TLS Brochure 2012 by Bard College

TLS 2012 Trustee Leader Scholar Program

Community Engagement and Social Action

Bard College

I never want to see another liberal arts student try to gut a house. Since Katrina, a lot of college volunteer groups work in New Orleans, but very few of them do what we do—use students’ skills as thinkers and innovators to engage them with the work that is still to be done in the city. In New Orleans, we see an amazing commitment on the part of local residents and organizations to create a better, stronger future for their communities. The post-Katrina goal is not just to rebuild New Orleans, but also to reinvent it. That’s the kind of work that we really want to be doing. —MOIRA DONEGAN ‘12, BARD NEW ORLEANS PROJECT

The Trustee Leader Scholar (TLS) Program of Bard College supports undergraduate and leadership development in the context of hands-on, student-initiated community engagement projects. TLS is an important part of College life. Founded in 1860, Bard is an independent, nonsectarian, residential, coeducational college offering a four-year B.A. program in the liberal arts and sciences and a five-year B.S./B.A. degree in economics and finance. The Bard College Conservatory of Music offers a five-year program in which students pursue a dual degree—a B.Music and a B.A. in a field other than music—and offers an M.Music in vocal arts and in conducting. Bard and its affiliated institutions also grant the following degrees: A.A. at Bard High School Early College, a public school with campuses in New York City (Manhattan and Queens) and Newark, New Jersey; A.A. and B.A. at Bard College at Simon’s Rock: The Early College, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and through the Bard Prison Initiative at five penal institutions in New York State; M.A. in curatorial studies, and M.S. in environmental policy and in climate science and policy at the Annandale campus; M.F.A. and M.A.T. at multiple campuses; M.B.A. in sustainability in New York City; and M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. in the decorative arts, design history, and material culture at the Bard Graduate Center in Manhattan. Internationally, Bard confers dual B.A. degrees at the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences, St. Petersburg State University, Russia (Smolny College), and American University of Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan; and dual B.A. and M.A.T. degrees at Al-Quds University in East Jerusalem.

Front and back cover: Bard Palestinian Youth Initiative (BPYI)

Theme for the Year: A Feel for the Organism Many people underestimate how much information we take in through our hands, the extraordinary nuance of texture, pulse, weight, resistance, and surrender enabled by our touch. Our entire skin surface is an informationgathering organ, alive to light, wind, cold, and other beings. Even our bones aren’t stiff and inert, but are deeply energized sources of feedback about force, gravity, and ease. I am an athlete/musician/gardener/writer. I know the world through my hands, and even most particularly, through the musculature at the base of my right thumb through which the most meaningful activities of my life unfold: holding rackets, gripping tools, playing flute, hitting the space bar. I would know infinitely less about the world, and have infinitely less to contribute, without my hands. When students come into Bard’s community garden to work, I watch to see how they handle shovels and materials. When planting, some tear the thin plastic containers apart, snapping off new leaves and roots of the starts, and then pack the soil down around what’s left as if they’re laying road surface. Other students remove the young plants with a small vibratory shake so as not to damage the essential root hairs. They move soil aside without dispersing it into a walkway, and then pull it loosely back around the stems the way they might pull a blanket up around a child’s sleeping shoulders. For these attentive students, the process is more than just knowing how to garden. They have a regard for the way things need to be handled. I believe this kind of feel for things outside ourselves can translate into the way we operate generally in the world. I call this having a feel for the organism. I encourage TLS students to develop a feel for the organism. Whether they are teaching ESL, building libraries alongside Palestinian villagers, or teaching art to young men serving time for parole violations, I encourage students to slow down, pay careful attention to the people they’re working with, and act in partnership with them. And though it is abundantly clear, if you look through the pages of this booklet, that TLS students assert themselves strongly wherever they go, please know that we urge students to first observe closely, come to terms with the judgments that their encounters with different sorts of people and cultures generate, and then act boldly but sensitively.

