TSU Summer Bridge Program Receives $80,000 in Funding to Provide Learning Support for Incoming First-Time Freshmen

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (TSU News Service) - A TSU summer bridge program that helps first-time freshmen brush up on math, reading and writing, has received an $80,000 boost from the Tennessee Higher Education Commission.

The Summer Completion Academy, a rigorous one-week program designed to ensure student success, will use the grant to give 300 students in the academy the opportunity to satisfy learning support requirements prior to their first semester of enrollment.

The program will run over two sessions between June 23-29, and July 14-20, 2019. Students participating in the program have already been accepted to TSU for the fall semester.

“Our focus for the grant is to work with students who are at risk,” said Tiffany Bellafant Steward, assistant vice president of Enrollment Management and Student Success. “These are students who are not prepared for college-level work who would go into our learning support areas of math, reading and writing.”

She said participants will receive learning support such as additional lab sessions, extra days in class, as well as “engagement activities,” including pre- and post-tests to measure their achievement level.

According to Steward, the academy, now in its third year, has a “huge” success rate.

“We are thrilled to be in a position to offer a program like this to students, which could take up to three classes off their fall schedule,” Steward said.

Tyren Griffin, a business administration major, now in her second semester at TSU, participated in the SCA as an in-coming freshman. She said the program helped her be better prepared for her college work.

“I really enjoyed my SCA experience,” said Griffin, a Chicago native. “In addition to helping me be better prepared for my academic work, the program definitely benefited me because I was able to get to know people that had similar goals for success.”

For more information on the Summer Completion Academy, go to https://bit.ly/2vWQkgj.

Information on other summer programs at TSU is available at http://www.tnstate.edu/events/camps.aspx