TLS Brochure 2020 by Bard College

TLS 2020 Trustee Leader Scholar Program

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND SOCIAL ACTION

Bard

We start our session, and everything is going well. There’s a lot of guys today. Two new students walk into the room. Never seen ’em before. A tall guy with long hair tucked into a bun, the other shorter but matching his companion in dress and gesture. They stride in with force. Everyone turns toward them. They fill up the room. Even Dariel stops his sentence for them, which he never does. They sit in back and the lesson goes on. Then they leave abruptly. I’m shaken, but I let it ride. On the way out of the parking lot we turn a corner; the two guys cross in front of the van and stop. They wave our windows down. “Yo! That was such a dope meeting, man. Yeah! Yo! Y’all gotta come more often. Dope meeting. Also, you should check this out.” They give us a flyer for a charity event they are helping with. I’m in the passenger seat and they look right at me and they both give me a big smiling nod of acknowledgment. I look at them and nod back. We drive home. There are a lot of lessons packed into that meeting. One of them is to recognize that my presence is just as large to others as theirs might be to me. RYAN JONES ’20, BROTHERS AT BARD

Front cover image: Brothers At Bard 2

Theme for the Year

GET OUT OF YOUR OWN BUBBLE Get out of your own bubble. Give your time and energy to something other than yourself. Check out the communities around you. Talk to people. —LaToya Cantrell Bard offers dual degrees with institutions in Kyrgyzstan; Russia; East Jerusalem; and Berlin, Germany, and is an international partner with European Humanities University in Lithuania. Each semester we offer an online course that is taught simultaneously to students from each college. The speaker at a recent session was the mayor of New Orleans, our good friend LaToya Cantrell. When Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, LaToya was a community organizer in Broadmoor, the low point of the bowl that is NOLA (New Orleans). We connected with the neighborhood when there was still a filthy brown line about 7 feet off the ground across every wall, window, door, screen, bannister, signpost, and tree. That mark was where the toxic water sat for weeks, like a gigantic toilet refusing to flush. I drove with a Bard student through NOLA, slowly weaving around heaps of splintered lumber, pipe, concrete, glass, and mud, looking for a long-term project to latch onto. We passed a banner at Napoleon and Claiborne announcing a Broadmoor community meeting that evening. This was just after the release of the famous “green dot map” showing large green circles superimposed over neighborhoods slated to be razed and left as flood-drainage pits for the rest of the city. The meeting at the Loyola University auditorium was scheduled to run for an hour. Outsiders, we sat in the back row. LaToya started the meeting when the bell in the Loyola church tower struck 5:00 and she ended with the first ringing clang at 6:00. I said to the student next to me, “I think we have our project. These people mean business. There isn’t going to be any green dot on them.” The next day we joined two Harvard graduate students and two members of the Broadmoor community in a trailer set up in the parking lot of Annunciation Church. There wasn’t a single moment when we weren’t

Theme for the Year |

accepted and fully included. The Bard student and I were considered one third of the voting membership of the newly formed Broadmoor Education Committee. Since Katrina, more than a thousand Bard students have volunteered in New Orleans. During his undergraduate years, that original student leader alone hosted nearly five hundred of his peers in Broadmoor. Our students initiated the gutting of the elementary school by cutting the chain on the gates, ordering a dumpster, and—protected by Tyvek suits and gas masks—filling it with children’s books and toys reeking of toxic waste. Bard students went on to canvass returning community members for needed supplies and to develop crucial digital maps of every structure that withstood the hurricane. For many years, Bard students ran summer arts camps for local children. Recently, Bard students have been working to restore voting rights for formerly incarcerated men and women released from Louisiana prisons. With LaToya at the helm of the Broadmoor Improvement Association, the elementary school was completely rebuilt, state of the art, including a brand-new gymnasium. An extensive community center was planned, and a fabulous library constructed. This all happened through public/private partnerships negotiated brilliantly by LaToya. You can even get a cup of coffee in the new library at the Green Dot Café. LaToya is one of my heroes. She went on to become a city councilwoman and is now the mayor. In the 14 years I have known her, she has spent most of every day working on behalf of others. She shows up. She does the feeding and cleanup. She now governs the city, but she has never changed. She walks Broadmoor, knows the people who live in every house, and shows up at the neighborhood block parties. In LaToya’s world it’s still all about making things work for other people. In the network class, with a sparkle in her eyes and a laugh or two, LaToya said to our students across the globe: Get out of your own bubble. Give your time and energy to something other than yourself. Check out the communities around you. Talk to people. Find out what they need. And then figure out how to bring that to them. It’s fine to take care of your own basic needs. But don’t get lost there. Make sure you are spending time with others, lifting up the people around you.

