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BRIDGES is for YOU!!
The Intergenerational Bridges (Bridges) mentoring program at Interages is celebrating its 19th year of working with newly arrived immigrant students in Montgomery County. Thanks to a grant from our County Council, we’re expanding this successful program to more schools this year, with plans to bring these services to at least four new locations, including several Gaithersburg schools.
History: Bridges was created in 1990, as a response to the needs of an expanding number of low-income immigrant families with children in Montgomery County public schools. In that first year, Interages trained a small group of adult volunteers to mentor students from the English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) class at one middle school. Children from Cambodia, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Vietnam, Ethiopia, and Jamaica participated, and program feedback was extremely positive. From this small start, Bridges has expanded to more schools and many more volunteers, touching the lives of hundreds of students.
Program Focus: Bridges pairs each immigrant ESOL student (ages 8 through 14) and adult volunteer (age 50+) in a one to one relationship, meeting immediately after school in a supervised setting. Volunteer-student matches spend 1-1 ½ hours weekly sharing a variety of activities – reading and discussing current events; playing language-enhancing games such as Scrabble or Guess Who; making craft projects; helping with homework; and taking occasional field trips to explore US culture.
Goals for Bridges students include 1) supporting their transition to a new school and life in the US through celebration of cultural and holiday traditions; 2) enhancing English language communication ability; and 3) boosting self-esteem by fostering mutual responsibility and respect. Volunteer-student matches create a safe haven together, where mutual trust, caring, and learning take place as they share a relationship that spans their age and cultural differences. Most student-adult teams are paired for one academic year; however, some pairs may remain together through more than one year, and in a few cases volunteers have moved with students from elementary to middle school to ease this transition. Occasionally, adults maintain contact with students for years beyond Bridges – attending graduations and celebrating milestones.
Jane Cheever, a long-time Bridges mentor, sums up her experience as follows: “Interacting with various students over the years, it's interesting how similar they are even though they come from different places. They share the same needs, the same fears and anticipations....I look forward to the whole experience. The adults and children make for an interesting group.”
New This Year: We’re excited to build new bridges to several Upcounty schools this fall -- including Gaithersburg Elementary School, Gaithersburg Middle School, and Washington Grove Elementary School. Guide Youth Services (Guide), a nonprofit human services organization, is partnering with Interages to offer Bridges through their Linkages to Learning Program at these schools. Guide’s mission to strengthen families and promote positive youth development is fulfilled through the prevention, counseling, and school-based mental health services which they have provided since 1972.
We’re ready to begin our work with Guide at our new locations – and we are very actively seeking volunteers to support this expansion. Please consider getting involved – you can make such a difference to a child, and have fun while doing it. So give us a call today at 301-949-3551!
Mary Ann Larkin and Annie Sapucaia
Program Coordinators, Bridges
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