Abstract
In the 2015-2016 academic year, I conducted multiple case studies of Summer Bridge students who had been tracked into compensatory reading classes. I discovered academic literacies is not a static concept but is being continually remade through institutional practices. The students exhibited tendencies toward “hard-worker” personas and other work-related tropes in academic performances. They identified transitional experiences since completing Summer Bridge and entering the university. I recommend future classes establish a critical literacies focus that acknowledges students’ social and cultural academic experiences more fully through use of academic literacy narratives in conjunction with critical questions designed to explore different subjectivities and interests.