TLS Brochure 2007

TLS 2007 Trustee Leader Scholar Program

Community Service and Social Action

Bard College

The Trustee Leader Scholar Program of Bard College supports undergraduate and leadership development in the context of hands-on, student-initiated community service projects.

Founded in 1860, Bard College offers a four-year bachelor of arts in the liberal arts and sciences through approximately 50 academic programs in four divisions. It also offers a five-year dual degree—a bachelor of music and bachelor of arts in a subject other than music—through The Bard College Conservatory of Music.

For more information about Bard College, visit www.bard.edu.

Front and back covers: Children’s Expressive Arts Project, in Burma Inside front cover: Bard Jo-Wo-Liech Project, in Kenya

New Orleans Project

Theme for the Year: Voice In conversation, do you usually: Dominate? Initiate? Interrupt? Summarize? Defer?

Divert? Clarify? Undermine? Support?

Who do you know who incessantly tells their own story? Witnesses you gracefully? Needs to be right all the time? Who asks you the critical questions that matter? Who chooses silence again and again?

What does voice have to do with power? Many of us have read Michel Foucault, Edward Said, and bell hooks, authors who write broadly about power, knowledge, and language, but how have you experienced the relationship of power and speech in your own life? When and where, for instance, does your voice count?

When does it feel irrelevant or dismissed?

In how many ways can you say, “I agree,” “Stop,” “I need help,” “I want,” “That hurts,” “Join us,” “You’re wrong,” “Beautiful job,” “Let’s move on”?

Is your voice made up of words or is it tendon and muscle? Is it located in your throat or somewhere else (in your mind)? Does it have a deep or shrill quality?

Does it sound thick or thin, hissing or mellow, generous or stingy? Do you know what note on the piano your normal voice makes? Does your voice exist when you are not speaking?

Do you speak so that your word choices, effects, and intentions are in alignment (called congruence)? Do you often say things that you don’t really mean? Fail to say things that you do mean?

How do race, gender, class, age, sexual orientation, and educational training come through in your voice? (They all do, even if you can’t yet identify how.) Another way of thinking about this is to identify where your vocabulary comes from: parents, siblings, school, church, television, newspapers, music videos, books, movies, the gym.

Who is silenced? Who speaks for the silenced? What does collective voice mean?

What about public versus private speech? How many people does it take, listening to you, for your voice to change in some way?

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Whose voice do you love, and whose can’t you stand? How about your own? Can you stop children from fighting, soothe a crying baby, or calm your father with your voice? As a child, were you encouraged to speak not only up, but out?

Can you speak people into action?

Paul Marienthal Director

“I think I am beginning to have a better understanding of how my 'voice' sounds. All it takes is allowing oneself to have a conversation sometimes with one's own voice.”

—Mona Merling, La Voz

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Trustee Leader Scholar Program What is TLS?

The Trustee Leader Scholar Program is the leadership development program for undergraduate students at Bard College. TLS supports the liberal arts mission of enlightened citizenship; personal development happens in the context of community service.

Who is in TLS?

Every Bard undergraduate is eligible to apply to TLS, and TLS students come from every academic discipline on campus. Approximately 50 undergraduates participate in the program at any given time, and most TLS students remain actively involved in the program throughout their college career.

What do TLS students do?

TLS students design and implement service projects based on their own compelling interests. For example, they organize relief efforts in New Orleans; run General Education Diploma (GED) programs in local prisons; mentor at-risk students in Hudson, New York; and build low-cost houses in Nicaragua. TLS students write extensive proposals, budgets, and personal accounts of their activities. They meet one-on-one with program administrators and attend workshops and retreats to explore and discuss issues in leadership.

What makes TLS special?

The TLS program supports students in taking substantial risks as they turn their own passionate interests into action. The fundamental criteria for a TLS project is that it challenge the student—organizationally, ethically, emotionally, and politically. TLS prepares leaders who can generate an idea, then create an organization and make a plan to manifest that idea. Many colleges provide ample community service and volunteer opportunities. Bard is one of the few that puts substantial resources and trust behind student initiative.

