Paulo Borges, '13

As an undergraduate transfer student at Bridgewater, I spent hours and hours at the Academic Achievement Center – and what they did there impressed me. They guided me, helped me think, but didn’t do my work for me. They helped me find and explore skills I didn’t even know I had.

When I returned home to Cape Verde after graduating, I started my own version of an achievement center at the high school in Santiago where I taught English as a second language. It was a first. The students, the teachers and even the parents thought it was great – and it made me realize that I was giving them something I myself had been given.

Now I believe that it’s my obligation to do for others what was done for me. It’s only fair. I’ve returned to Bridgewater for a master’s degree in English, and I plan to teach at the University of Cape Verde when I graduate.

Most important, though, I plan to continue helping students who have difficulties. I want them to have what I have had: respectful help when they need it, and the inspiration to help others.