Executive Director Channon Peoples and UMSL student Emmanuel Morgan discussed the longevity and success of the Bridge Program with host Nate Fleming on the latest episode of the Inside UMSL podcast.
The Bridge Program has been a shining example of the University of Missouri–St. Louis’ commitment to expanding access to higher education since its inception in 1986.
Offered to middle school and high school students in the region, this program features classes on the UMSL campus that not only help students prepare academically for collegiate-level studies but also to help give students and their parents a head start on understanding how to prepare to apply for scholarships and financial aid and other necessary elements.
On the latest episode of the Inside UMSL podcast, host Nate Fleming was joined by Channon Peoples, the executive director of the Office of Precollegiate Student Services, to discuss why the program has been so successful for nearly four decades.
“That light bulb comes on when students see themselves here,” Peoples told Fleming. “They’re walking in the same hallways, along the same pathways as our college students, sitting in the same classrooms and they realize, ‘I can do this. I belong here.’ That is what brings me the most joy. We are building on the foundation of what they’re doing in their middle and high school classes, but it really is helping them to understand what life is like after they graduate and where they can see themselves.”
Emmanuel Morgan, a Bridge Program success story, also joined the podcast. Morgan started the program as a sophomore at Kirkwood High School and went on to study in the UMSL/Washington University Joint Undergrad Engineering Program after earning his high school diploma.
“Students like Emmanuel are a testament to the fact that what we are doing works,” Peoples said.
Morgan said he always planned to pursue a college degree, but the Bridge Program helped him understand how to go after what he wanted, from career options to ways to pay for school.
“In the Bridge Program, they had you write down your goals and aspirations, what you like to do, and then find careers that involve those characteristics, then find a college that will give you a direct path to those,” he said. “(It gave us) a step-by-step way to meet the goals you had.”
A joint initiative of the Office of Admissions and University Marketing and Communications, Inside UMSL launched earlier this year and features interviews covering innovative teaching, groundbreaking research, exciting extracurricular opportunities, athletics and other campus initiatives. New episodes of the podcast are available monthly on the Inside UMSL podcast page or wherever you listen to podcasts.