GETTING OUT OF YOUR BUBBLE COMES IN MANY FORMS The women’s national collegiate basketball championships were held at UCLA in 1978. At the time I was living in Santa Monica, teaching recreational basketball classes to women in their 20s, 30s, and 40s— women who had been systemically blocked from experiencing their bodies in powerful sports play. The Los Angeles high schools of my era offered not a single citywide championship for girls in any sport. I worked for years with a large number of women, opening a gym on Saturday mornings to teach basketball basics, and finally coaching a dedicated group of them into the A division of the LA city league. As a team we attended the final weekend of that women’s collegiate tournament. The games were played in Pauley Pavilion. The UCLA’s men’s team— featuring Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton—had just concluded a 12-year run of dominance that likely will never be matched. Pauley was a grand temple suffused with mystique. The UCLA women’s team had Ann Meyers, a four-time All-American, who overflowed with charisma of her own. The whole experience was giddy with possibility and excellence. But it is not high achievement that I remember from being there that weekend. I cannot remember who played the first of the two semifinal games that evening . . . it doesn’t matter. It’s what happened after the first game that was so astonishing, and still reverberates for me as a model for intense human expression. After the final buzzer, still in their sweaty game clothes, the members of both teams climbed into the stands and sat intermingled, cheering collectively for the teams playing the second game. At the end of that second semifinal, players from all four teams convened on the court to congratulate and console one another. I sat enraptured, watching this improbable scene of four adversaries—some winners and some losers—all leaning on each other. This was a celebration of communal achievement. Sure, there was the “thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.” But there on display was recognition of having collectively achieved something greater than the game itself. Watching four teams striving to be collegiate national champions and also realizing their communal bond and responsibility, at that moment, I believe, the players found a way out of their own bubble.

Theme for the Year |

I wish the model of communal joy set by those women at UCLA in 1978 would become the norm for how to compete. It’s a model that always calls to me: pour myself into the game, exhaust myself, leave my last full breath, my last half calorie of energy on the playing floor, drag myself off at the end spent, and fall into my opponents’ arms thanking them for the opportunity to play. It’s a hard model to achieve. There are so many images of the victor strutting around with a finger in the air declaring “I’m #1.” It takes discipline and will to pay attention to Self and Other at the same time. It means responding to desire and responsibility simultaneously. It’s a call to integrate fortitude, ferocity, forgiveness, and grace. It’s what we’re moving toward in TLS. Paul Marienthal Director, Trustee Leader Scholar program

Aaron, who is on the autism spectrum, stimulates and soothes himself by repeating short phrases. Once he was singing, “Turn the brain on. Turn the brain on. Turn the brain on.” We learned that his father is a scientist who lights up a toy brain in a jar before Aaron’s bedtime. Aaron’s saying this to himself lets him go to sleep at camp. It’s hard to connect with Aaron, but in the gym he is on his back, repeating the word “electricity” over and over. I lie down next to him and do the same thing. He hesitates for a second, then continues. He pauses so that I can say it after him. We go back and forth this way, conversing for a while. JULIETTE "JT" GROARKE ’21, RAMAPO FOR CHILDREN PROJECT

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 50 undergraduates participate as leaders who, 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 tutoring programs in local youth detention centers; 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 men and women 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 letterwriting campaign organizers.

Trustee Leader Scholar Program |

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 propose the work. The fundamental criteria for accepting a project are 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.

