Learning Commons Spotlight: Bridgette Abernathy

The Learning Commons gives a monthly award that features students we work with who have shown greatness in academic excellence, social leadership, peer development, and/or community engagement. These students are nominated and selected by the Learning Commons team. They are interviewed and receive a gift card to the Kohawk Shop! Stay tuned to learn more about this month's recipient: Bridgette Abernathy!

Success Story

In her small Nebraska town, elementary school grades were given letters like E for exceeding expectations and M for meets standards, so Bridgette never thought much of grades until she got to middle school and earned almost straight A's. That led her to entertaining thoughts like, “I’m pretty smart, maybe I should hold myself to a higher standard.” 

This standard helped Bridgette keep a 4.0 throughout high school and every semester at Coe, while being active in the college community as a CAP leader, a tutor, the secretary of the Political Science Club, and as a member of Pre-Law Society, an Honor Society, and Phi Alpha Delta. This evidence of her hard work has attracted the attention of many, including her TRIO coach, Laura Hayes, who nominated her for this award.

 

Making Her Own Path

From a young age, Bridgette’s parents encouraged her to pursue a career in law. For most of her life, she hated the idea, simply because her parents always reminded her of their opinions. In her junior year of high school, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, she grew fonder of the idea of law school. Bridgette came to the realization that she wanted to pursue law, specifically criminal defense, but this time for herself, rather than for her parents.

 

This self-developed interest complemented with a specific sociology course allowed for her path to change slightly once she arrived at Coe. Originally, Bridgette did not want to take Introductory Sociology due to how many Social and Criminal Justice courses she was already enrolled in. However, Alissa Boguslaw’s section of the course quickly became her favorite and led her to declare a sociology minor. Bridgette explained, “[It was] nice to focus on the human perspective and the people that make up the political system. [It] made me realize I want to work with people directly.”

 

Bridgette credits Coe for allowing her to figure out what works for her, specifically “not taking a 9am ever again.” When choosing a college, she wanted to be further from home, ensuring she would not know her peers on the first day. Bridgette explained her experience, “I became more outgoing than I already was, I knew I would have to come out of my shell and be independent. Being away has taught me to find my own people, make friends my age, and do things on my own.”

 

This May Term, Bridgette will backpack through the beautiful country of Ireland. The class will spend two weeks exploring both Northern Ireland and the Republic, specifically examining the conflicts between the two. For Bridgette, this is an opportunity “to see what [she is] passionate about on a bigger scale and talk to the people actually living in it.”