#PolicyProfile: “I counted beads. Every day. For hours — in Kunming, China. The place I worked during my princeton novogratzbridgeyear program was a jewelry business at its core, but it was more than that. It was an organization dedicated to helping women get out of sex trafficking. There were days I would sit and count thousands of these teensy, tiny beads, and, at times, I would feel disillusioned asking myself, ‘How am I serving by counting beads all day?’ Then, I realized I was making things more efficient and allowing them to have a bigger impact. Each bead that I counted, I was making a difference. Because of that experience, I learned that service is not about fulfilling your own aspirations of what you want service to be, it's about how you can be the most effective for others. Through the Bridge Year experience, newly admitted undergrads can engage in global community-engaged learning before coming to campus. Nothing about my bridge year experience was easy, and I loved that. ...