Week 3: All About Water!

We're reaching the home-run stretch in Bridges to a Brighter Future, but first let's recap the third week:

International Food Night: After a restful day at home, the students came back with food that represents their cultures, and we created a International buffet! The food ranged from fried chicken and macaroni and cheese to a bread that one student described as "like corn bread...only better!" and empanadas. Other students brought rice, tuna casserole, as well as desserts like homemade strawberry banana pudding, chocolate cookies, and cake. Needless to say there was a lot of food to be had by all! After that the students played cards, watched movies and had a karaoke party, giving them one last rest before classes started up again!

The 4th of July: With the campus closed to the public, all of the Bridges classes crowded into one building for the day, with exciting plans for the evening. After classes ended, the students had a catered dinner in the dorms and had an ice cream feast, which was supposed to be followed by fireworks-but that almost didn't happen! A terrible rainstorm almost called off the festivities, but it cleared up in time for an awesome fireworks display!

Field Trips: This week, the field trips were all about water, continuing the unintenional theme for the third week! The Kappas went to Brevard College in NC, followed by a trip to Sliding Rock, quite literally a wet rock that you slide down! Some students were reserved about the cold water and the dip, but the highly supportive atmosphere of Bridges prevailed, and virtually all of the students and administrators on the trip ended up going down the rock. The Thetas and the Iotas began there trip hours before the Kappas woke up-the bus for Myrtle Beach left at 7 am! They went to the beach to scope out Coastal Carolina University, before heading to the beach. For some students, this was the first time seeing the beach or the ocean, and it was truly awesome for everyone involved to share that experience with them.

Visitors: Thursday was an important day for the Bridges to a Brighter Future program, since visitors from Elon came to watch the program at work, in order to begin their own enrichment program! Word is spreading fast about the work we're doing and how awesome the students are, and the Elon visitors were greatly impressed with what they saw, from the classroom to the efficiency of the administration. We wish them the best of luck in getting their program started, and hope that they the kind of success we have experienced!

Sing and Dance-Off: Friday morning, the students wanted to show their appreciation to the counselors, who have worked tirelessly these past few weeks to make everything run smoothly for the students, so they had all the counselors get on stage during morning assembly: for a contest! The guys and the girls had to sing karaoke to see which hall got an extended curfew. Some hilarious singing and dancing ensued, but at the end of the event, it was determined that while the girls won, all the students would get to stay up to watch movies in Furman's movie theatre!

Working at the Car Wash: Saturday was the day. KFC on Laurens, Chick Fil-A on Woodruff, and Burger King on Haywood were the locations. The event: the first annual Bridges Super Car Wash Challenge! Each class took a location, supplies, and a few counselors, and got to it! The students washed practically EVERYTHING-from a charter bus to a pickup truck belonging to a neighboring business, they washed their hearts out, and the results speak for themselves. All told, the students raised over 1000 dollars to offset the costs of the program! An amazing acheivement from some amazing students! That evening, it was a relaxing night at the bowling alley, not a bad way to spend the last Saturday of the program!

MORE Water: After parent visitation ended on Sunday, it was time to watch the final game of the World Cup! However, that was only the beginning of the day, since the annual Bridges Field Day was next. The students did a variety of activities, not the least of which was the water balloon toss. Field Day led into another relaxing night for the students, in preparation for the last week of class!

More student profiles coming this week, and don't forget about the pictures-those will be up tomorrow!