To BRIDGE means to connect, to link, to bring together. At Salesianum, the BRIDGE Program (Building Relationships in Diverse Global Environments) expands student perspectives through service learning rooted in interpersonal connections and personal stories that stretch us beyond our comfort zones. It means meeting and learning from people in a variety of cultural environments, experiencing life in new and unfamiliar contexts, and finding meaning in forming new connections based on empathy and mutual respect.
Domestic Trips: Through the BRIDGE program, Salesianum students travel throughout the United States to learn about the issues facing local communities in our own nation. From combatting gang violence by creating jobs and economic opportunities with Fr. Greg Boyle, SJ, and Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, to building homes for flood victims and the rural poor with Habitat for Humanity in West Virginia, to hearing the challenges and daily struggles faced by the homeless and addicted of Camden, NJ, our students are challenged to grow in compassion and in their understanding of complex issues by meeting real people and hearing their stories.
- Civil Rights Road Trip: Students will travel (flight) to Atlanta, Georgia, to being a road trip through the American South (Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee), where they will follow the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and the growth of the American Civil Rights Movement.
- Los Angles: Students will travel (flight) to Los Angeles to learn about the issues of homelessness, poverty, addiction, and gang violence and how the residents of Los Angeles are confronting those issues. They will work with Homeboy Industries (gang rehabilitation), Guadalupe Homeless Project, and the St. Vincent de Paul Society (homeless veterans). They will also visit many colleges and cultural sites: UCLA, USC, Loyola, Santa Monica Pier, Hollywood Boulevard, and the Griffith Observatory.