Bridging the Gap is a great program, housed at the Salvation Army in Pittsfield and North Adams, it serves youth from ten to sixteen years of age who have been sentenced to this program as opposed to lock up. The Program Director, Carol Hildebrand, is very welcoming to Service Learning students and cares deeply about the youth referred to this program. She introduces these at risk students to subjects that are pointed towards their future success including topics such as healthy nutrition, quitting smoking cigarettes, job searching tips, facts about mental disorders such as depression and anxiety, reducing underage drinking, building healthy relationships, and growing up drug free.

Presently, two BCC Service-Learning students are volunteering at Bridging the Gap. Marie Peckman is doing a service project at the Pittsfield site for Intro to Sociology with Colin Adams and Brandon Hurst is volunteering in North Adams for credit in his Intro to Psychology course with Geoffrey Tabor.

Service-learning students who choose this placement work closely with these at-risk teens in discussions and other activities. Working here would be a great stepping stone of experience for any future internships or job opportunities for BCC students. The service-learning students who have participated in this program in both the past and present absolutely love it and encourage future students to choose this site as a placement.