TLS Brochure 2018

TLS 2018

Trustee Leader Scholar Program

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND SOCIAL ACTION

Bard

In Colombia, school uniforms disguise the economic backgrounds that the kids come from. At this plasterwall school covered with colorful murals, these kids’ uniforms are stained and ragged from constant use.

Thrilled by a musical visit from foreigners, the children run wild. Later, I’m told that the teachers were scolding the students hard, afraid the Americans thought they were all “savage barbarians.” Hearing this my heart breaks a little. I thought they were just being kids. _ ELEANOR LEE, TON ’18 CUERDAS PARA CALI

Front cover image: Cuerdas para Cali 2

Theme for the Year: Courage and Kindness I think the only possibility for human survival is kindness. I’m not the first person to say this. That message is at the root of every spiritual practice.

In the nuclear age of global desolation I believe kindness will have to prevail if human life is to continue existing on this planet.

That said, I have noticed that over the past three or four years the level of anxiety among students has risen sharply. The faces of our students are tight and hard. The emotional atmosphere is often filled with a depressive fog. There is fear in the air.

The conduct of many human beings toward each other—made visible all day, every day, so that anyone with an internet-connected device knows of heartaches almost as they happen—is violent, uncertain, and precarious. It is not just the meltdown in our government. It includes meanness, greed, and destruction of all kinds across the surface of the earth, from environmental collapse to corruption to downright crackpots in power. How, for example, can a Nobel Peace Prize winner be the driving force in an ethnic cleansing? It is weighing on our children. It is weighing on the Bard students. It is weighing on some of us who work at the College.

It is my hope that we would be the gritty ones, who stand firm, who resist fear, who relentlessly treat each other well, because there really is no good alternative. One of my personal mottoes over the years has been, “In times of stress, treat your allies well.” This requires will, discipline, and spine.

It is the Thanksgiving tradition in our home to ask everyone to speak on a topic of my choosing before eating. This year I asked people to remember a tough moment when they took the high road, when they forgave something and moved on, when they did not lash back. One person spoke about all the phrases she uses to describe this, for example “suck it up,” “just get over it,” “move on,” “show some backbone.” And so I ask, should we always just suck it up? Of course not; we are all familiar at this point with the consequences of being or feeling silenced. But I think we also know the dangers of chronic fragility, especially when fragility becomes a way of life.

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I think we’re in a strange, almost strangled time. When should we speak up? How? To whom? And when should we forgive, move on, be thick-skinned?

My response in TLS has been to make interpersonal communication the primary training focus of our work. I call it “empathic communication.”

This is the study and practice of language that promotes resolution between people. It requires real guts in a conversation to feel strong feelings without lashing out or back. It’s a hard thing to do, especially when there are strong feelings involved. It is, however, essential in a world in which conflict, darkness, and secrets have become so dominant.

Empathic communication demands openness to others that is driven by genuine curiosity and the strength of character to speak up for oneself without attacking.

Sadly, instead, what I experience happening at the College is a lot of people becoming increasingly thin-skinned. Rather than opting for durability in the face of challenge, many, it seems, are eager to be affronted. Rather than take personal responsibility for creating responsible resolution to difference, people are looking to blame, both big and small, publicly and in secret. There is almost a cult of the offended, as if outrage to oneself somehow bestows dignity. People are racing to be the most victimized ones. Accusations fly from dark places. Blame sneaks into conversation. Whining anonymously but not confronting responsibly has become a viable alternative to the hard work of reconciliation.

Facing collapse of civility around the world, many students also think it’s the job of the institution to shield them from discomfort. I find that many students are so fragile they cannot handle any kind of discord at all. They break down crying even at the thought of standing up for themselves.

They want the College to provide a frictionless experience. They send out harsh memos and emails and social media clips at the first signs of emotional unrest.

Under these circumstances human contact and responsible conversation are crushed. The silencing and sniping has made cowards of people. The retreat into hypersensitivity kills agency. People are being rendered mute behind their fear and anxiety.

I am thinking about writing a book called “Decency and Kindness in ThinSkinned Times.”

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I would like to reinstate norms that involve interpersonal courage. I believe we need to stand up to stupidity in the world, but not meanly or violently.

We need honesty, articulation, empathy, and courage.

My hope for TLS students is that they are thoughtful, empathic, responsive, and courageous in their willingness to interrupt ignorance and violence. We all need to listen to everyone’s version of discomfort. But we mustn’t pay homage to moments of discomfort in a knee-jerk way.

