The 1st Week in Words

With the second week of Bridges starting, let's recap the first week!
Monday & Tuesday: Classes, morning assembly, dining hall meals, and evening activities all started today! From the forensics of science and investigation (in Science class) to learning how to swim, the students got moving on their busy schedule. English class covered short stories, poems, and giving speeches, while the Art class began working with perspective and 3 dimensional design. Math class worked on figuring out where the students were in their studies, while Social Studies started talking about the situation in the Middle East. Finally, College Planning began preparing students for the week's college visit. Tuesday night the younger students began their NCBI diversity workshop, while the older students saw the improv group "Imagine That!" All in all it was a busy but great way to start the new week, and the students have been loving every minute of it!

Wednesday: Field Trips! The Kappa class (the youngest) went on a scavenger hunt of downtown Greenville, where they had to pick up trinkets from locations all over downtown! It was a long and hot morning, but all of the teams finished and everyone went to Saffron's for a well deserved meal break. After some time by the Reedy River falls, the Kappas went to the Bob Jones Museum and Gallery, the best collection of baroque and religious art in the country. The museum guide took the kids through roughly a third of the gallery's collection, and gave them a chance to reflect on what they saw. For some it was the first time they had ever been to an Art museum, but Mr. Grills (the art teacher) did a great job preparing them beforehand for the amazing art they got to experience. After that they went back to Furman for their evening activities. Meanwhile, the Iotas and Thetas (the older students) went to Erskine and Lander colleges to scope out some local options for higher education. Both schools gave tours, and Mr. Frost from college planning was there to help the students make informed decisions about how right these schools were for them. They also made it back in time for their evening activities, and the schedule picked back up for Thursday and Friday, with the Kappas finishing the NCBI workshop Thursday night.

Saturday: The weekends are almost more packed than the weeks during Bridges. Saturday morning the older students worked on community service, ranging from clearing debris for Diligent Hands, Gracious Hearts, to making care packages for the hard working staff at Furman, who help make Bridges possible. The Kappas were on the Furman ropes course all day, which helped them bond with each other, since trust is absolutely necessary for everyone to complete the course. That night, all of the students went ice skating at the Pavilion, and it was a lot of fun!

Sunday: On Sundays, parents are allowed to visit the students, so most of the kids were out and about throughout the morning. By the afternoon, all of the Bridges students were at the pool! Dr. Shi, the president of Furman University, was kind enough to let Bridges use his home and pool for a party, and it was blast, even though it was rained out. For the rest of the night it was back to the dorms for fun and games on the halls.

This week has been back to the classroom, but tonight we're having workshops on how to start a checking account, how to change a tire, proper dinner etiquette and how to get into Furman. More on that and the rest of week 2 later!