Leadership is a complex process

Leadership is never solely synonymous with power. While there are many ways to lead, all leadership styles are not equally worthwhile, even if they appear to accomplish their goals. TLS participants discuss issues of paternalism and privilege stirred up by “helping,” and honor the personal histories that often embolden and sometimes disarm. TLS encourages Bard students to examine the world,

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identify their own motivations and needs, and experiment with ways of organizing that treat other people as partners.

What is the ultimate goal of TLS?

TLS strives to put into the world capable, sensitive adults who have the ability to design, plan, fund, and implement large-scale projects that matter and that influence environments positively and humanely. Many TLS students leave Bard capable of creating their own nonprofit organizations.

How does TLS differ from similar programs?

TLS is a leadership development program, not a service-learning program; students do not earn academic credit for their efforts. For their participation, TLS program members receive stipends and transcript recognition. Separating leadership development from academics allows TLS students to design and implement ambitious projects that span multiple years. TLS recognizes that organizing a major service 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.”

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, building networks, and creating webs of action are crucial to a project’s success. TLS projects flourish because of the enthusiastic Bard students, faculty, and administrators, and the community members outside of the academic environment, who generously give their time, creative energy, and financial support.

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Current Projects Join a TLS project Every project listed below needs volunteers. A TLS student initiated and facilitates each of these projects, but the success of the work always depends on widespread participation. Please get involved.

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 Susanna Armbruster, Assistant Director Room 213, Campus Center 845-758-7056 service@bard.edu

Astor Home for Children Bard Volunteers

The Astor Home for Children in Rhinebeck, New York, is a residential facility for emotionally challenged children. Since 1997 hundreds of Bard student volunteers have become a part of the lives of these children by sharing their love of creative writing, arts and crafts, photography, gardening, and theater and musical performances.

Student Leader: Patrick Paglen Activists’ Worldwide AIDS/HIV and Reproductive Education (AWARE)

AWARE: Bali assists the HIV-positive community of Denpasar, Indonesia, in its efforts to educate local youth about HIV/AIDS, intravenous drug use, and general reproductive health. We work in conjunction with YAKEBA, a Balinese nonprofit composed largely of HIV-positive former heroin addicts.

In the summer of 2006 two members of AWARE: Bali traveled to Denpasar to synthesize a curriculum out of Indonesian and English texts.

AWARE: Bali also assisted ex-addict program facilitators in teaching high school–age students during an intensive summerlong program. Topics included HIV/AIDS, other STIs (sexually transmitted infections), destigmatization, general reproductive health, and the perils of narcotics. The

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ultimate goal of the project is to create a team of high school–aged educators who can deliver important information to their peers. The curriculum included Q&A sessions and lectures by local doctors, testimonies of HIVpositive persons, games explaining scientific functions, and a trip to the local prison, which is an incubator of heroin addiction and HIV transmission.

The Indonesian students in the summer 2006 program returned to their schools and shared the information. Plans have been made to repeat the program in 2007. The 2006 project was executed well under budget, allowing a large portion of the $10,000 raised to roll over and fund the summer 2007 training.

Student Leader: Nick Shapiro AWARE: St. Petersburg is committed to combating the spread of HIV/AIDS by helping to develop a culture of volunteerism among secondary school students in this large Russian city. Through the development of cooperative educational programs that engage young people and their families, AWARE: St. Petersburg will emphasize the importance of human rights and healthy lifestyle choices. These programs, consisting largely of peer education, will work to break through rampant prejudice, stigmatization, and a drug culture that is quickly paralyzing St. Petersburg’s adolescent population. By creating a lively program that will draw people in, students look to create a safe space for anyone involved with or interested in the HIV/AIDS community.

Student Leader: Genya Shimkim

“My first TLS epiphany occurred in the process of translating curriculum into Indonesian, when I realized that sometimes being a good leader means stepping back and letting people do things inefficiently. Our translator, Jo, was intensely lonely, and placing him in charge made everything circuitous and frantic. Yet all of the unnecessary hassle he created was ultimately beneficial. It was important to him to be in charge of something and have his time occupied because he was rapidly decreasing his methadone doses and close to relapsing.”

—Nick Shapiro, AWARE: Bali

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Bard Buddies

Bard Buddies is a group dedicated to enhancing the lives of people with mental retardation. Adults from the Association of Retarded Citizens in Kingston, New York, and Bard students are paired, and together they build genuine relationships. Bard Buddies activities include picnics, parties, physical recreation, and other outings.

