Informed Citizens Around the World
Students BRIDGING CULTURES THROUGH SPORTS
WHAT WE DO
Inspiring youth around the world to understand and connect with other cultures
BridgeSport
Mission: Grassroots Diplomacy + Student Immersion + Having Fun!
Washington, DC, USA
USING THE POWER OF SPORTS
Empowering students studying abroad, BridgeSport partners with universities and governments around the world to create environments in which students can provide athletic programming for children from the local community. Understanding that the world is large and that each culture is very unique, we are encourage open relationships with our partners to understand what the local city wants and needs. After agreeing on what sport to play, the students act as counselors for the children while promoting health and fitness through the choice sport. These sports relationships allow them to foster closer bonds to the young children who often speak an entirely different language and come from an entirely different culture.
A Focus on Youth
Mission: Amplify youth voices; Make youth part of the solution
BridgeSport is for students by students. We bring the student voice to the table and impact the U.S. foreign affairs through our time spent abroad. There are 73 million people under 18 in the United States. That's a serious number of people that are seeking ways to understand and create values. Approximately 270,000 of them study abroad. Many of them graduate to become policy makers, foreign service officers, NGO workers, and international businessmen who create deep impacts on economic, diplomatic, and cultural relations among multinations. It is time to offer them hands-on, quality global experiences, which would help them better understand the world and leave effective, positive impacts on the U.S. foreign policy.
Why are we doing it?
Global competency
: In 2007, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills- an advocacy coalition of Educators and business, community, and government leaders- administered a survey to a group of voters, asking them to rank the importance of 14 skills and indicate the extent to which schools were doing an adequate job of developing those skills. Two-thirds of the voters ranked global awareness as an important skill, but only 1 in 10 thought schools were doing an adequate job of teaching that skill (ACSD).
WHERE WE ARE
From New York to Rome to the World
BridgeSport ROMA
Mission: Social Change Leaders + Sports + Personal Connection
Rome, Italy
BridgeSport had its inaugural launch Rome! Working in collaboration with the American University of Rome, we found a local partner at a nearby parish that students could walk to easily. In its first semester Rome had 9 American mentors and over 40 young Italian participants between the ages of 8-16. BridgeSport Roma continues with over 53 Mentor applicants and over 60 students this semester. Talk about impact!
Cities for Fall 2013 Launch
Seoul, Korea Barcelona, Spain West Bank Tel Aviv, Israel Hong Kong (SAR), China Cairo, Egypt Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
If you are a government or organization from these cities or you are a student planning to study abroad in any of these locations, please contact us.
Gallery
Together, we achieve
Our Core Team
Marvin Mathew
Executive Director
Struck by the disconnect between his campus and the surrounding Roman community while studying abroad, Marvin started BridgeSport to provide deep global experiences for American Students and empowerment for local youth. Learn more about Marvin here.
Chul Kwon
Managing Director
An entrepreneur by instinct, Chul has used multidisciplinary, reality-centred approach to solving international conflicts. He has travelled to over 40 countries to learn each country, each region's history and culture, in order to study the roots of ethnic and cross-border conflicts. Click here to learn more about Chul!
Olivia Suleman
Chief Growth Officer
As an international student well-travelled across the globe, Olivia is aware of cultural gaps and its significance. This, along with her history as an athlete of nine years, makes her a firm believer of BridgeSport's mission to utilize sports and its multidimensional benefits to bridge cultures together.
Jieli (Steven) Wu
Chief Information Officer
Born in an entrepreneur's family, Steven has always been actively learning and discovering new ways to make a positive impact to the world. He enjoys sharing and discussing ideas with people from different upbringings. Playing sports has been a signifcant part of his life, and he is on a mission to bring cultures all together through sports.
YOU + US = SOCIAL IMPACT
You're awesome. Let's talk.
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