BSU in 2021

Writing a post every day this week has been hard, but a lot of fun.  So many great BSU folks have been participating- it's been nice to see how everyone tackles the daily theme prompts! I have really enjoyed getting to learn more about our students and my colleagues in the process!

Today we are asked to envision the future at BSU and share our thoughts on what the campus will be like in 10 years.  In 2021, if I am still at Bridgewater, I will be closing out three decades in our community. I have seen so much change in the last 19 years, I am absolutely confident that the BSU of the future will be one in which change is the operative word.  I could never have guessed in 1992 what today would look like, so I am going to dream big and share my vision for what I hope will be our new reality in the next decade....

Walk with me, if you will, down Park Plaza....students milling around between classes, tossing frisbees, reading the RCC blog on their Ipad 10s, (given to all new students upon arrival on campus) and watching today's campus guests head through the underpass to the new DMF Campus Center, which  opened in 2020 as the result of the Campus Master Plan adopted in 2011.

Today's campus guests walk excitedly past the Zip Car lot behind the Esposito Catholic Center (newly expanded in 2016 by a generous donation from Tony Esposito after an  investment in an off-broadway show hit big, earning him millions.  These guests are heading  to the Campus Center,  the new pride of BSU standing three stories tall on the former LGH North parking lot, to attend their first FAM for Change meeting where they will hear a keynote from a recent BSU's grad now enrolled at the Wharton School of Business.  This student, a member of FAM's first cohort in 2009, will share her story to inspire these soon to be 9th graders to stay in school and dream big about their futures..

As our guests approach their destination, they are temporarily distracted by a gathering of students outside the McHugh Community Service Center (funded by a generous donation from Dan McHugh, former CESO director  and service trip advisor,  after he won a MegaMillions lottery in 2014).  The energy and enthusiasm of these BSU students as they set up tent city to raise awareness about homelessness is contagious and our guests begin to wonder what life will be like at BSU in 2026 when they join the BSU campus as first year college students.

Inside the DMF Campus Center, our guests follow the signs to the Ballroom where the FAM dinner will be held.  As they pass the Center for Leadership Development they watch a group of students preparing for tomorrow's Leadership Summit at which 250 area college students will gather to hone their skills for their roles as campus student leaders. 

Continuing down the hall, they notice a group of students sitting with two older faculty members engaged in heated debate as they sip fair trade coffee. They are surprised because they never thought that students would be hanging around campus on a Friday evening.

 Across the hall, they see students  practicing for tonight's Dragfest program outside the Gentlewarrior  Center for Student Diversity.

As our guests stand outside the elevator, watching  hundreds of students milling around the dining complex, studying the art work that adorns the corriders, their excitement grows as they think that in 5 short years they could be part of this vibrant college community working towards a college degree and a better future.

They see life, community, and possibility on this Friday evening at Bridgewater in 2021.  For the first time since they were selected to participate in FAM for Change, they begin to understantd the possibilities BSU is offering. Seeing the vibrancy of the campus captured in a building that symbols what community really is on a college campus, our guests begin to see what the future can hold for them if they strive for excellence, complete their high school degrees, and join the BSU campus community.  And so, the cycle continues.....

Is this a dream?  Maybe.  But I would like to think it is the very real possibility of our future at Bridgewater....a vision of the reality that could be if our campus can achieve its stragetic goals going forward... if we can  become the University I know we can....

To tomorrow......see you all there!