“As of late, I have been digging foundations, moving soil, making cement and carrying or tossing bricks to those who need them,” he said in an e-mail. “The completed shelter will hold 10–20 cows.”
One of 20 participants in the University’s pilot Bridge Year Program, which began in August 2009, Finkelstein is splitting his time between working at an orphanage and completing an eco-project for Bal-Ashram, a site of spiritual worship in India.
The inaugural program sent five admitted students to each of four countries — India, Ghana, Peru and Serbia — to complete a gap year in service abroad.
Next year, another batch of future Princetonians might see the results of Finkelstein’s labor. John Luria, the director of the Bridge Year Program, said in an e-mail that the program will be offered again to incoming freshmen next year, and that the locations and number of participants will remain the same.
“Our first cohort of students is a remarkable group,” Luria noted. “Bridge Year is, in many respects, a challenging experience — and participants seem to be fully embracing this challenge.”
“I’m incredibly happy that I decided to take part in the pilot Bridge Year Program,” Finkelstein said.
Lizzie Martin ’14, also based in India, works at the Kiran Center, an organization that provides rehabilitation and education to children and young adults affected by diseases like polio or cerebral palsy.
“I teach English to groups of teachers, staff members and vocational trainees, which means that my students are all my age or older,” she said in an e-mail. “I also work in the Art & Design vocational training unit, where I design projects and teach crochet as well as learning other crafts and working on current projects.”
Finkelstein noted that though each participant’s service work is separate, Bridge Year participants have the opportunity to “get together to discuss and reflect upon our experiences.”
“Getting together with the whole group is difficult because of our schedules, but whether we’re bonding over a street omelet or happen to be biking past one another, we tend to find a way to see each other,” he added.
Martin said that after spending several months in India, the people are no longer “locals,” but friends.
“My friends, co-workers, host family and students are Indian, and we eat, work, practice English and Hindi, shop, celebrate holidays and have discussions about our religions, our families, our cultures and our favorite movies together,” she explained. “They tell me that I look happy here, that I work hard and am ‘shanti’ (or peaceful), that I speak good Hindi and wear nice Indian clothes and that they know I will come back soon after I leave. I have made a home in Banaras, and my friends here know this,” Martin explained.
Some students, however, have encountered unanticipated issues.
Agnes Cho ’14, who is spending her Bridge Year in the Sacred Valley in Peru, said in an e-mail that it has been challenging to overcome the influence tourism has had on how the Peruvians perceive and interact with the Princeton students.
“It has been difficult to convince people that though we are ‘foreigners,’ we are not here as solely tourists that come to Peru to buy alpaca sweaters or spend nights in hostels,” she explained.
In January, Peru’s Sacred Valley was hit by severe flooding, which killed 20 people and significantly affected the region’s tourist economy.
“I traveled to Cusco yesterday and was surprised by how empty the usually bustling plaza was,” Cho said.
Cho’s service project includes working with a women’s group called K’anchay Wasi, or House of Light. In the group, they speak Quechua, an Andean language, and the women learn to knit and sell their own creations.
“My reach is limited to these 13 women and completely dependent on whether people buy their products,” Cho said. “However, the indirect effects go further. For instance, by becoming empowered, the women, in turn, pass along a positive mindset and financial skills to their children.”
Luria said that he was “very pleased” with the way the program had unfolded so far.
“We’ve developed strong relationships with our three program partners, and our program participants appear to be learning a great deal from their Bridge Year experiences,” he said. “The organizations where the Bridge Year students volunteer also seem quite happy with the contributions being made to local projects.”
“We keep in touch with program participants directly via e-mail, their monthly updates from the field, personal blogs and other online resources,” Luria added, noting that he was “particularly impressed” with the students’ reflections on their efforts in their respective countries.
Luria noted that in a recent update, Cole Freeman ’14 tackled the question of whether or not his efforts in Ghana have any real impact.
“I think this is something with which all Bridge Year participants have struggled,” Luria said. “They’ve had to quickly set aside what Cole calls ‘tacit notions of grandeur’ about the ability to bring about rapid and significant change.”
In addition to completing service projects, every Bridge Year participant must take intensive language courses for a few hours each day. Cho noted, however, that she was still far from fluent.
Cho, Finkelstein and Martin said they plan to keep in touch with their homestay families and continue practicing their language skills.
“I am working on teaching some of my students and co-workers at Kiran to use Skype so that we will be able to keep in touch (and perhaps even continue English classes) after I leave,” Martin said. “Even though we don’t leave Banaras until the end of April, I have already promised a number of friends that I will write them letters and e-mails in Hindi — which they have promised to correct and respond to in English — after I leave.”
Even though nine months of their lives will have been spent in foreign countries, Finkelstein, Martin and Cho all said that their adjustment to college life will be smooth.
“It is not difficult to imagine myself at Princeton next semester, as that has been a dream of mine for many years, and I have faith that the lessons I have learned about dealing with challenges, connecting with others, and living ‘in the service of all nations’ will translate well into my college life,” Martin explained.
“Surprisingly, I’ve been looking forward to a classroom setting,” Cho said. “However, I’m definitely happy to be where I am, with three months left to take advantage of.”
Finkelstein said he envisions a different, but still promising, experience for next year.
“After planting trees, plowing land and building structures, I often think to myself, ‘Oh man, next year is going to be nothing like this,’ ” he said. “Still, I don’t have any trouble imagining myself at Princeton next year.”
“I was a full-time student- athlete in high school and am ready to start again at Tiger Town,” he added.
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