Student Leader: Lara Georgieff Bard College Community Garden

Since 1997 the Bard College Community Garden has been a haven for agricultural enthusiasts from Bard and beyond. During the growing season, people meet in the garden weekly for potluck suppers and work parties, helping to maintain the garden’s abundant fruits, vegetables, and flowers. The garden is a favorite year-round gathering spot for students: a place for conversation, campfires, and drumming.

The planned improvement project for 2007 is an outdoor bread and pizza oven.

Student Leaders: Bethany Lord and Katherine Reed Bard Health Initiative (BHI)

The Bard Health Initiative is a collective of highly motivated, health care–vigilant undergraduates who represent a diverse range of academic disciplines. BHI students share a deep concern about the U.S. health care system. Drawing on support from the College, they are eager to mobilize funds and personnel to promote health care initiatives in the political realm and facilitate primary, preventive, oral, and behavioral health care for underserved and excluded populations. BHI assists local health care providers who work with migrant workers and others who have difficulty accessing adequate services. They also organize on-campus conferences and educational campaigns about health care issues.

Student Leaders: Ran Tao and Anneka Olson Bard Jo-Wo-Liech Project

This project compiles and distributes musical recordings made by men living in the Kakuma Refugee Camp in northern Kenya. To date, more than 600 traditional Sudanese melodies and songs have been recorded. An album of this music will be sold to Sudanese living in the African diaspora in the West. All proceeds from album sales will be distributed back into the Kakuma Refugee Camp.

Student Leader: David “Kit” Martin

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Bard Prison Initiative Volunteers (BPI)

BPI is a collective of Bard College faculty, students, and staff that establishes connections between educational institutions and correctional facilities in New York State.

Volunteers organize and train facilitators for BPI’s inmate educational programs, including the A.A. degree–granting program, General Education Diploma (GED) programs, and poetry workshops. BPI sponsors speakers, workshops, and conferences at Bard on topics relevant to prison life and the prison industry in New York.

Student Leaders: Maida Ives and Lilly Bechtel Bhopal Memory Project

The 1984 gas disaster in Bhopal, India, one of the world’s worst disasters, has been almost forgotten. The Bhopal Memory Project creates educational resources and opportunities about “that night,” its aftermath, and the continuing problems caused by the accident and the corporation responsible. The project organizes lectures, reaches out to schools and textbook companies, demonstrates publicly, lends its extensive Bhopal photograph exhibition, and regularly updates its website. The project has a strong relationship with the Sambhavna Medical Trust, a Bhopal medical clinic that treats survivors without charge. The project has begun to document other chemical contamination disasters under the No More Bhopals Project. The goal is to make the concept of a “Bhopal” accepted and discussed, by providing readings and firsthand resources to academic circles and the world at large.

Student Leader: Adrianne Raff Corwin

“When you're in Bhopal, the effects of the disaster don't stare you in the face. There are no bodies in the streets from the gas—but there were 22 years ago. There is almost no memorial to speak of, except for a statue across from the factory, and the survivors had to fight to get that token gesture. But although the disaster is not on the surface—no great media events call it to your attention once again—a small but powerful group of people is shouting for justice. These are the people I spent time with when I was in Bhopal. These are the people that inspired the project I work on and the fight that I am part of.”

—Adrianne Raff Corwin

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Children’s Expressive Arts Project (CEAP)

Expressive arts is the use of art materials, theater, music, and movement to assist people in addressing challenging life circumstances. CEAP provides disadvantaged children with artistic tools to help them cope with everyday life. Through workshops they conduct with children and their caregivers, CEAP students lay foundations for constructive life change through the expressive arts. Locally, students offer workshops at the Astor Home in Rhinebeck, New York, and the Children’s Annex in Kingston, New York. CEAP students have also worked internationally, in Burma, Colombia, Thailand, Cambodia, and India. In the past year, CEAP has provided workshops for many children in New Orleans. CEAP students train rigorously, meeting weekly with a certified expressive arts practitioner, and many of them have attended professional-level training workshops.

Student Leaders: Leah Schrader, Emily Diaz, Rebeka Radna, and Anna Putnam

“Every Friday when I return from volunteering at both the Astor Home and the Children's Annex, wondering why the heck I agreed to do so much, I seem to find myself in my room with a piece of paper and the leftovers from the day's workshops.

