Binghamton University’s chapter of BridgeUSA, a newly established club, held its final event of the semester, “American Pie.”

BridgeUSA is a national, non-profit organization that aims to encourage young people to engage in constructive discussions to better the quality of U.S. politics and contribute to a thriving democracy.

During the fall 2025 semester, Kayla Aldahondo, the president of the University’s BridgeUSA chapter and a sophomore double-majoring in philosophy, politics and law and history, reached out to BridgeUSA and started the chapter. She discovered BridgeUSA by researching clubs that focus on depolarizing political talk after being treated unfairly by a classmate upon expressing a different viewpoint from his during a class discussion.

“BridgeUSA is a multi-partisan student organization, and we really emphasize viewpoint diversity,” Aldahondo said. “And our main goal is to depolarize political discussion on campus, if I could put it into a few words, but our main goal is to have open discussion where students don’t feel like their viewpoint is diminished because other students don’t have that point of view.”

With the help of a chapter development coordinator from BridgeUSA and after receiving national clearance from the organization, the BU chapter officially began hosting events this semester.

Last week’s “American Pie” discussion began with a quick presentation from the club’s vice president, Lucy Black, a freshman majoring in politics, philosophy and law. She introduced the topic of American patriotism along with a list of five discussion questions to guide the conversation. The discussion centered around the distinctive definitions of patriotism and nationalism and political polarization.

“I like to come back to those foundational ideals that we have in America, like freedom, like equality, even if we’re not there, even if we’re not going in the right direction, we all want to get there, or we should, as Americans, all want to get there,” said Black. “And I think that polarization is driving us away from that goal. I think the parties have gone off with their own agendas a little bit, and our shared American identity got a little lost.”

The event highlighted differences in opinions among the student body. Some, for example, said they are proud to be American, while others stated the current administration makes them increasingly less proud to be an American.

The conversation then shifted to topics of present-day immigration policies. Some members shared their family’s history of immigration and explained that those who came before them came to the United States searching for a better life.

Bella Zhang, the vice president of public relations and the secretary of BU’s chapter of BridgeUSA and a freshman majoring in politics, philosophy and law, explained that her parents immigrated to America from China and fled from economic instability toward the prospect of better education.

“My dad, he left middle school education in China, he came here to finish out high school and enter community college,” Zhang said. “Even though he didn’t finish off community college, the fact that he had those opportunities to begin with is really amazing, because in China, there are so many like wealth and economic barriers, wealth and education disparities that set people so far apart, they have no chance of even thinking about crafting that same level of wealth.”

The conversation then turned to what dissatisfaction means as an American and how immigration, labor and economic policies might be reformed.

“It sort of goes back to the conditions of the economy, of the job market,” said Dylan Wiener, a sophomore majoring in accounting and the treasurer of BU’s chapter of BridgeUSA. “These expectations are not necessarily set by the values of this country. I think no matter how abstract it sounds, there are ideas that Americans naturally fight for, even if it’s not represented by the administration.”

Both Aldahondo and Black have bigger goals for the club’s future, like boosting attendance, which would allow BU’s chapter of BridgeUSA to move up in ranking within BridgeUSA as a whole. This would mean greater access to funds that can be invested in digital materials, food and prize incentives for students who attend meetings. The chapter could also coordinate with others at different institutions — like Stony Brook and Columbia University — to make events more engaging.

“Bridge has become such an important part of my college experience,” Black said. “We do meetings every week. We do E-Board meetings every week. I just feel like it’s a part of my everyday life, something that I’m always working on and adding more tasks onto. That does not feel daunting. It feels exciting, because it means that we’re going to grow as a chapter.”

Editor’s Note: Dylan Wiener, the treasurer of Binghamton University’s BridgeUSA chapter, is a copy contributor for Pipe Dream.