Discomfort is a path into conversation. Discomfort should not be used as a weapon.

Being truly, deeply nice, it turns out, is a complex and rigorous discipline, which ironically also requires the capacity to feel discomfort. Forgiveness is no small matter. It’s not easy work. It means being willing to put ourselves in hot places, in hot conversations, and remain upright, thinking, and also, kind.

I invite everyone to join me in the pursuit of radical and courageous kindness.

Paul Marienthal Director, Trustee Leader Scholar Program

The conversation is about gentrification in Hudson, New York, which has been utterly transformed in a decade, the central road shop after shop of antiques and art galleries, surrounded by the leftovers from an industrial age. She haltingly raises her hand to participate, up a little at a time. But when the conversation gets heated her eyes light up and she jumps in with force. I am so proud to see her genuine confusion and anger and readiness to share her passion about her place.

MARISA FINKELSTEIN ’18 BUILDING UP HUDSON

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Bard Palestinian Youth Initiative

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Trustee Leader Scholar Program Bard College’s Trustee Leader Scholar Program (TLS) supports leadership development in the context of hands-on, student-initiated community engagement projects.

What is TLS? The Trustee Leader Scholar Program is the formal civic engagement and leadership development program for undergraduate students at Bard College and is deeply rooted in the mission and outreach efforts of the Bard Center for Civic Engagement. TLS supports the liberal arts mission of enlightened citizenship: personal development in the context of community building.

Who is in TLS? Every Bard student is eligible to apply to TLS, and TLS students come from every academic discipline on campus. Approximately 45 undergraduates participate as leaders in the program at any given time; they, in turn, recruit hundreds of volunteers to their projects. Most TLS students remain actively involved in the program throughout their college careers.

What do TLS students do?

TLS students design and implement social action projects based on their own compelling interests. For example, they run poetry-writing programs in local youth detention centers; build biodiesel processors on campus; run summer camps for Palestinian children in the West Bank; provide regular ESL sessions to non-English speakers who live locally; mentor young men of color from underserved communities in the Hudson Valley; and work in New Orleans alongside formerly incarcerated citizens to restore voting rights for citizens who have served their time. TLS students write extensive proposals, budgets, and personal accounts of their activities. They meet one-on-one with program administrators and attend workshops to explore issues in social action, public speaking, and facilitation. TLS students also raise their own funds, and many become proficient letter-writing campaign organizers.

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What makes TLS special?

Many colleges provide volunteer and community service opportunities.

Bard is one of the few that puts substantial resources and trust behind student-led initiatives. Students must initiate the work. The fundamental criterion for accepting a project is that it must contribute positively to the world and challenge the student—organizationally, ethically, politically, and emotionally.

What are some key values in TLS? TLS addresses the issues of paternalism and privilege that are stirred up by the notion of “helping others.” Students are encouraged to read widely about oppression, identify their own motivations and needs, and experiment with ways of organizing that treat other people as partners, not passive recipients. We try hard to strike a balance between inward reflection, societal awareness, and passionate action. TLS projects are hard. They force students to reflect critically about participation in the world, and develop beliefs based on real-world engagement with others.

TLS considers this life training. We also say “yes” a lot.

What is the ultimate goal of TLS? TLS strives to put into the world capable, sensitive adults who have the ability to generate, plan, fund, and implement large-scale projects that matter and that influence environments positively. Many TLS students leave Bard capable of creating their own nonprofit organizations. A number of important College initiatives began as student projects in the TLS Program, including the Bard Prison Initiative, Bard Early College in New Orleans, Brothers At Bard, and the award-winning Spanish-language magazine La Voz. How does TLS differ from similar programs?

TLS is a leadership development program, not a community service office. TLS students do not earn academic credit for their efforts; for their participation, TLS members receive stipends and transcript recognition.

Separating TLS work from the academic calendar allows participating students to design and implement ambitious civic engagement projects spanning multiple years. TLS recognizes that organizing a major project while completing Bard’s rigorous academic requirements is a demanding load, and is not for everyone. It is worth noting, however, that many TLS students have said, “My project was the most important thing I did in college.”

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How do you apply to the TLS Program?

TLS applications are considered on a rolling, year-round basis. The best way to start the process is to talk with TLS staff members, who are always open to hearing the words, “I have a TLS project.” Students are encouraged to consider TLS from the moment they arrive on campus.