About 15 minutes into my lesson I run out of material. I’m not prepared to teach today and it shows, so I start answering random questions from the group. One of them asks about black holes and I start an answer that I cannot finish. I pause for too long, the blood rushes to my face, the illusion that I’m an expert is completely blown. “I don’t know, but maybe we can do an experiment to figure it out?” Within minutes, students are assigning each other jobs, making an outline of the experiment, and running tests. Their chaperone excitedly whips out his phone, as he has just been assigned to be the timer. CECILY ROSENBAUM ’21, BARD SCIENCE OUTREACH

What is the ultimate goal of TLS? TLS puts 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 and go on to create 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 civic engagement development program, not a community service office. TLS students do not earn academic credit for their participation. Separating TLS work from the academic calendar allows these students to design and implement ambitious civic engagement projects spanning multiple years, and for this they receive a stipend. 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.” How do I 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 I help if I am 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.

Trustee Leader Scholar Program |

Sam, I’m getting discharged after Christmas! Dontae yells to me, running up out of his seat. It is the typical Thursday night, the kids are finishing up dinner—an hour and a half until pajamas, teeth, and bed. Can we play shmoney ball? Schmoney ball involves turning off the lights in a room and throwing a pillow shaped as a soccer ball at each other. Of course, if it’s OK with Ms. Cynthia. For the beginning section of the game, it takes eyes time to adjust. Not for Dontae, who immediately whips the ball at me. I block it, and gently toss it at the ceiling. You’re TRASSSSSHHHHH. Dontae laughs, sneaking under his bed to hide. More to evade, it is less fleeing than strategically finding cover. He thinks it is the funniest thing, how bad I am at hitting his arm with the soccer ball as he pokes it out and then it quickly disappears. When Dontae laughs he doesn’t chuckle or giggle, he launches himself onto his bed, screams, rolling around, his mouth wide, roar and roar and back into it, throwing a shoe into the air— Every time I throw the soccer pillow and it hits the ground, Dontae remakes the ball and an elaborate catch. In the aftermath he yells, YO I CAUGHT IT turn on the light. SAM KILEY ’20, ASTOR SERVICES FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

Current Projects African Roots Project The African Roots Project partners with the library at the A. J. WilliamsMeyers African Roots Center in the city of Kingston, New York, in its mission “to promote literacy through teaching and learning about the African roots experience, including history and culture through a dynamic exchange of information, action, ideas, and creativity.” Once a week Bard volunteers provide projects tailored to school-age students and participate in additional events and celebrations planned by the African Roots Center volunteers and staff. Student Leader: Micah Theodore ’20 Albany High Theatre Outreach Albany High Theatre Outreach (AHTO) is a mentoring program that connects Albany High School theater-makers to Bard College theatermakers. Together we work on performances that tour elementary and middle schools throughout Albany and touch on intimate situations such as bullying, home life, and self-image. Allowing students to write and direct allows this experience to be student-centered in content and structure. AHTO builds community through the exploration of personal identity and its shifting definition over time. Bard mentors provide additional emotional and academic support to the existing successful program at Albany High. Student Leader: Manny Williams ’22 All Pieces Fit All Pieces Fit works with the Center for Spectrum Services in Lake Katrine, New York. Bard student volunteers assist paraprofessionals in the classrooms of students, ages 3 to 12, who are on the autism spectrum. The Bard volunteers help provide normalcy and companionship to the students. Following each classroom session, volunteers reflect on their experience. In this way, All Pieces Fit becomes an educational experience as well as a volunteering experience. Student Leader: Jahari Fraser ’22

Current Projects | 11

Bard Math Circle

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 young people who have experienced emotional and/or physical trauma. Bard students are mentors and positive role models for the young people, spending time with them while leading a variety of activities for two hours each week. Activities take place in a one-on-one or group setting, and range from kickball and cooking to board games and arts and crafts; the activities depend on the shared interest of each Bard volunteer and the Astor student. After working with the children, we meet for supervision with the Astor art therapist to discuss the sessions, hold additional trainings, and ask questions. The project serves as an opportunity for the children at Astor to be seen, for Bard students to bring energy to the space, and for authentic relationships to be built between the two groups. Student Leader: Sam Kiley ’20

