By Hogan Webb
Executive Features Editor
Senior Trevor Todd refused to let his knowledge about high school go to waste, so he created a program to offer his advice to middle schoolers in need of guidance for their futures.
This summer, Todd founded The Bridge Foundation, an organization dedicated to helping middle school students in financially-challenged areas receive the leadership and guidance they need to prepare for high school. Todd and other Costa students in the organization met with students in various middle schools over the summer to develop four-year plans of what the students will accomplish over the years.
Photo: Check out Frank and Todd reviewing the programs curriculum
“I felt that it would be beneficial to help prepare younger kids for what’s to come so that they do not come into high school totally blind for the future,” Todd said.
Todd’s creation of The Bridge Foundation was inspired by his mentorship of students in the Gifted and Talented Education program, which is a program for academically-gifted students at local schools that requires students to qualify by taking a test. Todd’s work with GATE students helped spark his idea to form this organization. He hopes to give back to middle school students who need help with their futures, Todd said.
Link: Check out the GATE program’s website
“How they were suddenly excited about high school and the college process after meeting with us was extremely rewarding to see happen,” Todd said. “It was inspiring to see these kids realize that they can achieve, even the ones who didn’t have the motivation at first, which caused them to have their whole mindset change.”
Todd created his organization by recruiting a group of Costa seniors that he felt was fit for his vision, Todd said. Seniors Kalea Frank, Audrey Phan and Sara Reynolds all joined his organization, and together they developed the course and lesson plans about college planning that they are teaching to students.
“I had fun working with the other Costa students, especially since we were able to combine all of our experiences in order to help the kids,” Phan said. “This program is something I would have loved as an eighth grader getting ready for high school, and I hope the kids were able to use our advice for the future.”
The coursework consists of developing four-year plans for the middle schoolers, as well as acclimating them to the world of high school by educating them about the environment. The program’s main points of emphasis were transitioning to high school, college readiness, time management, class choices and various extracurriculars.
“We focused on having them interact together and be able to take action on their futures and what they want to do rather than always lecturing them,” Todd said. “We wanted them to feel like they were in control of their own academic future.”
Todd and his team worked with students from Hawthorne Middle School, Prairie Vista Middle School and the Richstone Family Center. He set up partnerships with these schools and facilities by contacting the school principals. The Bridge Foundation met at these schools with students from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. twice a week for four weeks over the summer.
Link: Richstone Family Center website
“The lesson planning was a fun challenge because we had to develop creative ways to engage the kids,” Frank said. “We wanted the sessions of learning to be fun, but also informative. For example, we played a Pokémon hunt game to teach them about time management and other skills.”
Todd plans to stay in touch with the students that his organization worked with via email where they can get help, such as class scheduling advice for the upcoming school year. The seniors plan to keep the lessons they learned throughout the summer as they continue into college, Todd said.
“This process showed me how to work with a whole different group of people,” Todd said. “It also gave me insight to how different my college process was from theirs, and how little some people know about high school going into it.”
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