How to believe in the bridge building process
Most Bridge Builders students have no idea what they’re in for when they’re dropped off that first day.
That might sound like an obvious statement, or maybe even a cliché. But after two years as a Bridge Builder and three summers of AmeriCorps service at BRIDGES, I’ve seen thousands of students come through the program, and the one thing most have in common is how wrong they are in thinking they know what awaits.
Some have older siblings, cousins, or friends who’ve gone through Bridge Builders. They may have heard something about falling off a ladder into the arms of others. They may have seen photographs of an older brother in a brightly colored Tshirt, blindfolded by a bandana and trotting through grass with his teammates. Or they may even have witnessed a sudden change in an older sister who was only gone for one week in June, but returned home with an entirely new outlook on life that would suggest she'd been away for months.
Some new participants come in with their minds made up. They’re convinced that the week they’ll spend away from televisions, phones, Internet, and parties will be a waste of their time.
It’s interesting to watch. Because no matter which of these factions a student falls into, at some
with my choice.”
As the only Historically Black College or University in Memphis, LeMoyneOwen provides a liberal arts core curriculum to prepare students with skills needed for a successful career, such as effective communications and critical thinking. At the same time the students are grounded in their own culture as well as other local and world cultures.
LeMoyne-Owen is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the merger of LeMoyne College and Owen Junior College.
In 1862 at the Union Army’s Camp Shiloh, a nurse/missionary founded a school for Blacks who had escaped slavery. Then known as Lincoln Chapel, the school moved to Memphis the following year. After Dr. Francis J. LeMoyne, an American Missionary Association life member, made a generous gift to the school, it was renamed LeMoyne Normal and Commercial School. The school was moved to its current site on Walker Avenue in Memphis, and in 1934 was chartered by the state as a four-year, degree-granting institution.
Owen Junior College was founded in 1947 by the Tennessee Baptist Missionary Education Convention. The school was named for S. A. Owen, pastor of Metropolitan Baptist Church and vice president of the National Baptist Convention. In 1958, Owen Junior College was accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools as a two-year, liberal arts college.
In June 1968, LeMoyne College and Owen Junior College agreed to merge, and that fall students began attending classes together.
“Fifty years later, that marriage remains strong, resilient and flexible as we prepare students for leadership, opportunity and change in the 21st century marketplace of ideas and careers,” says Andrea Lewis Miller, Ph.D., LeMoyneOwen’s 12th president who made history as the first woman and second alumnus to lead the school.
Miller, who took office in 2015, is a native Memphian who previously served for six years as vice president for academic affairs/dean of faculty at LeMoyne-Owen, and six years as provost/ executive vice president for academic and student affairs at Southwest Tennessee Community College.
“LeMoyne-Owen College stands strong today as a testament to what we can do if we just join forces and work together,” said Trustee Board Chair J. W. Gibson. “And our students have benefited tremendously as they study and train to be consummate professionals, corporate executives, educators and community leaders.”
Over the years, LeMoyne-Owen has graduated thousands of students who now honorably serve Memphis as well as other areas of the United States and the world. They work as doctors, attorneys, educators, academics, religious leaders, business owners and corporate executives – as well as in other professions.
Today there are about 1,000 students who focus their academic pursuits among the 22 major areas of study that lead to bachelor's degrees.The college recently launched a Center for Cyber Security and is advancing centers in urban teacher education and urban leadership and social justice.
Denise Ferebee, Ph.D., director of the Center for Cyber Security, says the program provides students with a strong foundation in societal, technical and policy topics that influence cyber security issues, with the goal of enabling students to pursue a wide range of educational and employment opportunities. The college is one of only three in the region with such a program, and it is working with the National Security Administration and Homeland Security Agency to be granted designation as a Center of Excellence in Cyber Security.
“The students are loving it,” Ferebee said of the program. “It opens up job opportunities in a new field. The students are learning how to do skilled labor and will be able to secure meaningful jobs in the public or private sector, with opportunities for promotions and advancement.”
That’s a primary mission for LeMoyne-Owen College, providing its students with a solid education that will lead to a great job with a future and personal fulfillment. As the school celebrates the merger of two key institutions to create LeMoyne-Owen, let’s celebrate the college with our moral and financial support. This is a golden opportunity to support and invest in a great institution.
Lynn Norment is a Memphis journalist and a former editor and senior writer for Ebony magazine. She can be reached at normentmedia@gmail.com.