How can you help if you are not a Bard student?

Making contacts and building networks are crucial to success. TLS flourishes because of the enthusiasm of Bard students, faculty, and administrators, as well as community members outside of the academic environment who generously give their time, creative energy, and financial support.

The next day we have students acting things out. I choose 17-year-old Qays to be the ballet dancer. Qays goes, “What! Noooo, that’s for girls, I’m not going to dance.” Sorry kid, you have no other option. He goes outside, I see him, he is on his phone, I come closer, he is looking at YouTube videos to learn how to dance.

Later, he performs in front of everybody and he is terrific. In fact, Qays is the best. Not only are people breaking down their shyness and walls but we are overcoming misconceptions and stereotypes that prevail in the village. Knowing that no one will judge makes them all feel comfortable and free. Finally, they all share, they all dance and act. No more of this boy-girl thing. We all do things alike.

RENAD BDAIR ’19 BARD PALESTINIAN YOUTH INITIATIVE

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Current Projects Astor Services for Children and Families Astor Services for Children and Families in Rhinebeck, New York, functions as a school and residential space of rehabilitation, providing mental health services to children who have experienced emotional and/or physical trauma. Bard students become mentors and positive role models for these children, leading a range of activities for two hours each week. Activities are taught in a one-on-one or group setting, and range from theater and cooking to pottery and science projects; the activities depend on the shared interest of each Bard volunteer and Astor student. After working with the children, we meet for supervision with the art therapist at Astor to discuss the sessions, hold additional trainings, and ask questions.

The project serves as an opportunity for children to be part of a safe, fun environment in which they can develop their passions and learn skills.

This program helps children who are overcoming obstacles in their lives to feel appreciated, listened to, and acknowledged.

Student Leaders: Tia Lee ’19 and Willa Baigelman ’19 Bard Math Circle The Bard Math Circle is an enrichment program for upper elementary, middle, and high school students; families; and teachers. Our main programs are monthly library Math Circle events in Kingston and Tivoli, New York; competitions and prep sessions hosted at Bard College; a weeklong summer day program; and a Rubik’s Cube Club. We expose students to math from beyond their school curriculum, foster interaction between students and Bard undergraduate volunteers, and build enthusiasm for further study. Learn more at bardmathcircle.org.

Student Leaders: Rachel Nalecz ’18, Ethan Richman ’20, Kate Blaine ’19, and Meagan Kenney ’19 Bard Palestinian Youth Initiative The Bard Palestinian Youth Initiative (BPYI) is founded upon the belief that constructive civil engagement, cultural exchange, and education create an environment conducive to self-expression. We are excited to say that BPYI is the only entirely student-run Palestinian engagement program in the United States. We believe deeply in the idea that open dialogue is crucial in areas of conflict. Twice a year, a group of students from Bard College programs in New York, Berlin, Russia, and East Jerusalem travel to Mas’ha, Zawyah, and Bidya, small villages in the

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West Bank. In partnership with the local communities, we run children’s summer camps, organize community engagement projects, teach English and writing classes, and participate in cultural activities. Throughout the year, we cocreate a Language and Thinking–based curriculum with Al-Quds Bard students for our winter and summer programs. L&T, which couples personal expression and rigorous text analysis, is the heart of all Bard student experience, and is making a real difference to students in the West Bank. BPYI also facilitates on-campus events to engage a diversity of students in conversation about the Middle East.

Student Leaders: Renad Bdair ’19, Genevieve Chiola ’20, and Marliana Yost ’20 Bard Science Outreach Bard Science Outreach (BSO) is a student-run project that promotes science education among middle school and high school students in the Hudson Valley. Every year we invite students from Linden Avenue Middle School in Red Hook, New York, to our campus to perform scientific experiments; we also mentor them in their independent science projects that later go on to be science fair projects. BSO works with Bard faculty and students to host and judge the middle school science fair, coaching students for county- and state-level fairs down the line. BSO helps develop community projects that become part of the Citizen Science program at Bard. We cooperate with other TLS projects such as the Bard Math Circle, and are always looking for ways to collaborate with other groups and events in the community. We welcome involvement from both science majors and people who are simply interested in science.

Student Leader: Madeleine Breshears ’18 Brookwood The Brookwood project is a math-teaching program in a youth incarceration facility for young men in Hudson, New York. We teach Math 90 (basic mathematical problems) and Math 100 (basic algebra). These are the remedial math courses for inmates in the college-bound program.

