“Think about the things, places, or people that connect us.” I like this idea as it relates to the theme of Bridge.
I share several angles of the Guy West Bridge that spans the American River from the Sacramento State Campus to the community of University Village/ Campus Commons. This bridge is also right off the American River Bike Trail.
Built in 1966 to link the campus with the then-new, Campus Commons college-community development, the 1,144-foot-long, 16-foot-wide pedestrian bridge is officially known as the Guy A. West Memorial Bridge. Dr. West was the first president of then Sacramento State College.
I teach a general education course on Friday mornings called “Leisure Lifestyle Development.” Taught in a large lecture hall seating 80-plus students, I keep them busy learning how recreation and leisure are essential in their lives.
Each semester, after a lecture on various play theories, I take the class outdoors where we walk the short distance to the Guy West Bridge and blow bubbles.
We get a few quizzical stares, but my favorite question from a man on a bicycle was, “What class is this?!” Of course, I’m happy to tell him!
A bridge that is a mini-replica of the Famed Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco indeed connects university students with the surrounding communities and a sense of fitness and leisure through walking and cycling.
How do bridges in your hometown connect the community?
Second Wind Leisure Perspectives 
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