Bard Math Circle The Bard Math Circle provides a supportive environment for children who are self-proclaimed math nerds to explore their passion for the subject. Not only do we hope to teach children something new every time we meet, we also hope to introduce them to a precollege community to which they can relate. Math is a hard subject and thus one the general public finds hard to love. We hope to step into these children’s lives and show them math can be cool—and thinking so doesn’t have to isolate them. On weekends, we offer an assortment of on-campus enrichment, contest prep, and tutoring classes. In the late summer, we provide a weeklong day program called CAMP. We also host mathematics competitions including AMC 8/10/12, Girl’s Adventures in Math (GAIM), and Purple Comet. In addition, we provide various outreach activities that venture year-round into the community surrounding Bard College. Student Leader: Felicia Flores ’22 Bard Music Colombia Bard Music Colombia uses the power of music to transform lives, cultivate relationships, and nurture upcoming generations of young musicians. We are creating a long-lasting international cultural collaboration in order to propagate diversity within the music world. We do this by providing guidance to young musicians, by highlighting South American repertoire, and by encouraging the students and the Colombian community to explore their own musical roots. In addition, collaboration between teaching artists and students leads to important performance opportunities for aspiring musicians. This two-week musical immersion is a life-changing experience for the teaching artists and the students. In addition to instrumental instruction, chamber music rehearsals, and orchestra sectionals, through cultural exchange conversations and group experiences we inspire, motivate, and empower the entire community. – Administrative Contact: Leonardo Pineda Garcia ’15 TON ’19

Current Projects | 13

Bard New Orleans Exchange

Bard New Orleans Exchange The Bard New Orleans Exchange (BNOE) is dedicated to facilitating student involvement in the criminal justice reform movement in New Orleans, Louisiana, as well as on campus. BNOE was founded in 2005, making it one of the oldest TLS projects. At its inception, the project focused on rebuilding schools and running summer programs for students in communities devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Given the profound impact the criminal (in)justice system has on the city of New Orleans, which has one of the highest rates of incarceration in the United States and the world, BNOE has turned its focus in recent years to the local criminal justice reform movement. Our longest-standing relationship is with Voice of the Experienced (commonly known as VOTE). VOTE is an organization run by and for formerly incarcerated people that works on large-scale criminal justice reform policy for the city of New Orleans and, more broadly, Louisiana. We also have had the privilege of working with The First 72+, which helps individuals returning home from prison, and Power Coalition, which focuses on voter engagement and advocacy for politically marginalized populations. 14

While on campus, BNOE members organize anti–mass incarceration actions, which Bard students can learn from and participate in. We fundraise, host panels and movie screenings, and try to make information on mass incarceration available and accessible to Bard students. Our current goals: To elevate the voices and experiences of formerly and currently incarcerated people, their loved ones, and their communities; To educate and mobilize the sociopolitically potent student body at Bard; To initiate discussions and actions regarding mass incarceration; and To provide platforms from which the Bard community may address the emotional and logistical components of the criminal justice system and the work being done to end mass incarceration. Student Leaders: Maizy Hillman ’20, Stecy Mbemba '22, Thea McRae '21, and Eilidh Strauss ’20 Bard Palestinian Youth Initiative The Bard Palestinian Youth Initiative (BPYI) was founded upon the belief that constructive civil engagement, cultural exchange, and education create an environment conducive to self-expression. 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. Bard students have financed and built a children’s library, playground, and most significantly, taught a version of Bard’s distinctive text-analysis program, Language and Thinking. L&T couples personal expression and rigorous text analysis, is the heart of the Bard student experience, and is a real difference maker for students in the West Bank, where memorization is the basis of educational experience. In previous years, Bard has brought students from the village of Mas’ha to study in Annandale, but the current political climate has made this sponsorship difficult. This year we will focus on raising funds to build a much-needed soccer field in Mas’ha, to be used by children and young men and women. Student Leader: Genevieve Chiola ’20