The young men must pass these classes in order to take college-level math courses. In the future, we will expand our work beyond the college program to the many other academic programs within the facility.

Student Leader: Jazlyn Johnson ’19

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Building Up Hudson

Brothers At Bard A character development, peer-mediation mentorship program for young men of color from underserved backgrounds, Brothers At Bard (BAB) is working with 15 high school students in ninth through 12th grades in Kingston, New York. The Bard students play the role of “big brothers,” or mentors, to the young men in the cohort. Brothers At Bard has the unique ability to empower young men by exposing them not only to successful men of color but to men of color currently attending a highly selective, four-year college. The mentors run a series of character development workshops and team-building activities with the cohort to promote academic excellence and college readiness. Our most important objective is to create a safe space and brotherhood circle among the students to generate a supportive atmosphere for character and identity development.

BAB measures each mentee’s growth on a case-by-case basis by tracking improvements in attendance, behavior, and the classroom. As a mentoring program, we make sure our mentees are making positive life choices to ensure they continue to live a healthy, successful life they can define for themselves.

Student Leaders: Anthony Jackson ’20 and Anthony Lloyd ’20

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Building Up Hudson Students in Building Up Hudson tutor and mentor high school students in Hudson, New York. We lead workshops catering to career development, college preparation, and college admissions, personal skill building, and positive personal expression. We also raise funds for Building Up Hudson scholarships for eligible high school seniors who could not otherwise afford college. The Building Up Hudson staff, consisting of the college mentor team, publicity squad, and fund-raising committee, is dedicated to the personal and academic growth of the young scholars we work with. We hope to instill values that will foster confidence for impacting the world.

Student Leaders: Jose Alexander ’18 and Marisa Finkelstein ’18 Community Engagement Arts Project The Community Engagement Arts Project (CEAP) focuses on community art making that supports the process of finding a personal, creative, and empowering voice of expression through visual arts, movement, theater, music, poetry, and play. CEAP members use the arts to interact with children, teens, and adult community members to explore the emotional content of their lives and overcome personal challenges. Members attend on-campus arts workshops led by professional practitioners and educators to equip themselves with the knowledge and confidence to design and implement their own workshops at sites such as Coarc in Mellenville, New York; Camphill Ghent in Chatham, New York; and the Red Hook (New York) and Tivoli (New York) Public Libraries. In addition to engaging in arts programs with communities outside Bard, CEAP seeks to use the arts to build a stronger community at Bard.

Student Leaders: Madison Emond ’18, Mia Lotan ’18, and Alexis Maresca ’20 Connecting Arts and Hearts Connecting Arts and Hearts is a program in partnership with the Boys and Girls Club of Kingston, New York, that connects high school–age girls with Bard College mentors through dance and other aspects of the performing arts to promote unity and self-confidence, and give them a sense of support. In addition, weekly discussion groups are held to target ways in which the students can prepare for college and life beyond high school.

Student Leaders: Sakinah Bennett ’21 and Skylar Walker ’21

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Cuerdas para Cali

Cuerdas para Cali Cuerdas para Cali (Strings for Cali) is a group of classically trained musicians who inspire students and celebrate cultural exchange through music education. Each summer, CPC travels to Colombia to work with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Siloé, a youth orchestra based in the Siloé barrio of Cali. The Orquesta de Siloé was founded by Fundación Sidoc to give disadvantaged youth in Siloé the opportunity to study music, by providing them with instruments, education, and performance outlets. CPC’s goal is to support the Siloé students in their musical growth, and to have a positive impact throughout their community. The project involves teaching and performing along with intense interpersonal engagement and exchange.

– – Student Leaders: Eleanor Lee TON ’18, Clara Engen TON ’19, and – Omar Shelly TON ’18 CultureConnect: Life, Learning, and Language CultureConnect’s Life, Learning, and Language program provides a local support network for immigrant families in the forms of English as a Second Language (ESL) tutoring, mentorship, and family advocacy.

For legal support, CultureConnect provides informational sessions on

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individual rights, translation services, and a sanctuary for undocumented students and their families threatened by deportation. In the classroom, the group connects tutors from Bard College and surrounding schools to ESL students for biweekly tutoring sessions. Using an original pedagogy created by our community coordinator, Wendy Brisley, tutors meet individually (at close to a 1:1 relationship) with ESL students for homework support, language-building exercises, and mentorship.