TLS Practices Observing and assessing without judgment is no small task. Everyone brings their history with them, their own grab bag of joys, sorrows, race or class clashes, and wounds either emotional or physical. Coming to terms with our own peculiar set of experiences and beliefs so that we can meet others on their own terms is a lifetime effort. Because awareness of what we bring with us is so important to the work we can accomplish, in TLS we work hard at uncovering our biases, beliefs, and assumptions about the world. In particular, everyone spends a semester going through a process we call Meaning Making. This prepares us for paying attention to others. Think of the sweeping metaphorical language and claims about listening and hearing that get tossed around in the world. Can you “hear” the Palestinian cries for independence, are you “listening” to the needs of the poor, and so on. In TLS we assert that real listening is not metaphorical, that it is a complex and fundamental skill that requires practice. It begins with the ability to hear others precisely. We train TLS students to “replay” verbatim the words and phrases of a partner. We then move on to paraphrasing and reflecting meaning back to those partners. This is the basic work of the psychologist (and the intuitive quality that good parenting relies on). It is the ability to hear another’s language from the other’s perspective. This is the basic communications skill that lets people around us know that they have really been heard. It is the engine of empathy, and a key to having a feel for the organism. There are, of course, limits to empathy, which caused me no end of anxiety when, 30 years ago, I was in training to be a psychotherapist. I thought, if I could only feel what the other person was feeling, perhaps I could offer meaningful direction. Elaine Scarry, in her extraordinary book about torture, The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the World, speaks about the limits of empathy: Physical pain happens, of course, not several miles below our feet or many miles above our heads, but within the bodies of persons who inhabit the world through which we each day make our way, and who may at any moment be separated from us by only a space of several inches. The very temptation to invoke analogies to remote cosmologies (and there is a long tradition of such analogies) is itself a sign of pain’s triumph, for it achieves its aversiveness in part by bringing about, even within the radius of several feet, this absolute split between one’s sense of one’s own reality and the reality of other persons. Theme for the Year | 5

Thirty years later my frustration about the limits of empathy have softened. I have come to accept those limits, and to an understanding that the attempt to really know another—heartfelt, reflective, responsive—is a gift in and of itself. We can never walk inside another person’s skin, but the fullness and sensitivity with which we move toward others, to hold and soothe them, has everything to do with our capacity to support and create meaningful change in those around us. This is having a feel for the organism. Paul Marienthal Director, Trustee Leader Scholar Program

Trustee Leader Scholar Program What is TLS? The Trustee Leader Scholar Program is the formal civic engagement and leadership development program for undergraduate students at Bard College. 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 40 undergraduates participate in the program at any given time, and most TLS students remain actively involved in the program throughout their college careers. What do TLS students do? TLS students design and implement engagement projects based on their own compelling interests. For example, they participate in the redevelopment of New Orleans; run poetry-writing programs in local prisons; build biodiesel processors on campus; run summer camps for Palestinian children in the West Bank; provide music lessons for economically challenged teenagers in local middle schools; and build houses in hurricane-ravaged Nicaragua. 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 letterwriting campaign organizers. 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 instigate 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 compassionate action. TLS considers this life training.

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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 humanely. 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, 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 Program members receive stipends and transcript recognition. Separating TLS work from academics 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 TLS 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 and building networks are crucial to every project’s 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.