Current Projects | 15

2020-21 Trustee Leader Scholar Program Project Leaders

African Roots Project

Micah Theodore

Bard Music Colombia

Manny Williams

Bard New Orleans Exchange

Maizy Hillman

Leonardo Pineda Garcia

Stecy Mbemba

Black Body Experience Conference

Talaya Robinson-Dancy

Cuerdas para Cali

Haiti Jakmel Ekspresyon Exchange

Alexus Foster

Tatiana Alfaro 16

Sage Swaby

Tahj Frazier

Culture Connect/LLL

Freddie Hernandez

Eilidh Strauss

Will Santora

Anthony Henry

Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow

Aviv Porath

Harvesting Justice

Louisa "Lucy" Fulkerson

Red Hook ESL Center

Thea McRae

Brookwood

Jonathan Cseh

Rowan Puig Davis

Albany High Theatre Outreach

Amauri Castillo

Dereck Chavez

Nicaragua Education Initiative

Marco Caguana

Odalis Panza Gonzales

Red Hook Residential Tutoring Program

Sail Forward

Catherine Baum Brianna Estrada

Gabriela Garcia

All Pieces Fit

Astor Services for Children and Families

Bard Math Circle

Jahari Fraser

Sam Kiley

Felicia Flores

Bard Science Outreach

Bard Palestinian Youth Initiative

Genevieve Chiola

Brothers At Bard

Michael Barriteau

Ryan Jones

Girls Group

Katrina "Kate" Gonzales

Sasha Onyango

Cecily Rosenbaum

Building Up Hudson

Giavonni Williams

Ali Kane

Sister2Sister

Sakinah Bennett

Skylar Walker

Alexis Maresca Miranda Sanborn

Girls Math Club

Riti Bahl

Girls Who Code

Mehreen Kabir

Old Gym

Macey Downs

Community Engagement Arts Project

Yabo Detchou

Nick Scheel

Ramapo for Children

Olivia Troiano

Juliette "JT" Groarke

Student Athlete Community Outreach

Zack Jacobs

Lukas "Luke" Klatke

Genesis Sandoval Anna Schupack Corado

Youth Initiative in Nigeria

Yaseer Abdulfatai 17

Bard Science Outreach Bard Science Outreach (BSO) 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 science fairs. BSO works with Bard faculty and students to host and judge the middle school science fair, coaching students for county- and statelevel fairs. BSO also helps develop community projects, which go on to 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: Cecily Rosenbaum ’21 Black Body Experience Conference The Black Body Experience Conference is an on-campus event that happens each spring semester. We bring womxn of color and professionals in relevant fields to speak on the year’s theme. We invite local community members and students from nearby school districts into safe and contained discussions about race, identity, gender, and the socioeconomics of difference. This year’s theme is defining activism specifically through the lens of nonprofits run by womxn of color. Student Leaders: Talaya Robinson-Dancy ’21 and Sage Swaby ’22 Brookwood The Brookwood project is a math and writing assistance 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), help with essays in literature and social studies courses, and engage in workshop discussions. We assist with remedial math courses for inmates in the college-bound programs that are taught alongside classes taken for credit. The young men in Brookwood must pass the remedial courses in order to advance to college-level math. In the future, we will expand our work to include writing workshops. Student Leaders: Tahj Frazier ’22 and Anthony Henry ’20

Brothers At Bard A character development, peer-mediation mentorship program for young men of color from underserved backgrounds, Brothers At Bard (BAB) works with high school students in 9th through 12th grades in Kingston, New York. The Bard members of the project 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 success in the classroom. We support our mentees to make positive choices, ensuring that they continue to live healthy, successful lives that they themselves define. Student Leaders: Michael Barriteau ’22 and Ryan Jones ’20 Building Up Hudson Bard volunteers tutor and mentor high school students in Hudson, New York, in partnership with Operation UNITE, New York, which seeks to produce well-rounded, progressive youth who will enter adulthood with a sense of direction, self-esteem, and social consciousness, and subsequently reinvest themselves into the community from which they come. We lead workshops focused on career development, college preparation and admissions, personal skill building, and positive personal expression. We have also done a significant amount of fundraising for scholarships, which are given to eligible high school seniors who require financial assistance in order to attend college. Student Leader: Giavonni Williams ’21