There are usually a million other things that need to be done, but none of them can override my urge to try the projects that I watched unfold earlier. All day I truck supplies and volunteers around, claiming to 'bring art to children,' and at night I end up in my room making my own art, inspired by them.”

—Leah Schrader, CEAP

Conversations on Education

Conversations on Education, a student-led experiential workshop series that focuses on topics in education, is aimed at students who want to pursue careers in education.

Students plan and deliver classes to each other on a wide range of topics, including the impact of race on standardized test scores, expressive arts and creative movement, and how to travel cheaply. Students critique each other, and in so doing, create a rich learning environment for those interested in pursuing educational careers.

Student Leaders: Thomas Hillman and Hannah Cole-Chu 11

Eco-Discoverers

Eco-D is an environmental education program for 8- to 12-year-old children from Red Hook, Tivoli, and Hudson, New York. Working in partnership with Time & Space Limited in Hudson, Bard student volunteers and the children visit outdoor locations—such as the Tivoli Bays and Hawthorne Valley Farm— on alternate Saturdays. Focusing on themes such as local agriculture, water, and botany, the program gives the children a basic understanding of local ecosystems.

Children are also offered time to play and explore the outdoors while they learn about the area in which they live.

Student Leaders: Rachel Sanders and Hannah Sunshine Flying Fiddlers Mentoring Program

The Flying Fiddlers links Bard student volunteers with the Flying Fiddlers String Chorale (FFSC), a nonprofit youth music program that encourages and supports a lifelong love of music. Bard student volunteers participate in the FFSC outreach program in Kingston, New York, which offers free comprehensive ensemble and solo experience to a culturally and economically diverse group of children from Kingston and Poughkeepsie, New York. The Bard mentors act as private instructors and coaches for quintets, quartets, trios, and duets during weekly sessions for students studying violin, viola, and cello. The work culminates in a series of performances in Dutchess and Ulster Counties and on the Bard campus.

Student Leader: Sarah Casman-Perkins Habitat for Humanity at Bard

Habitat for Humanity volunteers travel to different sites in the United States and abroad to build affordable homes for those in need. Throughout the semester, Habitat student members organize and participate in fund-raising projects, such as bake sales, charity concerts, the East Meets West cultural show, and Candygram sales, with the goal of developing leadership and a sense of community. Fundraising profits are contributed to each member’s registration fee to the Habitat for Humanity organization. Locations of planned builds for 2007 include Cleveland, Ohio, and rural Virginia. Past international projects have taken place through HFH’s Global Village Program.

Student Leader: Jean Lor

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International Tuberculosis Relief Project

One third of the world’s population is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Approximately two million people die each year from this disease, most of them in developing countries. TB is often overlooked by developed nations, where the incidence of the disease is low. Working in New York State and across the United States, the International Tuberculosis Relief Project increases public awareness of TB and the devastation it causes. In addition, the project raises funds toward the cost of medication and equipment for TB patients who cannot afford these necessities. Project volunteers also establish personal relationships with TB patients in order to give a human touch to medical intervention.

Student Leaders: Anh Pham and Zie Zhang La Voz

La Voz is a Spanish-language newsletter, distributed widely in the New York State counties of Dutchess, Ulster, and Orange, which elevates the discourse and the work of the Hispanic and Latino populations of the Hudson Valley. This project involves networking with and among the communities served by the magazine. La Voz is a critical source of information on immigration law, available health services, and local event scheduling relevant to the Hispanic community.

Bard students work directly with editor Mariel Fiori ’05 on all aspects of the magazine’s production. (Fiori was an undergraduate TLS student whose work became so vital that Bard College hired her upon graduation to produce La Voz on a permanent basis.)

Student Leaders: Mona Merling and Jonathan Raye Make Art Now

Playwrights, actors, directors, musicians, and set designers have 24 hours to create an evening of theatrical performance. This is a highly collaborative and frenzied event!

Student Leader: Brel Froebe Migrant Labor Project (MLP)

MLP is a student-based organization that works to improve conditions for migrant laborers and their families in New York State, particularly the Hudson Valley, through community and campus education, direct service, research, and advocacy.