Current Projects Astor Home for Children Bard Volunteers The Astor Home for Children in Rhinebeck, New York, is a residential school for emotionally challenged children. Bard students volunteer for a semester at a time, leading a range of activities for one to two hours each week. Activities are usually taught one-on-one, and range from knitting, cooking, arts and crafts, and drama to guitar lessons; the activities depend on the interest of the Bard volunteer and Astor student. The goal is to help a child develop a skill or hobby, and ultimately learn that she or he is worth others’ time and energy. Student Leader: Liza Miller Astor Home for Children Theater Group The project offers the opportunity for children at the Astor Home to experience the joys of theater. The Astor Home for Children functions as a school and place for rehabilitation, providing mental health services to children in New York. Once a week, Bard students teach a theater class to a group of children at the home. The classes vary, from learning improvisation to writing personal monologues. The project serves as an opportunity for children to be part of a safe, fun environment in which they can enjoy being themselves and also learn. This program helps children who are overcoming obstacles in their lives to feel appreciated, listened to, and acknowledged. Student Leader: Hallie Greenberg Bard Biodiesel Cooperative The Bard Biodiesel Cooperative makes environmentally friendly fuel from community waste. The co-op works with Chartwells, our dining hall operator, and local restaurants to acquire waste vegetable oil. The oil is made into biodiesel in our on-campus processor and can be used in place of petrodiesel in vehicles, home furnaces, and farm equipment. Biodiesel is virtually carbon neutral and emits fewer particulate emissions than petrodiesel. Members of the cooperative not only receive a share of the fuel, but also a hands-on education in biodiesel processing. The fuel is also sold at chemical cost to members of the Bard community. The co-op makes alternative energy a reality. Student Leader: Claire Martin Bard College Community Garden Since 1997, the Community Garden has been a haven for agricultural enthusiasts from Bard and beyond. During the growing season, people from

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the College and surrounding communities meet in the garden 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. Over the last few years we rebuilt the benches and constructed a hay shed. Next we’re going to attempt an outdoor brick oven. There is always work to do and you are encouraged to participate in every aspect of the garden. Administrative Contact: Paul Marienthal Bard Leprosy Relief Project The Bard Leprosy Relief Project is dedicated to the global efforts of eradicating the ancient yet curable disease of leprosy. We participate by supporting an eco-village in Kathmandu, Nepal, where people suffering from leprosy seek refuge and medical attention. This eco-village, the Kevin Rohan Memorial Eco-Foundation (KRMEF), serves not only as a place for lepers to recover, but also supports a vibrant community of conscientious thinkers and activists. All buildings have low environmental impact: solar cookers are used to prepare meals, organic gardens take the place of empty government lots, Waldorf-trained teachers fill the run-down schools, jewelry from soap nuts and other handicrafts are carefully crafted by people with leprosy, and a clinic provides free biomedical and alternative treatments for the whole community. Last summer, members of our group went to Nepal to work at the KRMEF and help establish a village library. The main focus was collecting books from institutions in Kathmandu, finishing the eco-building (made of glass bottles and a mix of mud and clay), and making the furniture for the library by working with a local carpenter. The Bard Leprosy Relief Project primarily operates from afar. Students sell handicrafts on campus that are made by lepers from the eco-village to raise funds as well as educate fellow students about leprosy and its implications in Nepal. Education events held by the Bard Leprosy Relief Project awaken Bard members to the reality that leprosy still exists in the world, and that creative ways to eradicate it also exist. Student Leaders: Daniela Anderson and Vitor Carvalho Bard Math Circle The Bard Math Circle is a mathematics enrichment program for upper elementary and middle school students, families, and teachers. We invite students and teachers to the Bard campus and travel to local libraries and schools in order to facilitate a partnership between the College and the surrounding community. Activities such as games, puzzles, and problem sets are presented to participants in an enthusiastic and encouraging manner, allowing students, educators, and volunteers to explore mathematics outside

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of the typical school curriculum. Both creative, hands-on approaches and teamwork are highly encouraged, introducing a stimulating community aspect to a subject often thought to be dull and isolating. The Bard Math Circle bridges the gap between academic and recreational mathematics; critical thinking skills learned through the circle are applicable both at school and in general. Student Leaders: Jeannette Benham and Joy Sebesta

And maybe, just maybe, if we go to enough schools and make math fun for as many children as we possibly can and show enough teachers that they can make math fun and engaging, we can affect and begin to change the way that mathematics is taught and learned. Now that would be awesome! —JOY SEBESTA ‘12, BARD MATH CIRCLE

