a student. Going to school throughout the remainder of his service, he majored in biochemistry and biotechnology and earned his bachelor’s degree before being accepted to medical school at the University of Missouri–Columbia. After graduating from there, he went on to a residency in anesthesiology at the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics. He’s on track to complete his residency later this year and will transition into private practice.

Pattonville High School senior Tracey Machuki delivered a student reflection.

“From the very first Saturday Academy, I was hooked,” Covington said. “While most of my friends were sleeping in, I was excited to show up. I loved every Saturday, every summer, every workshop, not because it was easy, but because it felt different. In fact, it felt more challenging than traditional school, and I welcomed that.

“In Bridge, I met other students from across the city – students who challenged me, inspired me and made excellence feel normal. The lessons we were taught felt relevant, practical, forward-thinking. It wasn’t just about passing a test; it was about being prepared for life.”

That is what the Bridge Program does. Since 2003, 100% of its graduates have matriculated to postsecondary educational opportunities.

Vice Chancellor Reggie Hill presents full-tuition UMSL Donald J. Suggs Scholarships to Bridge Program seniors Taubah Pettus and Jackson Paiz Rodriguez.

This year’s senior class is no exception, as Peoples noted during Saturday’s celebration. She listed a few of the group’s achievements:

• Its 78 members have been accepted to more than 120 colleges and universities.
• 75% have been accepted to four or more.
• 15% have received full-tuition scholarships.
• 65% have received two or more scholarship offers.
• The class has been offered a combined $12 million in scholarships.

Each senior’s individual accomplishments flashed on the screen as they walked across the stage to receive a cord from Peoples that they can wear at their high school graduations later this spring.

She hoped their success would also serve to inspire younger students in attendance.

“To our ninth, 10th and 11th grade students, you all are well on your way to this journey where you see our seniors at now,” Peoples said. “You all are on your way to their journey, so stick with us, and we will continue to help you all get to where you’re wanting to go.”