Student Leaders: Mitchell Levinson ’20 and Lily Chavez ’20 Gifted Girls at Columbia Gifted Girls at Columbia is a dual tutoring and mentoring project in an all-girls correctional facility in Hudson, New York. The Columbia Girls Secure Center houses youth, ages 13–21, sent there by criminal and family courts. Some girls may only be at the facility for a short time, while others may be transferred to a women’s prison after they turn 21. Our responsibility as tutors is to raise the academic bar in pursuit of closing the achievement gap. Mentoring is a key aspect of this project due to the importance of socialization and positive interaction. Gifted Girls at Columbia promotes the belief that every girl within the facility is gifted, no matter her circumstances, crime, or if anyone in her life has ever made her feel otherwise.

Student Leaders: Asha Lane ’20 and Micah Theodore ’20 Girls Group Girls Group is an afterschool empowerment program focused on middle schoolers—an age that is tough for most people, and especially so for young women. Every week, we spend an hour after school with a group of seventh graders at their middle school in Kingston, New York. This mentorship program seeks to empower young women through education, discussion of issues relevant to this age group, and introduction of positive role models. By working together and talking about our own stories, we foster a safe environment for girls to share and learn from each other’s experiences, growing self-esteem all around. Our program has three main focus areas: cultivating a space of inclusion and belonging; building positive body image and self-confidence; and understanding healthy relationships and the concept of agency/consent. We run creative workshops and open a space for emotional vulnerability and a sense of collective comfort. We finish each semester with a field trip to Bard to help reinstate the idea that college is within reach and to get the girls excited about future learning. Our overarching goal is to help young girls find their voices in a society that often silences them.

Student Leaders: Lucy Christiana ’19 and Lily Mojhedi ’19 Current Projects | 15

Members of Harvesting Justice at a local organic farm

Girls Who Code Our project utilizes the resources of the Girls Who Code organization and exposes young women to the magic of computer science. Though the field of computer science is growing dramatically, there remains a clear disconnect between the world of computer science and the discouraging message young women receive regarding their capabilities for pursuing computer science careers. In our program young women explore programming not as a foreign world but as a skill they can fully acquire and develop. We empower young women to realize that they are capable of solving problems within their communities and the world at large through computer science. Though we focus on computer science, this project gives young women the confidence that they can pursue any of the many STEM fields.

Student Leader: Rahma Ahmed ’19 Haiti Jakmel Ekspresyon Exchange The Haiti Jakmel Ekspresyon Exchange (JE) is a student-driven partnership with a community center in Jakmel, Haiti. The project facilitates development within the local community by providing the

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center with STEM courses taught by Bard students. On a deeper level, the project is a cultural exchange that encourages the empowerment of both Bard and JE students alike. Every July, a small group of Bard students travels to Jakmel to teach courses on data mapping and collection to a combination of local politicians, students, professors, and city developers.

The subjects for data collection range from HIV/AIDS rates to water justice, but most important, the areas of focus are determined by the Haitians themselves. By placing the power of data back into the hands of the people, the community can effectively access the needs of the city and surrounding towns, without relying on foreign aid and NGOs. Student Leader: Ollie Bentley ’21 Harvesting Justice Harvesting Justice is a student-run collective that helps up-and-coming farms in the Hudson Valley in tandem with the Freedom Food Alliance and other initiatives to fight institutionalized racism and social injustices.

We provide support for small-scale local farms while engaging in conversations around class, race, gender, ability, status, and other aspects of our identity in order to break down stigma around agriculture, and work against institutional barriers of access in the modern food system. We provide weekly opportunities for students to volunteer on and learn from local farms that could use our assistance. We glean food donations for the Victory Bus, a project of the Freedom Food Alliance, which supplies affordable transportation to New York residents who wish to visit their families in prisons upstate while providing complimentary shares of fresh produce for the incarcerated and their families.