Bard New Orleans Project Since Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, the Bard New Orleans Project has strived 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 has traveled to New Orleans twice a year each year since the storm. More than 500 Bard students have worked to meet the needs of local communities through close partnerships with organizations like the Broadmoor Improvement Association, McDonogh 35 High School, the Andrew H. Wilson Charter School, and Bard Early College in New Orleans Program. Students have gutted buildings and provided summer remediation programming for high school students making up lost class time; have biannually surveyed existing property damage in the Broadmoor neighborhood and created geographic information system (GIS) maps of spatial concentrations of specific needs; have provided tutoring and facilitated arts workshops for children in elementary and middle schools; and have worked at the Wilson school as teachers’ aides and begun an annual summer enrichment program for students. This enrichment program at the newly rehabilitated school has grown into a credit-bearing internship for Bard students interested in engaging with a progressive education model in both a theoretical and practical context. In addition, upwards of 30 Bard graduates have moved to New Orleans after their senior year to continue the work they encountered through this project. Student Leaders: Farah Akhtar, Moira Donegan, Emily Gui

Bard Palestinian Youth Initiative (BPYI) The Bard Palestinian Youth Initiative is founded upon the belief that constructive civil engagement, cultural exchange, and education are fundamental means to changing the situation on the ground in the Palestinian territories. Every year, 20 Bard College students travel to Mas-ha, a small village in the West Bank where, in a local partnership, we run children’s summer camps and community engagement projects, teach English classes, and join in cultural discourse. The BPYI is also working to establish a relationship between Red Hook, the town where Bard is located, and Mas-ha that is grounded in a dialogue of artistic expression between the youth of both towns. Student Leaders: Lauren Blaxter, Dan Gettinger, Kasra Sarikhani, Mujahed Sarsur, Nadine Tadros Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) Volunteers The Bard Prison Initiative (BPI) creates the opportunity for incarcerated men and women to earn a Bard College degree while serving their sentences. Current Bard undergraduates support BPI by assisting professors, tutoring inmates on GED test preparation, and leading precollege programs. Undergraduate volunteers also offer a creative writing workshop at Beacon Women’s Correctional Facility. The creative writing workshop explores the art of poetry, memoir, and fiction writing by critically examining selected texts and working on personal writing projects. An anthology of the participants’ final written work is published at the end of each year. BPI and undergraduate volunteers collaborate to sponsor speakers, workshops, and conferences in order to spread campus awareness of the issues of mass incarceration in the United States. Student Leader: Sofia Bonami Bard Science Outreach Bard Science Outreach is a student-run project that aims to promote general natural-science education among middle school and high school students in the Hudson Valley region. We encourage every science major and others who are interested in science to contribute to our cause. Every year we invite students from Linden Avenue Middle School in Red Hook, New York, to our campus to enjoy the magic of scientific experiments and to mentor them with independent science projects. We also host a science fair extravaganza on campus. We cooperate with other TLS projects, helping young men at Red Hook Residential Center and developing community projects for the Citizen Science Program. Student Leaders: Jose Falla, Yi (Brian) Liu

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My work with TLS at Bard fueled and informed the work that I do in New Orleans. Advising young inner city students about college and their futures is as delicate a task as any that a TLS graduate can undertake. Complex social structures, misconceptions, expectations, fears, and desires hover just behind the answers to the first questions I ask my students: “What do you want to study?” “Where do you want to go?” “Whom do you want to be?” My job is to be a responsible gatekeeper for the power that I hold, and to be as open to the unfamiliar as I am asking my students to be. KAYCEE FILSON ’11, BARD EARLY COLLEGE IN NEW ORLEANS 14

