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Le’Nericka Bailey, in the mask, works with, clockwise from right, Shelly Gilmore, Gabby Coopwood and Quintonious Smith to set up desks and chairs in a Brainerd High School classroom.<\/p><\/div>\n
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The hall in Brainerd High School is crammed with desks and chairs, metal cabinets and box after box of miscellaneous stuff, all pulled from classrooms along the hall. A narrow path squeezes through the center.<\/p>\n
Inside the emptied rooms, students from around Tennessee\u2014many wearing blue Mocs T-shirts\u2014are steadily working. They scrape paint from the cinderblock walls. The smell of Pine-Sol fills the air as they wipe down walls, tables and countertops. They haul desks and chairs around.<\/p>\n
Le\u2019Nericka Bailey, wearing a surgical mask, carries small desks into a classroom ready for a return to normal. Quentonious Smith wrestles a load of stacked chairs through the door. They help organize the desks and chairs into even rows.<\/p>\n
In other rooms, Karrie Melton, Takayla Spearman and RyKiedra Finley use handheld scrapers to strip paint off the wall in tiny flakes.<\/p>\n
This maelstrom of activity, plus yardwork outside the building, is part of UTC\u2019s Summer Bridge program, a five-week crash course of credit-earning classes, campus tours, community service and, yes, just plain fun for 27 incoming freshmen.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt helps me get acclimated to the campus. I\u2019ll already know where everything is, so I won\u2019t be looking for my classes in the fall,\u201d says Gilmore, a graduate of Germantown High School outside Memphis.<\/p>\n
Each student must meet certain requirements, including ACT scores and high school GPAs. They must be the first person in their family to attend college and must be financially eligible for Pell grants. They don\u2019t pay a dime for their time in Summer Bridge and actually receive a $200-a-week stipend.<\/p>\n
With emotional support from their proud families, Summer Bridge teaches the students important lessons on how to handle the move from high school to college, says Dr. Kim Wingate from the School of Education and one of the program\u2019s directors. The move could be difficult for them because there\u2019s no one in their immediate family who is familiar with the ins and outs of college and can tell them what to expect, she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe give them the tools, the resources to succeed at UTC,\u201d says Mo Baptiste, one of the program\u2019s directors and executive director for student development. \u201cOur job is to lay that foundation for them before the fall, for what life is going to be like after they get on campus.<\/p>\n
Community service is included in Summer Bridge because \u201cwe want them to understand that it\u2019s bigger than them, that it\u2019s not just about them. It\u2019s giving back to the community that has nurtured them,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Melton, a graduate of Oak Ridge High School who will major in early childhood education, says the work at Brainerd High and other places around town helps her \u201cget more involved in the town, not just the school, and this helps me be aware of where the help is needed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Outside the school building, a group of four guys empty several bags of mulch then use bright-red rakes to spread it around. It\u2019s about 9:30 a.m. on Saturday and, when asked if they knew they were going to be doing yardwork this morning, the answer is a chorus of \u201cNo,\u201d \u201cUh-uh\u201d and laughter.<\/p>\n
A couple of weeks into Summer Bridge, the quartet say the amount of work they\u2019re putting in adds up, but it also means they\u2019ll be better prepared for the frantic crush of fall semester.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s getting us to make sure we\u2019re doing our stuff early, so it\u2019s not like, \u2018Oh! I can just chill then get all my work done,\u2019\u201d says Deontey Mosley, a graduate of Power Center Academy in Memphis.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to think, \u2018OK, I\u2019ve got this class to do. I\u2019ve got this to wake up to. Oh, I\u2019ve got to make sure I go to sleep on time, make sure I wake up on time,\u2019\u201d says Mosley, who plans to major in graphic arts at UTC.<\/p>\n
A graduate of STEM School Chattanooga, Josiah High\u2014one of the guys pushing mulch\u2014says Summer Bridge is \u201cpretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve learned how to communicate with people, especially people I don\u2019t know,\u201d say High, who plans to major in mechanical engineering. \u201cI\u2019ve learned how to work together, go out and do things as a group, whether it\u2019s studying or community service like we\u2019re doing right now or just going out to have fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
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