Student Leaders: Olivia Donahue ’19 and Sarah Goldberg ’20 La Voz The Latino population in the Hudson Valley and Catskills has grown tremendously. La Voz is the only publication written in Spanish for the more than 140,000 Latinos of Dutchess, Ulster, Orange, Sullivan, and Columbia counties. Latinos are here to stay, and need the tools to learn to navigate the system in this country and in this state. This is the need that La Voz strives to meet every month. Based at Bard College, and thanks mostly to the work of volunteers, La Voz is a highly respected local publication, winning awards for its overall design and cultural content from the New York Community Media Alliance and from the Dutchess County executive. Each month we distribute 6,000 copies of La Voz at more than 500 locations across 25 towns and cities for an estimated 30,000 readers. Bard students work directly with editor Mariel

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“Hey,” I say gently, “your team misses you! They need your magic fingers to get them through!” She responds, “I wish we could start over, I really want to be on your team.” I stay with her, “Oh, you’re upset because you wanted to be on my team. It looks like you’re doing pretty well without me though! And there is always next time.” “I guess,” she sighs. I gently rub her back. “Well, the game is less fun without you. How about I sit with you for a while, then you get back into it?” She nods, face solemn. It is her turn to roll the giant rubber die, and I jump up, “OK, it’s time for those fingers to work some magic. Stand up and I’ll beam the number you want to get into your hands.” A slight smile slips onto her face, “I’m hoping for a 5,” she whispers. I rub her head and channel the number. The other team is trying to psych her out with staring and hollering. She lets it fly, the die rumbles across the giant board, the whole room stills. . .it slowly rolls and bumps to a stop. . . she leans into me cheering and grinning. . .it’s a 5!

TIA LEE ’19 ASTOR SERVICES FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

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Fiori ’05 on all aspects of the magazine’s production, from illustration and reporting to community outreach and distribution. Fiori began the magazine with Emily Schmall ’05 as a TLS project while an undergraduate at Bard. After graduation, Fiori was hired by the College to publish La Voz on a permanent basis. Learn more at lavoz.bard.edu.

Administrative Contact: Mariel Fiori ’05 Mid-Hudson Refugee Solidarity Alliance In conjunction with Vassar, Marist, Dutchess Community College, SUNY New Paltz, and many local nonprofits, faith-based congregations, and individuals, we are resettling refugee families in our region. There are currently an estimated 65 million displaced people on the planet.

The alliance works closely with Church World Services (CWS), an organization authorized by the U.S. government to resettle fully vetted families from challenged global locations. We develop welcoming teams to help families make the transition to living in the Hudson Valley.

Administrative Contact: Paul Marienthal, Director, Trustee Leader Scholar Program New Orleans Exchange Since 2005, the New Orleans Exchange has tried to empower New Orleanians working to rebuild their city as a more just, equitable, and sustainable place. An entirely student-run program, the Bard New Orleans project’s members have traveled to New Orleans each year since Hurricane Katrina. More than 900 Bard students have worked to meet the needs of local communities through close partnerships with organizations such as the Broadmoor Improvement Association, McDonough 35 High School, Andrew H. Wilson Charter School, and Bard Early College in New Orleans. In the last year we shifted our focus to work on criminal justice reform. We support VOTE, Voice of the Experienced, which is run for and by formerly incarcerated people. We assist them with community outreach, day-to-day operations, research, and legislative advocacy.

We have canvassed for city ordinances that we have seen passed and enacted during the next trip, and recently spent the summer working on a detailed report about incarceration of women and girls. The report will be published by VOTE. We love our VOTE family and look forward to the next chapter of the project.

Student Leaders: V. Claire Sperka ’18, Madeline Firkser ’19, and Lucy Christiana ’19

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Nicaragua Education Initiative

Nicaragua Education Initiative The Nicaragua Education Initiative facilitates educational projects that empower community members in Chacraseca, a rural town in western Nicaragua. For the past 15 years, Bard students have traveled to Chacraseca for three weeks in January and live with host families there.

The initiative has evolved from hurricane relief to sustainable education.

We provide English, science, and math lessons to community members, ranging from age 5 to adult. We also implement art projects as a means of encouraging creative expression. We maintain a presence in Chacraseca throughout the year by funding a number of academic scholarships. While our project provides community members with eclectic lessons, it also fosters a valuable educational and multicultural exchange. The Nicaragua Education Initiative values learning both inside and outside of the classroom. The connections and relationships we build cannot be learned at a desk, and this multicultural exchange widens the perspectives of each individual involved in the project.

Student Leader: Evelyn Reyes Delgado ’19

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Old Gym The Old Gym is Bard’s only student-run theater. Centrally located on the Annandale campus, it is a converted gymnasium that now functions as a black-box space with all the amenities of a fine amateur theater. We focus on presenting student work to showcase the abundance of creativity and talent at Bard. The Old Gym’s mission is to provide a safe, multipurpose space for anyone (dancers, actors, directors, musicians, photographers, visual artists, filmmakers; both majors and non-majors) to create radical, visionary work and share that work with the Bard community. We have several annual events including theater festivals, a haunted house, and the Black History Month Gala.