Building Up Hudson Students in Building Up Hudson mentor and tutor middle school and 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 a Building Up Scholarship for one high school senior who could not otherwise afford college. We are a team dedicated to the personal and academic growth of the young scholars we work with, and hope to instill values that will foster confidence for changing the world. Student Leaders: Durante Barringer, Brandon LaBord, Tschabalala Self, Karimah Shabazz, Jonathan White Community Expressive Arts Project (CEAP) The Community Expressive Arts Project focuses on community art making and the process of finding a personal, creative, and empowering voice of expression through visual arts, movement, theater, music, poetry, and play. CEAP members may find themselves building forts or painting murals with children; they may also find themselves sitting with adult community members who struggle with personal challenges, or creating songs with teenagers as they explore the emotional content of their lives. The project involves Expressive Arts training led by professional practitioners to equip Bard students with the knowledge and skills to design and implement their own workshops with community members. CEAP works locally at the Astor Home for Children in Rhinebeck, New York, a residential school for emotionally at-risk children; the Center for Spectrum Services in Kingston, New York, a school for children with autism; Red Hook Residential Center, in Upper Red Hook, New York, a minimum-security juvenile detention center for boys ages 12–18; and Ferncliff Nursing Home for the elderly in Rhinebeck. Since 2008, CEAP has collaborated with the Bard New Orleans Project in creating a summer camp for children in the Broadmoor neighborhood of New Orleans. CEAP members have also traveled to work with children in Myanmar (Burma), Ghana, South Africa, Thailand, Colombia, India, and Sri Lanka. Student Leaders: Abigail Lazarowski and Adrienne Vitullo Germantown College Mentors Germantown College Mentors strives to foster a relationship between Bard College and the Germantown, New York, community through collaboration with the Guidance Department at Germantown Central School. Bard College students work with high school students through the college application process, including SAT preparation, college searches, writing essays, and filling out applications. Germantown College Mentors work closely Current Projects | 15

with the school’s juniors and seniors, but also hope to encourage conversations about higher education in all Germantown High School students. Student Leader: Anar Parikh Germantown Tutoring Program College students work closely with teachers in third-, fifth-, and sixthgrade classrooms at the Germantown Central School District. Tutoring in a variety of subjects with diverse teachers allows Bard students to engage in classrooms of all shapes and sizes. The Bard Germantown Project is ideal for students interested in teaching because it allows students to observe and engage in elementary school classrooms on a weekly basis. For the Germantown students, our project presents an opportunity to build relationships with college students who can inspire them to become interested in higher education and learning. Germantown, New York, is an area with an incredible amount of need. The high dropout rate at the school motivates Bard students to lend a hand to the local community. The impassioned and hardworking teachers also continually motivate us to give our time to the amazing Germantown kids. Student Leader: Jessica Wiseman Grace Smith House Project The Grace Smith House is a nonprofit domestic violence agency whose mission is to empower women to live free from domestic violence. By providing shelter, court advocacy, support groups, children’s programs, and many other essential resources to women in need, the Grace Smith House remains a vital organization in Dutchess County. Interested students receive extensive volunteer training and have the opportunity to work directly with women in the shelters. Volunteers experience every aspect of shelter work, from office duties to accompanying women to court, and they are encouraged to act on their own ideas for programs within the agency. These might include anything from cooking dinner once a week for women in the shelter, to planting a community garden, to setting up a movie night with the children. Project participants engage in raising awareness about the issues surrounding violence on global, local, and campus-wide levels. Through their work, students play an important role in combating the cycle of violence. Both men and women are encouraged to volunteer; violence is not just a women’s issue, but a human issue. Student Leader: Zoe Hickox

Hudson Basketball Clinic The Hudson Basketball Clinic brings together members of the Bard College men’s and women’s basketball teams and children at the Hudson Middle School Afterschool Program in Hudson, New York. The volunteers help with homework, provide tutoring, and run a weekly basketball clinic. The clinic is both fun and instructional, with basic concepts that are meant to carry over into the classroom. During the summer, Hudson students come to the Bard campus for an intensive two-week basketball and academics program. Many of the attributes a successful athlete needs—discipline and hard work—are also necessary for success in most areas of life. The hope is that by stressing these qualities in both athletic and educational settings, the Hudson students begin to control their everyday lives and consider higher education. By showing the kids options and bringing them to Bard, the program broadens the horizon for young people who are often left out of educational opportunity. Student Leader: Yonah Greenstein Hudson Project: Students for Students Students for Students is a weekly discussion group held in Hudson, New York, bringing high school students from the area to create a safe place where they can share their opinions and explore local, national, and global issues. Bard students facilitate dialogue by tying general themes—race, class, religion, culture, and politics—into current events to help establish a personal connection between each student and a larger social framework. The goal of this program, in addition to exposing students to world events, is to build self-confidence and show students that their own opinions are valuable and contribute meaningfully to the collective. In addition to our weekly discussion groups, we bring Hudson students to educational events on the Bard campus and organize events in Hudson to further the conversations we begin in our meetings. Students for Students utilizes campus resources, including student organizations and Bard offices (such as the Office of Multicultural Affairs and the Bard Educational Opportunities Programs) to bring experts on specific issues to contribute to the complexity of the discussion topics. We hope that students gain a social and political consciousness that they bring to their lives outside of our time together, empowering and inspiring them to become active participants in their communities. Student Leader: T. Murray Buckley

