HOLLAND - A practical classroom exercise at Hope College is translating into a new program to help middle school students in Zeeland.

Each year, Dr. Deborah Sturtevant of the college's social work faculty requires the students in her senior-level "Interventions III: Communities and Organizations" course to develop and submit a grant proposal for projects they have devised to meet critical social needs. This past fall, a team of four students won an award from Michigan Campus Compact for a new program that will work with suspended students of the Zeeland Public Schools.

"The Suspending Bridge Program," will be offered through the Bridge Ministries youth center at First Christian Reformed Church of Zeeland. The program was developed through a joint initiative between the Bridge Ministry Center and the AmeriCorps Program through the Good Samaritan Center. The design of the program is to provide activities during the day for students who have been suspended from the city's two middle schools.

The Hope students on the project team are Rebecca Greenland of Grandville, Krista Hughes of Rochester Hills, Anna Olmstead of Buchanan and Shanna Van Zyl of Grand Island, Neb. Although the course for which they wrote the proposal ended in December, they are staying with the effort and are in the process of getting the program running this semester.

The idea of working with Bridge Ministries began with Van Zyl. Currently studying in an off-campus program in Chicago, she had been volunteering with the program.

The four student organizers are seeking to provide a constructive daytime alternative for the middle-schoolers. They envision activities including behavior management instruction, community service opportunities, physical recreation, and tutoring.

"This program will help them keep up to date with their schoolwork and hopefully see how important education is," Olmstead said. "This will hopefully encourage them to continue with their academics and be supported socially also," Hughes said.

The effort will be volunteer-driven. Greenland noted that they hope to obtain enough volunteers to keep the ratio at one volunteer for every two students in the program.

They are interested in obtaining volunteers from the campus community as well the greater Holland/Zeeland area. Those interested in volunteering may contact Jackie Rutgers, volunteer coordinator at Bridge Ministries, at (616) 772-3843. Sturtevant, who is a professor of sociology and social work and chairperson of the department, praised the students for obtaining one of the MCC awards. "It's very competitive," Sturtevant said. "Nineteen schools in Michigan compete for this money."

The project totals more than $2,300, including the $1,025 MCC grant and in-kind assistance.

Sturtevant is pleased that the students' experience is including both the grant-writing process, which she noted is valuable in itself, and implementation--the latter of which is a benefit not only for the young students they are serving, but for themselves as well.

"This project is so important for social work students because they have the opportunity to learn about grant writing and develop grant-writing skills, and now they have the opportunity to carry out the program," Sturtevant said. "It's experience that is really going to help them in their future in the field of social work."

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