By Lupe Ortiz, Bridge Summer Intern
I first heard about Peninsula Bridge through a friend who had been a TA for Crystal Springs Uplands. I was familiar with what he did at that specific site, but had no idea there was more than one campus involved in the famed "summer program." All I knew was that he used to come home tired, happy, and talking about all of "his kids." I was curious to learn more about why both he and his students loved the program so much. I am currently a graduate student at the Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service in New York. My specialization is policy and non-profit management, so this internship provided an excellent chance to work behind the scenes and understand the inner workings of a non-profit organization.As an intern, I helped set up and run the summer tours. The tours provided an opportunity for interested individuals to see the program in action. Since I was familiar with one site, I assumed that there was a specific model that each site had to follow. This was a great learning opportunity because I observed that each site carried out Peninsula Bridge's mission statement differently. It was interesting to see how each site had its own unique personality, which was shaped by the different site directors, teachers and teacher assistants.
Prior to this internship, I had never met students who enjoyed a summer program as much as they enjoyed their time with Peninsula Bridge. Most students tend to think that summer programs are just a continuation of school, and would much rather spend their time at home. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that this was not the case with the Bridge students. If you read the TA blogs on the Peninsula Bridge website, you will be able to see that the kids love the program, and are sad that it is only five weeks long. I attended the Crystal Springs celebration at the end of the summer program, and found it very moving that the kids had tears in their eyes when the celebration was over. Visiting each site really helped me understand why kids love the program so much. They love their TAs and teachers,
dissecting hearts and lungs, hearing campfire stories while eating s'mores, starting their own
businesses, water balloon games, working in the gardens, and so much more!