For college students, experience outside the classroom is strongly suggested to bridge the interlude from studies to landing employment post-graduation. To promote student involvement in out-of-class learning, Virginia Tech began the Bridge Experience Program.

The Bridge Experience Program, also known as the Bridge, is now in its third year. The Bridge is designed to encourage undergraduate students to participate in experiential learning, regardless of their major, allowing them to gain applicable real-world experience.  

There are countless opportunities for students to take part in, including on- and off-campus internships, study abroad programs, community-based service learning experiences, and research opportunities. English and food science and technology were the first departments to implement a Bridge Experience Program for their students. Since fall 2023, the completion of the Bridge is a graduation requirement for their incoming students.

Katherine L. Hall, an instructor in the Department of English and coordinator for the department’s Bridge Experience Program, believes that the Bridge serves two distinct purposes: “opening up the idea of experiential learning while students are still undergraduates and giving students hands-on learning that will inevitably help them with their future careers.”

“As Bridge becomes part of more and more departments, students will have a system of accountability for their experiences and a credential on their transcript, making the Bridge experience a win-win for students regardless of their major,” said Hall.

Christeana Williams graduated in 2023 with a bachelor’s in multimedia journalism and a minor in professional and technical writing. She believes that completing the English Bridge Experience Program directly contributed to her obtaining her current job as the first communications specialist for the Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Academic Programs Office.

“We were given creative liberties to tell the stories we wanted, in the way we wanted to,” Williams said about her time with the Bridge.

Williams participated in the first Bridge program for the English department in fall 2022 after learning about this opportunity from instructor Leslie King in her Visual Rhetoric and Document Design course.  

Williams was one of the six participants in the pilot of the Bridge for the English department. During the Bridge, Williams and the other five students involved worked as interns for the department, creating content for social media posts, podcasts, and videos.

During Williams’ time in the Bridge Experience Program, she applied for the communications position. After her first interview, she was asked to return for a second and was instructed to prepare a 20-minute presentation detailing her work experience and qualifications.

While Williams had previously worked as an intern for WSL10 News and Montgomery County, her time in the Bridge was the most recent and most relevant experience, and thus her work in the program was heavily highlighted in her interview presentation. Now, Williams’ responsibilities with her position are very similar to those of the program — she  is creating newsletters, using social media, and finding stories to promote the college. The English Bridge Experience Williams completed is now available as an enrollable three-credit class called Words and Pictures.

Hall encourages students to broaden their horizons when considering the possibilities of their Bridge Program, as they are allowed to participate in a wide range of activities. Popular choices include participating in an internship or co-op, the study abroad program, or research directed by a faculty member.  

English majors can participate in enrollable internships for their Bridge Experience, signing up for a three-credit course about publishing for the Noemi Press, an independent nonprofit publisher; the minnesota review, a creative and critical journal; and Philogoia, an undergraduate research journal for the College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences.

With the rising implementation of the Bridge Experience Program in additional departments, Hall hopes that the program will allow “students to understand what skills they have developed [during the Bridge] that can consequently help them succeed in their future careers.”

Bridge experiences like these are a key part of the full educational experience the university wants to offer to all students through Virginia Tech Advantage.

To learn about the Bridge Experience Program, visit the website, Bridge Departments and Programs, for information.

Written by Anja Hemesath, a senior and a student writer for Virginia Tech Communications and Marketing

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