Student Leaders: Shane Crowley ’18, Maya Sokolow ’19, Liv Troiano ’20, and Macey Downs ’20 Project Why: Bard Through an annual trip to New Delhi, India, Project Why: Bard works with Project Why, a school for more than a thousand slum children in that devastatingly complex city. The corrupt public school system in India leaves children who cannot afford private schooling without adequate—or often any—education. We augment the curriculum, working with full-time teachers in subjects they are less familiar with; this includes spoken English, the arts, technology, and life skills such as first aid. We also run teacher trainings, which improve spoken English and equip teachers with pedagogical skills.

Student Leaders: Emily Fox ’18 and Meghann Trago ’19 Ramapo for Children Project Ramapo for Children connects the Bard community with an organization located in Rhinebeck, New York, that provides training, services, and programs for individuals with special needs and the people who surround and educate them. Bard students engage with a transition-toindependence program for young adults, school group retreats, monthly teen leadership programs, weekend events, and a 250-child summer camp. The TLS project works collaboratively with the Bard Center for Civic Engagement on Science Night Out and MLK Day of Engagement events.

Student Leader: Lillian Bressennel ’18 Red Hook English as a Second Language Center The Red Hook English as a Second Language (ESL) Center is a biweekly ESL class in which nonnative English speakers work with Bard students one-on-one. Originally started to address migrant workers’ needs to

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I ask the new resident what she thinks of the work we all made together and she says, “Hang it up.” It’s rare to get such a confident demand from a resident at Camphill where, able and disabled residents are fully integrated into the living community. Normally, we just do noticing, witnessing, sharing, but rarely does someone ask for something to be done with the work. We pull the big dripping paper up onto the wall. She tells me about when she was young at Bennington College, describing what it felt like to do ballet and modern dance. I learn something about the nuances between the two. She tells me our painting is “choreography.” Struck by her willingness to share with me, this is the first time that I clearly experience one of the expressive arts tenets: the dialogue between media and creative impulse. I am deeply moved that our practices and the witnessing of the painting brought up memories she could share with a stranger like me.

MIA LOTAN ’18 COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT ARTS PROJECT

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learn English—in order to advocate for themselves and become part of the Hudson Valley community—the center has opened its doors to other students while maintaining migrants from Latin America as the core of our student population. As leaders, we seek to create a comfortable learning environment for community members who might feel isolated by limited English proficiency, while allowing Bard students the opportunity to build relationships with members of our community who may otherwise be overlooked.

Student Leaders: Karin Roslund ’18, Mehgan Abdel-Moneim ’18, and Isabella Martinez '19 Red Hook Residential Tutoring Program Bard student volunteers hold weekly tutoring sessions with the young men incarcerated at the Red Hook Residential Center (RHRC) in Upper Red Hook, New York. Subject areas include reading, writing, math, and social studies, as well as TASC/SAT prep. With the assistance of the RHRC administration, we tailor specific materials to fit the needs and interests of each student in order to align with their class curricula.

Through this project, we hope to offer students at RHRC the opportunity to meet or exceed their grade level, to enhance their understanding of fundamental academic material, and, most of all, to foster in them an appreciation for continued education.

Student Leader: Stella Frank ’19 Sail Forward Sail Forward is an afterschool enrichment program in the Germantown Central School District. Based in the elementary school, Bard students create unique programs rooted in their own interests and skills. The curriculum serves the needs of the classroom and spans various disciplines including creative writing, art, debate, and the performing arts.

The projects are intended as collaborations between students, faculty members, and administrative staff.

Student Leaders: Gabriela Garcia ’19 and Kerri Anne Bigornia ’19 Surrealist Training Circus The Surrealist Training Circus (STC) is a creative forum at Bard College that gives students the opportunity to learn unique skills such as acrobatics, fire breathing, juggling, and poi spinning. These are taught directly to Bard students by other Bard students or Bard alumni/ae, and every skill level is welcome to join. STC members believe that academic and rational training fall short in preparing students for today’s world;

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Surrealist Training Circus performing on campus 24

in response, they pursue public theater and circus arts, and favor postapocalyptic lifestyles as modes of training for the future. STC is a complex organizational puzzle, and through questioning and critique, the Circus performs a crucial civic engagement function. STC puts on a show at the end of every May that is one of Bard’s most attended events; students—who have worked hard all year to learn and perfect their skills—perform for their peers and community members in a show completely designed by them.

