Founded as one of the first coeducational colleges in Virginia, Bridgewater was established in 1880 as Spring Creek Normal and Collegiate Institute by Daniel Christian Flory, an alumnus of the University of Virginia and a young progressive leader in the Church of the Brethren. Nine years later the school was named Bridgewater College and chartered by the Commonwealth of Virginia to grant undergraduate degrees. Two major influences, the University of Virginia and the Church of the Brethren, have shaped Bridgewater as an educational institution and created its personality.
Bridgewater College strives to be an academic community with a distinctively Christian atmosphere and a wholesome balance of learning, service, and leisure. The College endeavors to be a community of excellence in which each student is treated with respect. There is mutual concern and support from the faculty and administration, and each student develops a sense of responsibility to others both near and far. Bridgewater promotes a breadth of intellectual experience as well as proficiency in specific subject fields. Broadly speaking, its primary academic objective is a comprehensive appreciation of the social sciences, the humanities, and the natural sciences.
Developing the total person is taken seriously at Bridgewater. On the premise that recognition of one's capabilities is the beginning of wisdom, Bridgewater offers a liberal arts education designed to help the student gain as complete a self-understanding as possible. As a liberal arts college, it helps students discover how they think, what they feel, why they act as they do, and who they are. Life at Bridgewater College can become a journey of exploration and discovery to the student who is committed unreservedly to the process of a liberal arts education.
The mission of Bridgewater College is to educate and develop the whole person. Our graduates will be equipped to become leaders, living ethical, healthy, useful and fulfilling lives with a strong sense of personal accountability and civic responsibility. This mission is carried out in a learning community, with Christian values, high standards of integrity and excellence, affirming and challenging each member.
© Bridgewater College
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