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Staggers joins Bridges program as assistant director


Last updated October 3, 2014

By News administrator

Danielle Staggers

Danielle Staggers

Danielle Staggers has been named assistant director of Furman University’s nationally-recognized Bridges to a Brighter Future program.  She has already begun her new duties.

Bridges is a college access and pre-college academic enrichment program for Greenville County high school students whose potential outdistances their circumstances. It engages students in a year?round, intensive seven-year program that begins after ninth grade and ends at college graduation.

As assistant director, Staggers will work with the Crossing the Bridge program, a college transition and retention program designed to help students enroll in college, stay in college and graduate. She will also assist with Bridges Saturday College, a year-round monthly academic support program, and the four-week summer residential program Bridges hosts on the Furman campus for three consecutive summers beginning in ninth grade.

“Danielle brings a wealth of knowledge and experience related to college access and success.  She has dedicated her career to college access and has a passion to serve and uplift first-generation college students,” said Tobi Kinsell, director of Bridges to a Brighter Future. “She has already made a positive impact and will play an integral role as we implement our new strategic plan.”

Staggers grew up in Florence and Raleigh, N.C., and was the first in her family to go to college. She earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology with a minor in socioeconomic justice from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master’s degree in higher education from the University of Pennsylvania. She previously worked with the Carolina College Advising Corps, where she advised students on admissions and financial aid, and for Get2College, a college access program in Mississippi, where she provided counseling, advisement and general college planning information for students and parents.

Furman’s Bridges to a Brighter Future program has been recognized nationally for its outstanding work. This summer, it was one of 20 programs nationwide invited to participate in the National Summer Learning Day Fair at the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C. First Lady Michelle Obama, as part of her Reach Higher initiative, attended the fair and toured student demonstrations and delivered remarks. Since Bridges began in 1997, 100 percent of the students have graduated from high school and 95 percent have enrolled in post-secondary education or the military.

For more information about Furman’s Bridges to a Brighter Future, contact Tobi Kinsell at 864-294-3135 or tobi.kinsell@furman.edu.

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