Homeland security and paralegal students have extra access to faculty mentors and workshops designed to help them succeed in their fields.

The Legal Studies Institute created the Bridge program in 2022 to offer four workshops on writing, study skills, acing finals and organization.

“We wanted to come up with an idea to help all of our students rise,” Erin Gable, the director of legal studies, said.

Gable said she wanted to close the opportunity gaps among students of different demographics.

“The Bridge program really helps … and our numbers show it,” legal studies professor Mary Bachkosky, who initiated the program, said. “Our students are doing better because of it.”

Students in Bachkosky’s Legal Studies 111: Introduction to Paralegal Studies, the first class that degree-seeking paralegal students take, may enroll in the program. She said she plans to add a workshop on professionalism next semester. Students who take LGS 111 receive emails inviting them to join the program.

This program has been successful, students said.

“The professor really validated my feelings and how I didn’t step into my work ethic as much,” first-year paralegal student Andrea Miller said. “She showed the steps to make me feel better about how I can perform in my studies.”

AACC’s Homeland Security and Criminal Justice Institute created another program, the Aspiring Leaders Academy, in 2015.

Darian Senn-Carter, the institute’s director, said he finds similarities among students, and then creates workshops for them and assigns each one to a faculty mentor. Students meet with mentors at least once a month.

“This is not an office hour,” Senn-Carter said. “This is not an appointment. … Someone [is] there to support you.”

Senn-Carter said he created the academy after “reflecting on my own personal experiences with mentors. I wanted to create a pathway for students to have the same experiences.”