So check this out. There are two and a half dozen future CSN students in a classroom and there are sandwiches and brownies waiting and up front there’s this professor writing equations on the board and it’s the first week of August, for goodness sakes. School hasn’t even started yet.
But you know what? Everyone’s paying attention to the prof.
“They’re really getting a good head start on college as a whole,” said Billy Duke, the CSN math professor up at the front of the room.
These students, recent high school grads from around Clark County, are part of CSN TRiO’s Summer Bridge Program. In its second year now, the program helps low-income, first-generation college students who might need a little nudge in some areas before they actually get to college.
The program, which doesn’t cost the students anything, offers workshops in stuff like studying tips, writing an essay, and drilling math into your brain.
Students who went through CSN TRiO’s Summer Bridge program get ready to celebrate.
Last year, the two-week program had 19 students go through. And it worked, too. Eighty five percent of those students scored two levels higher on their math placement exams when they retook them after the class, according to Emily Rafael, TRiO’s director at CSN.
That’s why students Lorena Bravo and Amallely Gutierrez were there. They’re both 18, both just graduated from Northwest Career and Technical Academy.
But they felt like they needed a little review, especially in math.
“I wanted to get help in math so I can retake the placement test,” Bravo said. Her original test had her in math 96, which is a developmental course and doesn’t give you college credit. But you can’t take a higher class without testing into it.
As the program was ending on Thursday, Bravo was eager to retake the test. Both she and Gutierrez said they thought Summer Bridge helped.
“There were great professors who give you a lot of advice and explain everything so well,” Bravo said. “I learned much better here than I did in high school.”
The day ended with a celebration. Everyone got a certificate, free lunch, and a $100 voucher for the bookstore.
“They’re ahead of their peers already,” said Rafael, the director.