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What does it mean to be a University of Minnesota student? How are the residence halls? What are classes like? Will I have fun on the Twin Cities campus? The University of Minnesota's Institute of Technology (IT) is helping students answer these questions and more through its new Summer Bridge Program.
The eight-week program is designed to bring traditionally under-represented IT students to campus early, before the start of their freshman year. The students live in a residence hall, take either a math or a chemistry course, and participate in social activities, all at no cost to the student.
Louis Adams, an incoming freshman in the class of 2010, plans to major in computer engineering and thinks the Summer Bridge Program offers a great start.
"The program fits the name perfectly," he says, "It helps us adjust to other people and do things as a group."
Students in the Summer Bridge Program can build their academic muscles before starting college full-time in the fall. But Naomi Farabee--who works with Academic Programs for Excellence in Engineering and Science (APEXES) --encourages students to consider the program for a number of reasons:
"...New friends, friendly faces on campus that they know before starting a full credit load in the fall, free seminars that relate to the college experience, and introducing them to some of the student services and programs available to them outside APEXES, and a safe and productive way to spend their summer."
The Summer Bridge Program isn't all academics, though. Students have also spent time going bowling and checking out some Minneapolis parks.
"The program keeps you busy, with trips and class, and also keeps you social," Louis says, "I encourage others to do it."
For more information on APEXES, visit http://www.it.umn.edu/students/apexes/.
-Will White
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