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TLS is a place where you can realize your dream while changing others’. Doing science with children just reignites my feeling of how magical science can be. —YI (BRIAN) LIU ‘13, BARD SCIENCE OUTREACH 18

La Voz La Voz is a Spanish-language magazine, distributed monthly throughout New York’s Dutchess, Ulster, Orange, and Columbia counties, which elevates the discourse and news coverage available to the Spanish-speaking population of the Hudson Valley. This project involves continual dialogue with the communities served by the magazine. La Voz is a critical source of information on immigration law, available health services, legal rights and resources, educational opportunities, and local events relevant to the more than 106,000 Hispanic/Latino area residents (almost 80,000 of whom prefer to speak Spanish at home). Bard students work directly with editor Mariel Fiori ’05 on all aspects of the magazine’s production, from illustration to reporting to community outreach and distribution (5,000 copies to almost 400 stops in about 20 towns in four counties every month). 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. In 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2011, the magazine received the Ippie Award for best overall design from the New York Community Media Alliance (formerly the Independent Press Association of New York). In 2008, La Voz was recognized by A.H.O.R.A. (Association for Hispanics to Obtain Resources & Assistance), a Poughkeepsie-based organization focused on aiding Hispanic residents. In 2010, La Voz was awarded a Special Citation from the Dutchess County Executive’s Arts Awards. Student Leaders: Diego Álvarez Parra and Lara Merling Administrative Contact: Mariel Fiori New Old Gym Project The Old Gym is Bard’s only multipurpose, student-run arts space. While Bard fully supports the arts, it can be hard for students of the performing and visual arts (majors and others) to find space for experimenting and taking risks. The Old Gym, which has the technical capabilities of a black-box theater, is open to any student who wants to explore performance or alternative installation projects. The space is run by a committee of students from every artistic discipline—theater, dance, studio arts, photography, and music. Student Leader: Marie Schleef Nicaragua Education Initiative The Nicaragua Education Initiative was founded in 2002 as the Nicaragua Project. In its original form, the Nicaragua Project consisted of groups of Bard students going to Chacraseca, a rural community in western Nicaragua, to build homes. Today, Bard students still go to Chacraseca every winter, but the project goals have evolved into educational ones. We believe that the promotion of education is a powerful and sustainable way to aid a group Current Projects | 19

of young people who have not been presented the same opportunities that we have. Throughout the semester, members of the Nicaragua Education Initiative work to write culturally sensitive curricula in the arts, English, science, and sex education. We are bringing these curricula to Chacraseca to tutor young people during their summer vacation. These are young people who also believe in the power of education and engage with us in an exchange of ideas. Student Leaders: Sofia Commito and Magda Mortner The Off-Campus Students Coalition (OCSC) The Off-Campus Students Coalition is geared toward students living off campus, students intending to move off campus, and members of communities outside Bard. We aim to provide better communication between the College, local municipalities, and students residing off campus. The coalition is a forum for guidance ranging from parking information, garbage removal, and housing availability to cooking advice and farmers markets. The coalition encourages greater participation, knowledge about tenants rights and landlord responsibilities, and respect between students and local communities. This project aims to extend the Bard support network to off-campus students to help foster a symbiotic relationship among students and local residents. To see what kind of information the Bard OCSC provides, or to contribute to the conversation, please check the blog at www.bardoffcampus. com or send an e-mail to bardoffcampus@gmail.com. Student Leader: Jenna Hope Goldstein Red Hook Debate in Schools The Red Hook Debate in Schools program is dedicated to teaching students at Linden Avenue Middle School in Red Hook, New York, the skills necessary to speak effectively in public and debate with others in a constructive and meaningful way. Bard students work closely with the middle school students to teach important debate principles, such as how to construct an argument, properly refute another speaker’s argument, and effectively research debate and discussion. The process of debate offers profound and lasting benefits for individuals, for societies, and for the global community as a whole. With its emphasis on critical thinking, effective communication, independent research, and teamwork, debate teaches skills that serve individuals well in school, in the workplace, in political life, and in fulfilling their responsibilities as citizens of a democratic society. These are the skills that Red Hook middle school students learn as part of the Red Hook Debate in Schools program. Student Leader: Zachary Israel

