Group Observation

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Group Observation

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The Audience

Bridges International is the Group under observation in this paper. Bridges International is a Christian organization that is non-profit and based in the United States of America. They have one call to offer services and mobilize the international in the United States and Abroad. According to statistics, the USA is home to more than one million students from across the whole world. Bridges International plays a crucial role in ensuring that international students settle for their studies in their respective states.

The best audience for this paper would be the international students coming from different places to the United States of America for studies. This paper communicates essential information to those who intend to join the Group or start the Group on their campuses to connect different students from like or similar countries to form a network of those with a related background. This paper is essential for those with intentions of traveling to the United States based on education to settle down well in the United States of America. In short, the paper is very beneficial to three categories of people who, of course, have the same thing in common; students. The ongoing students who are on the session, the students who would like to pioneer the movement or Group on their Campus, and those willing to join the Group on their campuses.

What Services Does Bridges International Offer

One thing that needs to be noted is that the organization is non-profit; hence, there is no payment required from the services offered. They work with those who would like to volunteer to offer the services, and they have given their contact for those interested in reaching out to them. When you are getting to a place, how you get treated in the first instance defines your impression towards the whole business and determines how they will treat other people. One of the services that Bridges International offer is airport pickups. The new visitors may be exhausted from the journey and may need someone to show them where to rest or show them the hotel room, the taxi station, and other services deemed possible and beneficial. The Bridges International Organization can offer these services.

Bridges International also plays a significant role in ensuring that the international students have a successful landing and settling down. In your initial days, they offered transportation to your new places of residence as well as your goods. The Group helps them procure the needed items and houses and probably shows them around the site and orient them on the dos and don'ts and the required stores to find items needed. They also boost the international students' language by hanging out with them during their organized hangout activities. Some people may not understand when the Americans communicate, and the Group will be available to help people understand the language more.

Those services provided by Bridges international are very pertinent in making sure that the international students settle down successfully in the United States of America. The team is committed to making communications through the dedicated staff team spread all over the country. The people of the ground also play a role in referring their countrymates who are traveling to the United States of America to be affiliates of the Group on their arrival. In this paper, we discuss how Bridges International Communicates its vision, objectives, and goals to the members and other people. They are interested in joining the team. The Group communicates the objectives to the team members as well as the other non- members.

Communication through the Blog Posts

Bridges International Organization runs a functional website. They can reach millions or thousands of international students studying in the United States of America through the website. The blog posts cover the past experiences of the services offered, the testimonies, and real-life social matters that may affect the settling students. Some of the topics covered in the blog posts last year revolved around servant leadership, exploring the outdoors of the United States of America, and others. Maybe in the following paragraphs, let us discuss some of the information communicated through the blogs.

The freedom to explore the new country at an affordable cost. They present the U.S. as a conducive, expansive, and diverse country. The natural areas are all around the United States of America. Some natural resources or regions include the National parks, outdoor areas reserved and protected by the government containing campsites, hiking trails, and facilities like the bathrooms charging around $25 per vehicle for entry. Apart from the national parks, there are also state parks found in every state, and they offer similar services provided by the National parks. One of the points of the actions would be to plan a trip with friends to explore the national parks and the state parks. With the existing COVID-19 guidelines, you need to be sure that the restrictions are those you can work with.

The bog posts also give direction on how communication is done in the U.S. by talking about how mobile phones work in the U.S. The correspondence sheds light on how one can access mobile phone services in the U.S. To decide, one should make some of the considerations such as; whether you want to be committed to a year plan or monthly installments plan. One should also consider whether they have friends to team up with to pay for a cheaper family plan. If you already have your device, then it will be much simple and easy to acquire. They also give the details on getting the data and the cost of the same.

The chance to connect and empower the international students is also what the blog posts communicate. The conferences and seminars are both virtual and physical to be certified both socially and cognitively. The meeting was on the vision together, and the model is adopted in organizing the students into family groups, plenary sessions, and seminars. The conference was to happen on January from 1st – 3rd in 2021. The meeting was set to charge a small fee of about 19 dollars.

The blog posts take students through sessions of boosting and promoting their mental wellness and spiritual growth. Through some of the blog posts, like the one on depression, they reach out to students who may undergo the issue of mental starriness and experience some difficulties coping with emotions and stress. They also provide spiritual nourishment through posting devotionals and scriptural reflections on reality through the scriptures. All these blog posts aim to grow the students both spiritually, emotionally, and physically at the same time. In short, they provide holistic growth for all international students.

Communication through Hangouts or Retreats

Retreats are other ways through which Bridge international communicates to its members and those willing to join. The retreats aim to bring the people together to have bonding sessions and have members and those in attendance develop a test for the Bridge international organization. One of the recent examples is the hill country fall retreat that happened just recently. Retreats communicate to people that the Group is peaceful hence emphasizing the need for unity and harmony.

The Group Communicates through the Small groups on every Campus.

Bridge International is spread across the United States, leaving no place unreached. The Group welcomes people for meet-up sessions that are organized throughout the country on campuses. The Group, through the website, has developed a system where someone can be able to use the search box to find the nearest location of Bridge International. The different areas to small groups contain links where one can click on them then be led to the place where the small group location is situated. Bridge International is spread across the different universities in the United States, more than twenty of them and more than thirty Bridge international Locations. Again, these links to small groups and locations guide the newly reporting international students who are visiting the United States for the first time on their study journey.

According to the observation and a little bit of research, the Group has invested in courteous language and the need to connect and network with new friends and keep the old ones. One of their advantages is that they have left the idea of mobilization to the volunteers who have seen the service offered by the Group. There is some freedom of launching and rolling out a particular group on your Campus if you feel compelled about the need of such a group on Campus. One needs to communicate the intentions to do so then they are given the go-ahead to launch or roll out the program.

The Group on the ground does effective communication since they are the ones who interact with the people and at the bottom. The people on the earth are the ones who are aware of the number of new students arriving on their campuses as well as being keen to observe as they are settling down in their recent locations. The absence of the hierarchical structure makes things easier to handle with the different groups with diverse members. This said, it should be noted that the objectives of Bridge International remain very clear, and whoever wants to be associated with the Group then must agree with the goals and at the same time be ready not to set up a parallel organization.

Communicating through the Social Networks

To grow the interconnectedness and the power of the Network, they have stayed tuned on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Remaining relevant in today's generation is determined by the depth of your networking system. They have chosen to stay relevant by fishing from where the crowds are. Facebook has more than two billion users, growing and growing daily. The same thing applies to Youtube and Instagram as well. The platforms mentioned above are vital in today's generation as they remain a catchment area for the news to spread to millions of people worldwide. Through social media platforms, Bridge International can reach out to people on the ongoing programs and events and inform them of the upcoming events.

Social connectedness does not only reflect on social media platforms alone but also during physical gatherings. As the name suggests, the bridge comes in to close that gap of loneliness and enhance friendship creation and maintenance during these occasions. The Group organizes thanksgiving parties, Christmas and Easter events, and celebrations for the international students to bond together. They hold a weekly meeting where the students can even play games during such sessions. They also communicate through the Vision conference that is held once a year. It brings together students to enjoy music worship, fun and exciting, powerful speeches and sermons from different renowned speakers from across the States. Indeed, Bridge International is a group worth learning from and borrowing leaves from them.

References

https://www.bridgesinternational.com/about/