College Ambassador Profile: Jon Bridge

Position

Retired Co-CEO and presently Counsel for Ben Bridge Jeweler

How did your interest in education begin?

I've always been involved in education — particularly caring in high school about the need for integration and diversity in learning.

How have you been involved in education, professionally or as an advocate, over the years?

While at UW I was a STAY tutor in the Seattle Schools and served in the 1970s on the first Disproportionality Task Force for the school system. After law school I served on the Seattle Chamber's Education Committee and became chair organizing our company associates as tutors in the schools. As one of the founders and later chair of the Alliance for Education (and still on the Executive Board), I've been active in support of the Seattle Schools and particularly the Teacher Residency Program. (Along the way, I've also been on the site councils of both TOPS and Franklin High School.)

Beyond the K-12 arena, I've been the President of the UW Law School Foundation and have continued to annually teach military law (as a retired Navy JAG Captain) at the NROTC Unit at UW.

What one or two education issues are you most passionate about (and why)?

Equity in opportunity is the most important issue facing our public schools today followed closely by the continued need for diversity in each school's make-up.

Tell us about an educator who made a particularly large impact on your life.

My fourth grade teacher at Montlake Elementary School instilled in me the love of Seattle and its history. She also encouraged me to begin tutoring — assisting other classmates who had fallen behind in their school work — establishing the "Helping Hands Club".

Share an unusual/fun fact about yourself.

While a Navy midshipman, I served in the Spanish Navy in a summer exchange.