There were no high school spring sports banquets or senior skip days this year. Students didn't primp for prom. Nor did they take ceremonial struts up to podiums to receive well-deserved diplomas and cheers from crowds of adoring parents and well-wishers. For the high school class of 2020, the world was turned upside down because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thirteen or so years of general education ended, for many, with a click of a mouse as they “left the meeting.†And then there was the transition to college during a global pandemic, with more social distancing and virtual meetings. Staff and students of the University of Virginia School of Engineering's Center for Diversity in Engineering were determined to make the experience as welcoming as possible. Since the mid to late 1980s, UVA Engineering's Bridge Program has brought incoming first-year students to the school over three weeks in the summer, to acclimate them to the rigors of the engineering curriculum, orient them to life on Grounds and plant the seeds of friendships that often last long past graduation. “Bridge is primarily for students from backgrounds traditionally underrepresented in engineering,†such as first-generation college students, women, and Black and Hispanic students, said Jason Jones, manager of the Bridge Program and the director of inclusive excellence and applied research at UVA Engineering. “We help them with the expectations of academics as well as the culture and norms of college life. Most importantly, though, we create a sense of community.†Community is hard to create virtually, but Jones and the Center for Diversity in Engineering's program director, James Bland, have worked with their team of student mentors and other instructors to create an environment that is welcoming, unifying and productive.