MLP also works with a coalition of organizations involved in the Justice for Farmworkers Campaign, which advances farmworker rights through a legislative

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agenda. Additionally, MLP works with local agencies and organizations dedicated to serving the migrant community. In doing so, the project helps spread awareness of services available to migrant workers and promotes student involvement in the expansion of these services.

Student Leader: Julia Wentzel New Old Gym Project

The Old Gym, a central building on campus, has been converted into a black box theater. A collective of students representing the art forms of theater, dance, visual arts, photography, and music oversees the use of the building, including ongoing physical improvements, lighting, sound crew, scheduling, and monitoring. The New Old Gym is the primary student performance space on a very active, performanceoriented campus.

Student Leader: Brel Froebe

“My work with the TLS program has been the most consistently frustrating, demanding, and harrowing aspect of my college experience: I've rebuilt houses with groups of students and then watched as government contractors bulldozed the same homes for unspoken political reasons. But, more important, I've learned to work from that point, from a bare foundation, be it going to the lumber store or to city hall—I've learned (with terror) that at no point can I say that I have nothing left to offer.”

—Stephen Tremaine, New Orleans Project

New Orleans Project

The New Orleans Project seeks to engage Bard students as broadly as possible with the city of New Orleans as it stands today: battered yet vibrant, neglected yet determined. More than 180 Bard students have traveled to the city to repair storm-damaged homes, stabilize schools on the brink of collapse, teach expressive arts workshops in after-school programs, and carry out research and planning with communities eager to take rebuilding into their own hands. The project has in

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particular adopted the Broadmoor neighborhood, a diverse community that has developed a strong grassroots organization. Project members seek to balance their hands-on engagement in New Orleans with work at Bard in the classroom and across the campus community, creating resources such as New Orleans–based panel discussions, classes, film screenings, and lectures.

Student Leaders: Stephen Tremaine and Ariana Jostad-Laswell Nicaragua Project

The Nicaragua Project is committed to helping families of Chacraseca, Nicaragua, an impoverished community that was devastated by a hurricane a decade ago and still has not reestablished many of its homes, crops, roads, and other infrastructure.

Student volunteers raise funds and expand awareness of the Chacrasecan culture, within and around the Bard community. Annually, volunteers take part in a threeweek trip to Nicaragua, where they live and work with the families of Chacraseca to build new, strong, and safe habitats. The project is organized in partnership with the Maryknoll nuns of New York and the village of Chacraseca.

Student Leader: Jonathan Raye Red Hook English as a Second Language (ESL) Center

The Red Hook ESL Center brings English-speaking and immigrant community members together through free drop-in English classes. Organized and staffed

by Bard student and local community volunteers, the center serves a diverse population emerging in the Hudson Valley.

Student Leader: Julia Wentzel Red Hook Residential Reciprocal Education Project

A group of Bard students leads weekly workshops for first-time youth offenders incarcerated at the Red Hook Residential Facility in Upper Red Hook, New York. The topics taken up are linked by the common theme of youth empowerment through creative verbal and written expression.

Student Leader: Pavel Paulino SMOG

The Student Mechanic Operated Garage (SMOG) has been converted into a student-run performance space. Bard College has expanded the building and created a performance venue for music and music-related performance.

Student Leader: Brandon Rosenbluth 15

It's been amazing how much my various commitments and activities on campus all feed back into my TLS project, so that no matter what I'm doing or where I'm doing it, I'm always improving and building on my project in some way.”

—Genya Shimkin, AWARE: St. Petersburg

Students for Students: Hudson [New York] Chapter

Tolerance Committee Through structured discussions about diversity, acceptance, and leadership development, Hudson High School students are empowered to implement programs, activities, and campaigns at their school that directly confront issues of intolerance at the school and in the local community.

Hudson is a small city with challenging poverty and diversity issues.

Student Leader: Desiree Porter Gay-Straight Discussion Group This high school–aged discussion group provides a nonjudgmental conversational forum for young people who are exploring LGBTQQI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender/sexual, queer questioning, intersexed) issues.

Student Leader: Desiree Porter Surrealist Training Circus

The Surrealist Training Circus is a forum, network, and workforce for creativity and performance. Circus members pursue surrealist training experiences that include theater training, puppet making, costuming, and the study of spectacle.