Red Hook English as a Second Language (ESL) Center The Red Hook ESL Center brings English-speaking and immigrant community members together in Red Hook, New York, through free dropin English classes. Organized and staffed by Bard students and local community volunteers, the center serves a diverse and emerging population in the Hudson Valley. The project seeks to create a comfortable learning environment for community members who might feel isolated by their limited English proficiency. By providing them with language skills, we support their efforts to participate in both the local community and the larger American society with greater confidence and knowledge. At the same time, the center creates a space in which students and tutors build relationships with members of their community whom they otherwise might not meet. The project also serves children of these community members as volunteers assist with the development of English and other skills that the children must learn in school. Volunteers are another resource, along with teachers and parents, trying to help these children achieve as much as they can. Student Leaders: Jordan Cooper and Diana Pitcher

We have one puzzle that the kids particularly love, with lots of tractors and animals. For the longest time, we had a piece missing, so they could never complete the puzzle. But as I was cleaning out our shelves, way in the back, on the bottom, I found the missing puzzle piece and slipped it back in the box. The kids clapped and whooped to see the whole picture. I did too. That excitement and satisfaction are the same feelings I get when one of the kids finally figures out how to do multiplication, write a complete sentence, or sounds out a tough word. For everyone involved with ESL, the tutors, the kids, ESL is really about finding the missing puzzle piece. —GILLIAN WALLACE ‘13, RED HOOK ESL CENTER

Surrealist Training Circus The Surrealist Training Circus is a workforce for creative disruption of the public spaces in a private institution. Members believe that academic and rational training falls short in preparing students for the absurdities of today’s world; in response, they pursue public theater, circus arts, and even the collection of refuse as modes of training for our futures. Through the presentation of the chaotic, emotional, sometimes frightening, sarcastic,

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“The death penalty is justified.” “Cell phones should be allowed in schools.” “Television is a bad influence on children.” The students of Red Hook’s Linden Avenue Middle School debate every one of these issues, in favor of or against them. Constructive arguments are crucial for the development of citizens in our society, and that’s exactly what these young people are creating. —ZACHARY ISRAEL ‘12, RED HOOK DEBATE IN SCHOOLS 22

and bizarre, the circus suggests that the irrational is a goal to strive for. The Surrealist Training Circus welcomes the participation of any and all students, and sees spectators as ensemble members. The group’s semester culminates in a grand spectacle that has become a Bard tradition. Student Leader: Kye Ehrlich The Upbeats: Bard Music Mentoring Program The Upbeats is dedicated to bringing the joy of music making to children from local communities. Bard music mentors have a passion for music and, more important, for sharing the gift of playing music with others. Lessons are provided to children for whom private instruction would otherwise cause their families financial strain. Children are given individual lessons and the opportunity to participate in music theory workshops. The semester culminates in a small recital put on by the children. Student Leader: Lindsay Stanley Young Naturalist Initiative The Young Naturalist Initiative is an environmental education program designed to teach the science of ecology through outdoor exploration. At the heart of our programming is the desire to explore natural history with children from surrounding urban communities in a way that fosters respect and stewardship for their environment. The young naturalists learn new ways of seeing and thinking through unique partnerships with environmental educators and centers. We bring together skilled and passionate nature instructors from the Bard student community in a lush environment, to guide children in a wide variety of practical skills. Our areas of expertise include: flora and fauna identification, herpetology, ornithology, entomology, wilderness survival skills such as operating a map and compass, building a fire, Leave No Trace, Native American lore, edible and medicinal plant lore, ecologically oriented games and activities, and arts and crafts. Student Leader: Rachel Hyman Young Rhinebeck Youth Programs: Life, Learning, and Language Young Rhinebeck’s Life, Learning, and Language program provides a local support network for immigrant children and their families. Rhinebeck, New York, is home to a large population of ESL (English as a Second Language) speakers, whose academic and social needs are not always met by the school district alone. Young Rhinebeck strives to meet this need. Tutors from Bard work individually with elementary school students to act as homework support, mentors, and models of higher academic goals. The program

