DR. KAMAL ALI’S BRIDGE PROJECT

By Opeyemi Parham, M.D.

A good education is a powerful thing.

I should know.  I grew up in the seventies when affirmative action and ABC (A Better Chance) programs seemed to be everywhere.  Riding that wave, I attended Mount Holyoke College, majored in biochemistry and went to medical school.  I received a government-sponsored scholarship that gave me full tuition, money for books, and a living stipend in exchange for one year of public service for each year that I was sponsored.  I have been a successful family physician for over twenty years.

But it is 2007, and we live in meaner, darker times.

The type of programs that were available to me simply are not there anymore.  My daughter—a graduate of New York University—tried to make arrangements to spend one year teaching in Americorps.  Not only did she run into unbelievable runarounds and Snafu’s, but President Bush gutted the program just as she was finalizing her arrangements.

So, when I see anyone offering an inexpensive gateway program to a four-year Bachelor of Arts degree, I want to shout it from the rooftops.
The Bridge Program, brainchild of Dr. Kamal Ali at Westfield State College is such a program.  For a mere $85 a course (that’s right… a COURSE, not a credit), eligible students can take up to two college prep classes at the Dunbar Community Center.  These classes—three credits each—will transfer as college courses, and are a part of a commitment by Westfield State College to support students in obtaining their four-year
B.A. degree.

A Bachelor of Arts degree is a doorway to many teaching, legal, health, and business professions.

Professions, not jobs.  A job is something you do to pay the bills.  A profession is something that you can get and stay passionate about.  A profession keeps you eager to get up in the morning, for twenty, thirty or forty years.

Are you a high school graduate (or have a GED), and do you want to get passionate about life?

Then the Bridge Project is the program for you! Classes begin in January, and the program will be offered again in the fall of 2007, and a third time in the spring of 2008.

Run, don’t walk to the Dunbar Community Center to register! n