I missed JT’s birthday. We asked the director of the education unit if we could bring a cake to celebrate. She said no. The cake would have let me make up for the times I missed during the semester. Next time I see JT I say, “Happy Birthday!” He says he appreciates that more than the cake. Although I think the cake would be a nice addition. TAHJ FRAZIER ’22, BROOKWOOD

Current Projects | 19

CultureConnect: Life, Learning, and Language

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, 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; Ulster BOCES in Port Ewen, New York; and Astor Services for Children and Families in Rhinebeck, New York. In addition to engaging in arts programs with communities outside Bard, CEAP uses the arts to build strong community at Bard. Student Leaders: Alexis Maresca ’20 and Miranda Sanborn ’20 Cuerdas para Cali (Strings for Cali) Cuerdas para Cali (CPC) is a group of classically trained musicians who inspire students and who 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 and founded by Fundación Sidoc. CPC gives disadvantaged youth in Siloé the opportunity to study music by providing them with instruments, education, and performance outlets. CPC supports students in their musical growth and encourages the young musicians to have a positive impact throughout their community. Cuerdas para Cali brings disparate communities together through music performance and social interaction. The project involves teaching and performing along with intense interpersonal engagement and cultural exchange. Student Leader: Rowan Puig Davis ’21

“Mete la mano saca y huele. Mete la mano saca y huele. Mete la mano saca y huele. Mete la mano saca y huele!” This folk song, “El Birimbí,” is about a recipe made of corn. For the past few days all the students and teachers have been telling me to try it out. I tell you, I did not have a chance to eat birimbí, but I know it is good because the music made my body move. ROWAN PUIG DAVIS ’21, CUERDAS PARA CALI

Current Projects | 21

CultureConnect: Life, Learning, and Language The CultureConnect: Life, Learning, and Language (LLL) program provides a local support network for immigrant families and firstgeneration Americans in the forms of English as a Second Language (ESL) tutoring, mentorship, and family advocacy. For legal support, LLL leads information sessions on civil rights, connects families to translators, and acts as a sanctuary for undocumented students and their families threatened by deportation. In the classroom, LLL connects tutors from Bard College and surrounding schools with ESL students in biweekly tutoring sessions. Using an original curriculum and pedagogy, tutors meet individually with students for homework support, language-building exercises, and ESL math games. Student Leaders: Jonathan Cseh ’21 and Aviv Porath ’21 Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow helps students from low-income environments combat the cycle of poverty by creating a foundation in financial literacy. Entrepreneurs of Tomorrow holds weekly workshops pertaining to themes of financial literacy, including investing, FAFSA form completion and college financing, basic banking, and personal budgeting. We create relatable and useful scenarios to help students grasp and retain the information given at these workshops. Our current partnership is with Kingston High School, which we attend on a weekly basis. We also are exploring partnerships with the High School for Environmental Studies and Brooklyn Latin School, both in New York City. Student Leaders: Amauri Castillo ’22 and Dereck Chavez ’20

“Nothing,” she says, shrinking back into her chair. I’m surprised. She’s usually really chatty but at this moment she murmurs, “nothing.” I’d asked, “Is there something you feel like you’re really proud of yourself for? What do you love about yourself ?” “Nothing.” When I was writing out the lesson, I knew that I wasn’t going to get profound statements about love and care, but at the very least I was expecting some sardonic comments about how they’re not really good at anything. Almost definitely I did not expect this girl sitting in front of me, quietly admitting she didn’t love herself, more vulnerable than I have been in a long time. KATRINA "KATE" GONZALES ’20, GIRLS GROUP