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The path up Mohonk Mountain is difficult— slabs of rock laid atop one another, shafts of deep cold coming from underground—difficult, not dangerous, a five-mile loop to the top. We do it in one day. That’s saying something for kids whose thighs have never worked so hard against gravity. They are city kids, shoes worn flat by cement. There are no snakes on the playground. —RACHEL HYMAN ‘12, YOUNG NATURALIST INITIATIVE 24

provides local family advocates and translation services to help maintain steady contact between the families and the school district. As advocates, mentors, and tutors, we are in constant contact with the Hispanic community in the Hudson Valley, and seek to raise social awareness of immigration and education issues. Student Leader: Rory Hamorit

JOIN A TLS PROJECT Every project 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. 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 Susanna Armbruster, Assistant Director Room 213, Campus Center 845-758-7056 service@bard.edu

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Selected Project Archive Academic Advancement Program Activists Worldwide AIDS/HIV and

Linden Avenue Middle School Drama Project

Reproductive Education (AWARE):

Media Analysis Project (MAP)

Russia

Mexico Solidarity Network Delegation

Bard Health Initiative (BHI)

Migrant Labor Project

Bard High School Early College Play

“One Year Later” (academic conference

Mentoring Program

on the anti-Iraq War outpouring in 2003)

Bard Permaculture Initiative

Palestine Awareness Project

Bard Space Program

Project for the Awareness of Resource

Bard–Sri Lanka Project Bhopal Memory Project Chiapas Solidarity Project Children’s Gardening Program Children’s Rights Are Human Rights, Amnesty International Conference Coalition for Peru Relief Conversations on Education Diamondz Hudson Young Women’s Group

Consumption (PARC) Red Hook Residential Reciprocal Education Project Register to Vote [in 2000 a Bard student successfully sued the state of New York for the right to vote in Dutchess County] Rhinebeck Connections Homework Help Program

Flying Fiddlers Mentoring Program

Senior Citizen Writing Project

Free Press

SSTOP (Students Stopping Trafficking of

Ghana Project Great River Sweep Habitat for Humanity at Bard

Persons) STD of the Week Campus Education Project

Human Rights Film Series

Student Labor Dialogue

Intercollegiate Energy Audit

Thailand Project

International Tuberculosis Relief Project

Trans-Action Initiative

Iraq Watch

Understanding Arabs and Muslims

Kosher/Halal Kitchen and Multipurpose

Visible and Invisible Disabilities

Prayer Space

Awareness Project

For the entire project archive, visit the TLS website: http://inside.bard.edu/tls

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 Astor Home project in Rhinebeck, build homes in Nicaragua, teach outdoor education to middle schoolers from Red Hook, offer arts workshops in New Orleans . . . Contribute Funds Leadership includes fund-raising. Many TLS projects require thousands of dollars. The TLS office can only provide 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 summer camps in the West Bank; 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 service@bard.edu Making a Gift by Credit Card Bard College accepts VISA, MasterCard, and AMEX. To make a contribution over the telephone, please contact the Office of Development and Alumni/ae Affairs at 845-758-7315 or 1-800-BARDCOL.

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