Using various elements of formal and informal theater within the public spaces of a private institution, the circus attempts to disrupt the illusions of space, time, and social relationships.

Student Leader: Rachel Schragis Time & Space Limited Tutoring Program

The Time & Space Limited (TSL) Tutoring Program partners Bard student volunteers with the staff at Time & Space Limited in Hudson, New York, to offer at-risk middle school students in the city a general education tutoring program

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that will help them succeed in their academic endeavors. TSL is an arts organization with the mission of carrying local and global messages to the public about art, activism, and community exchange.

Student Leaders: Anubhav Tibrewal and Jeremy Bennett Trans Action Initiative

A largely on-campus organization, the Trans Action Initiative is active in changing the way the Bard community thinks about gender, and is working to create an accepting, comfortable environment for individuals of all gender identities.

Student Leader: Jaan Williams Verse Noire

Verse Noire, Bard’s student-run literary magazine, exists as a venue for creative and imaginative work that might otherwise be overlooked by Bard publications.

Verse Noire editors hold a firm belief in the validity of student writing and the importance of student-to-student writerly collaboration. Students perform all parts of the editorial and layout processes. Different genres of writing are considered, and a wide variety of the work being produced on campus is represented.

The constructive environment welcomes all student submissions and strives to serve, reflect, and illuminate Bard as an undergraduate writing community.

Student Leader: Bonnie Ruberg Visible and Invisible Disabilities Awareness Project (VIDAP)

VIDAP works to close the gap between able and disabled people by raising awareness about disabilities through films, guest speakers, and discussions at Bard and beyond.

Throughout 2005 and 2006, VIDAP’s student leaders worked extensively with advocacy groups in Serbia and Hungary. VIDAP has been instrumental in changing Serbian laws and policies concerning people with disabilities.

Student Leaders: Nina Bektic and Ljiljana Dukanovic Wayfinder Experience

Using physical activity and sportsmanship, in conjunction with traditional and improvisational theatrical devices, the Wayfinder Experience immerses participants in an environment of play and cooperation.

Student Leader: Patrick Paglen

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Women’s Health and Sexuality Project

The Women’s Health and Sexuality Project meets once a week at Time & Space Limited in Hudson, New York. Through discussion and arts activities, the project creates a safe space where young women can engage with information related to health and sexuality.

Student Leader: Emma Alabaster Young Rhinebeck Youth Programs

In partnership with Bard College, Young Rhinebeck supports elementary and middle school children in Rhinebeck, New York, through tutoring and mentoring programs.

KitKat Mentoring Once a week, students from Bulkeley Middle School meet their Bard student mentors on campus. Activities foster social skills, self-esteem, and a sense of creative wonder.

Student Leader: Noah Levine Life, Learning, and Language This program at the Chancellor Livingston Elementary School is designed to meet the needs of children who are new to the United States. Through one-on-one interactions with children from Mexico, Israel, Vietnam, India, and the Netherlands, Bard student mentors build relationships and provide language and homework support.

Student Leader: Jon Leslie Rhinebeck Connections Homework Help Program This program offers afterschool tutoring to students at Bulkeley Middle School.

Student Leader: Spencer Goot

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“The Life, Learning, and Language Program is designed to help students with homework and facilitate their language learning, as one might expect, and also to provide a sense of community for a variety of immigrant families who otherwise might remain alienated from Rhinebeck's prosperity. The program has taught me that kids—not the educational system that their interactions are subjected to—are the great equalizer. Education should focus on fostering these natural interactions as much as teaching kids new material, with the proverbial aim of filling up their noggins like jam jars. The teacher-student relationship, especially when a new community is being introduced (as is the case with this 'immigration crisis') is a dynamic corridor, wherein the teacher should respond to the student's needs and knowledge base as actively as that instructor expects the kid's willingness to learn and general responsiveness.”

—Jon Leslie, Life, Learning, and Language

“This is my second year as a TLS student, but I think it is the first year that I truly understand what it means to be one. My program has faced great challenges this year, to the point where it became unclear whether or not it would be able to continue. I have had to make unpleasant decisions and deal with disappointed participants, and constantly question my own work ethic. Whether or not I was doing enough to earn my position as a TLS student, I have certainly been made better by the experience and now feel as though I have a true understanding of what TLS is about— not only doing good work and helping others, but also confronting one's limitations honestly, and openly facing the inevitable frustrations that engenders.”

