Bridging the Divide at UWRF: Having the Hard Conversations

Civil discourse continues as student representatives are being chosen for the Bridging the Divide program during the academic year.

According to the Tommy G. Center on Public Leadership, Bridging the Divide is a program brought to the UW-system campuses with the purpose of providing a safe and welcoming environment that encourages civil conversation of politically challenging topics between students and faculty.

The program is working its way onto multiple UW-system campuses and is run by one student per campus. All students who are interested in leading the conversations for their campus are encouraged to apply through the Tommy G. Thompson Center on Public Leadership’s website where, if awarded the position, they are also awarded a full tuition scholarship for that year.

The application is annual, and the student chosen does not change unless given justified reason for no longer being fit for the role. Hannah Woelfel, 3rd year, won this year’s scholarship and was placed as the representative for the UWRF campus.

Hannah expressed feelings of doubt and inferiority when deciding to apply for the scholarship. It took the support of those around her to give her the push she really needed to finally apply for the program.

Woelfel expressed that although there has been a lot of nerves since starting, she enjoys the opportunity to show her “Type A” skills and plan for each topic and conversation.

“If it was a perfect world, I would probably do more events, I really enjoy planning it and I enjoy talking to people and creating that really friendly environment so I would do it as many times in a semester as I could.”

Woelfel isn’t the only student who believes that the environment that Bridging the Divide has provided is insightful. Natasha Swatzina, 3rd year, expressed that the program is something that all students should be able to experience in this statement.

“I really enjoyed the session of Bridging the Divide that I attended! It was structured very well and was very easy to understand. Students were given a topic and questions to answer about said topic. This allowed for the conversations to flow naturally. I also felt very comfortable expressing my opinions during that time. I do believe that other schools should do this type of event, it's super easy to attend and be a part of. It's a great way to connect with the community on campus and voice your opinions in a safe and controlled environment.”

Woelfel will be hosting the next session Oct. 8 at 4:30 p.m. in the University Center’s Falls room, followed by Oct. 29  and Nov. 12.

All sessions are free and open for anyone to attend; free food will also be provided.

Bridging the Divide makes sure to hold their students to a high standard to ensure that each session “Replace[s] snark with conversation, tweets with real talk, and scrolls and likes with face-to-face dialogue.”

Student Hannah Woelfel looks forward to what the year will bring her and the new experiences to come along the way.