Student Leader: Mary Verrelli ’18 Tuimarishane A student initiative that creates a peer-to-peer HIV/AIDS education network in Africa, Tuimarishane addresses the lack of HIV/AIDS education programs geared toward students. In most communities in Africa, sex is still a taboo topic and the rare conversations about sex happen in secret and very often spread wrong information. Although there seems to be an increasing amount of shows and commercials about safe sex targeted toward youth, many young people are still ignorant of basic information about sex. There are very few judgment-free spaces where they can get the answers to their questions. In addition, STDs and STIs are often stigmatized and a lot of myths circulate about them. As a result, many people are left to inform themselves. And truly horrifically, many people choose not to know their HIV status out of fear of being judged. In Ghana, we work with True Vision Ghana, a nonprofit organization that promotes the realization of the rights of underprivileged children affected by HIV/AIDS .

Student Leader: Olivia Gibson '21 and Hamika Smith Stone '21 WRITE ON! WRITE ON! offers books and free creative writing workshops for adults experiencing homelessness, women recovering from domestic violence, people at a shelter providing mental health services, and Bard’s local community. Believing in the power of writing and literature, WRITE ON! encourages and empowers our individual voices and the strength of our stories in a safe, nonjudgmental environment. We provide reading and writing materials for our workshop participants through book-collection drives and donations. Bard students volunteer to collect and distribute books, transcribe workshop participants’ writing, and assist in workshops.

Student Leader: LaVonne Roberts ’19

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A Brothers At Bard session with high school students in Kingston, New York

JOIN A TLS PROJECT Every project needs volunteers. A TLS student initiates and facilitates each of these projects, but the success of the work always depends on widespread participation. Please get involved. Contact the student leader listed in this booklet.

HAVE YOUR OWN IDEA FOR A PROJECT? Meet with us to discuss how to make your project come to life—even if your idea is still in formation. We are always available.

Paul Marienthal, Director Micki Strawinski, Administrative Assistant Room 213, Bertelsmann Campus Center 845-758-7056 tls@bard.edu

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Selected Project Archive Activists Worldwide AIDS/HIV and Reproductive Education (AWARE): Russia Bard Branches Community Center Bard Builds Bard College Community Garden Bard Food Initiative Bard Health Initiative (BHI) Bard Model United Nations Initiative Bard Permaculture Initiative Bard Prison Initiative Bard Senegal Project Bard Space Program Bard–Sri Lanka Project Bhopal Memory Project Chiapas Solidarity Project Child to Child Nepal Children’s Gardening Program Children’s Rights Are Human Rights, Amnesty International conference Coalition for Peru Relief Conversations on Education Dream to Achieve Germantown Tutoring Project Ghana Project Global Cultural Outreach Habitat for Humanity at Bard Hope in Devereux International Tuberculosis Relief Project Media Analysis Project (MAP) Mexico Solidarity Network Delegation Migrant Labor Project Senior Citizen Writing Project Sounds of Social Change SSTOP (Students Stopping Trafficking of Persons) Thailand Project Trans-Action Initiative Understanding Arabs and Muslims Visible and Invisible Disabilities Awareness Project For the entire project archive, visit the TLS website: bard.edu/civicengagement/tls Photos by Bard students

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All of June we stand outside of Municipal Court in the hazy New Orleans humidity that slowly cooks our faces. We stop everyone. “Hi, would you support municipal bail reform?”

Some people walk right by, but of those who stop, almost every one has some connection to the larger picture of mass incarceration. That’s the thing about being in the city with the most incarcerations in the world—almost anyone you talk to has been affected by the criminal justice system. In January, hundreds of signatures later, we are back in New Orleans for the winter trip. We are now in City Hall to see that very bail reform ordinance pass. In the grand scheme of the beast that is mass incarceration, it’s a small step. Working for the only nonprofit in Louisiana run by and for formerly incarcerated people, this is a message we hear again and again: keep pushing, keep pushing, baby steps, change will come.

LUCY CHRISTIANA ’19 NEW ORLEANS EXCHANGE

Bard College PO Box 5000 Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504-5000 845-758-7056 | tls@bard.edu | bard.edu/civicengagement/tls