—Spencer Goot, Rhinebeck Connections Homework Help Program

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Selected Projects Supported by the TLS Office The TLS Office offers organizational and fund-raising advice, facilitation, transportation, and limited seed money to student groups at Bard that are involved in service and action endeavors. The leaders of these projects are in the process of becoming TLS students.

Amnesty International

TLS supports letter-writing campaigns and human rights conferences organized

by Bard students in conjunction with Amnesty International.

Student Leader: Jennifer van der Grinten Grace Smith House

Students intern at Grace Smith House, a shelter for female victims of domestic violence in Poughkeepsie, New York.

Student Leader: Julz Benedict Students Stopping the Trafficking of Persons (SSTOP)

Dedicated to educating the Bard and surrounding communities about the increasing severity of human trafficking in the United States and in the rest of the world, SSTOP seeks to address the issue in the political arena and encourage other colleges to organize a STOPP chapter of their own.

Student Leader: Sarah Paden

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Selected Project Archive Academic Advancement Program Bard High School Early College Play/Mentoring Program Bard Space Program Chiapas Solidarity Project Children’s Gardening Program Free Press Ghana Project Great River Sweep Human Rights Film Series Intercollegiate Energy Audit Iraq Watch Kosher-Halal Kitchen and Multipurpose Prayer Space Linden Avenue Middle School Drama Project Mexico Solidarity Network Delegation “Children’s Rights are Human Rights,” Amnesty International Conference “One Year Later” (academic conference on the anti–Iraq War outpouring in 2003) Palestine Awareness Project Register to Vote (a Bard student successfully sued the State of New York for the right to vote in Dutchess County) Roving Readings Senior Citizen Writing Project STD of the Week Campus Education Project Student-Run Darkroom Sui Generis Thailand Project Understanding Arabs and Muslims Work Awareness Project For the entire project archive, visit the TLS website: http://inside.bard.edu/tls.

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We Need Your Support!

Volunteer

Volunteers are the backbone of TLS projects: whether you are a Bard student or a community member, we need your help. Join the mentoring project in Hudson, attend the spring 2007 Tuberculosis Relief Conference, spend a day building with Habitat for Humanity, read La Voz, help gut moldy houses in New Orleans . . .

Contribute Funds

Leadership includes fund-raising. Many TLS projects require thousands of dollars.

The TLS office can provide only seed money, so many projects rely on the generous financial support of people who want to make a difference in the world. With your support, TLS students have built schools in Africa and houses in Nicaragua, run tutoring programs in Hudson, New York, taught violin to economically challenged children in Kingston, New York, and recorded the indigenous music of the Sudan. These are projects that link people of all ages and needs with valuable assistance. Your willingness to support our work is crucial.

Making a charitable contribution to Bard College, the Trustee Leader Scholar Program, or a specific TLS project is easy. Many of our projects also benefit from donations of goods and professional services, such as books and bikes for raffles, printing services, and well-maintained cars.

Making a Gift by Check

Checks can be made payable to Bard College. Please note TLS and a project name on your check if you would like your donation to go toward a particular project. Checks and other correspondence should be sent to: Trustee Leader Scholar Program

Bard College PO Box 5000 Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504-5000 Making a Gift by Credit Card

Bard College accepts VISA, MasterCard, and AMEX. To make a contribution over the telephone, please call the Office of Development and Alumni/ae Affairs at 845-758-7415 or 1-800-BARDCOL.

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The TLS program gratefully acknowledges the support of many individuals and foundations whose generosity makes our work possible. For further information, please call Paul Marienthal, director of the Trustee Leader Scholar Program and associate dean of student affairs, at 845-758-7056 or e-mail service@bard.edu.

Habitat for Humanity at Bard, in western Pennsylvania

Published by the Bard Publications Office. Photography by TLS students.

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In TLS we believe that positive energy and decency create lasting change.

In the face of despair we strive for the human response, bringing grace, humor, and even good-natured iconoclasm to a challenged world.

Inside back cover: Bhopal Memory Project

Bard College, PO Box 5000, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504-5000 845-758-7056, service@bard.edu, http://inside.bard.edu/tls

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