U. builds 'Bridge' to Serbia, India, Ghana and Peru

Though other universities encourage their students to take a gap year before matriculating, Princeton is unique in offering a bridge year program to its incoming freshmen, said John Luria, the director of the pilot program. “The Princeton program is ... actually offering a structured opportunity,” he explained.

Choosing the host sites for the program required extensive deliberation, Luria said. “We were looking at a number of criteria … We had a shape we wanted the bridge year to take, so we wanted the providers to adapt to what we were looking for.”

Luria explained that requests for proposals were sent to several organizations. The University then invited select organizations to campus to present their ideas and eventually chose three of them.

World Learning was selected as the program provider in Ghana and Serbia, Where There Be Dragons for India and ProWorld for Peru.

The five students sent to Novi Sad, Serbia, will work on service projects focused on youth empowerment, and those students sent to Nis, Serbia, will focus on the social integration of Roma youth and displaced youth from Kosovo.

Projects for bridge year program participants in Urubamba, Peru, may include building bathrooms in local schools. In Accra, Ghana, participants might tutor students in local middle schools as well as spread awareness of HIV/AIDS.

In Varanasi, India, participants could assist children of prostitutes and leper colonies.

Applicants to the new program will be encouraged to express a preference about which country they would prefer to go to, Luria said, adding, “Students who want to go to Peru, we want to hear specifically why they want to go to Peru. We’re looking for students who are open to the experience of engaging in community service in a foreign country.”

The current plans for the bridge year program are the product of a working group that convened in February 2008. The working group was headed by comparative literature professor Sandra Bermann and included 14 collaborators, among them students, faculty and staff members. The working group, Bermann said, presented its vision for the program in a report that was completed in June.

She added that she maintains a strong interest in the program. “It looks like an excellent program,” she said, “one that can make a real difference for those students and for Princeton.”

Luria added he does not expect the program to be an easy one for students, noting that the selected students will be forced to handle a wide variety of challenges. “We’re looking for students who are able to deal well with ambiguity. Going overseas and living in a different culture can be a challenging experience.”

He noted that the program is looking to accept “creative, motivated and interested students.”

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The selection committee will not consider high school GPAs when choosing participants, Luria added, explaining that “it’s not an academic program.” Students will, however, undergo intensive language training.

“The only courses that students will actually be taking [during the program] are language courses in order to aid students in their community service work,” he said.

Bermann said she is enthusiastic about the future of the program. “I think it will be a broadening and potentially transformative experience for the students who do go and have the opportunity to live and work abroad,” she added. “One potential problem may be that there will be more students who want to go than can be accommodated.”