Girls Group Girls Group is an afterschool empowerment program for middle schoolers—an age group that is tough for most people, and especially so for young women. Every week, we spend an hour after school with a group of 7th-graders at Miller Middle School in Kingston, New York. We run creative workshops and open a space for emotional vulnerability and collective comfort. This mentorship program empowers young women through education, discussion of issues relevant to this age group, and introduction of positive role models. We finish each semester with a field trip to Bard to help reinforce the idea that college is within reach and to get the girls excited about future learning. Our overarching goal is to inspire and empower girls in a space that elevates full self-expression. Student Leaders: Katrina "Kate" Gonzales ’20 and Sasha Onyango ’22 Girls Math Club The Girls Math Club, run by women math majors at Bard College, fosters a community of local middle school girls from the Hudson Valley who are interested in learning math. Since the world of STEM is predominantly male, we show that women and girls have a place in this world too; this is an opportunity to tip the scale. We also inspire the girls to continue learning math, especially when it becomes difficult. Our main focus is to form a community of girls who enjoy thinking critically about mathematics as well as playing fun and analytical games together. We meet monthly in the Bertelsmann Campus Center at Bard and organize puzzles, icebreakers, and challenging math questions for the attendees. The leaders and Bard volunteers start discussions, and when applicable, we step back and let the younger students take charge of their own learning. Student Leaders: Riti Bahl ’21 and Mehreen Kabir ’20 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, a clear disconnect remains between that world and the discouraging message young women receive regarding their capabilities for pursuing computer science careers. In our program, young women explore programming as a skill they can fully acquire and develop. We empower young women and give them the confidence and skills to solve community problems and be successful in this field. Though we focus on computer science, this project gives young women the confidence that they can pursue any of the many STEM fields in addition to computer science. Student Leaders: Yabo Detchou '22 and Nick Scheel ’23 Current Projects | 23

Nicaragua Education Initiative

Haiti Jakmel Ekspresyon Exchange The Haiti Jakmel Ekspresyon Exchange (JE) is a partnership with a community center in Jakmel, Haiti. The project facilitates development within the local community by providing the 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. Bard students have traveled to Jakmel to teach courses on data mapping and collection to local politicians, students, professors, and city developers. Data collection subjects range from HIV/AIDS rates to water justice, 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: Alexus Foster ’20

Harvesting Justice Harvesting Justice is a student-run collective that helps farms and outdoor spaces in the Hudson Valley. We have a large number of student volunteers who are excited to engage in conversations around class, race, gender, ability, status, and other aspects of our identity within the local Hudson Valley environment. We provide opportunities for students to volunteer at and learn from local farms, environmental groups, and the local community, all of which could use our assistance. Along with this organization, we work with farms that provide fresh produce for lowincome families and HIV treatment centers. Student Leaders: Louisa "Lucy" Fulkerson ’20 and Will Santora '21 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 16 years, Bard students have traveled there for three weeks in January and live with host families. 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 exchange widens the perspectives of each individual involved in the project. Student Leaders: Marco Caguana ’21 and Odalis Panza Gonzales ’21

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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 present 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 everyone (dancers, actors, directors, musicians, photographers, visual artists, filmmakers; both majors and nonmajors) to create radical, visionary work and share that work with the Bard community. In the process, we also bring about community among creators and audiences as they learn what it takes to make a complex vision happen in a live theater. Our annual events include theater festivals, a haunted house, and the Black History Month Gala. Student Leaders: Macey Downs ’20, Ali Kane ’22, and Olivia Troiano ’20 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. Ramapo also trains teachers and volunteer workers. Bard students engage with a transitionto-independence program for young adults as well as school group retreats, monthly teen leadership programs, weekend events, and a 250-child summer camp. The Ramapo for Children TLS project works collaboratively with Bard’s Center for Civic Engagement, sports teams, and other clubs to carry out an array of activities and workshops. Student Leaders: Juliette “JT” Groarke ’21, Genesis Sandoval Corado ’22, and Anna Schupack '22 Red Hook ESL (English as a Second Language) Red Hook ESL provides a personalized learning experience in a safe, comfortable environment for nonnative English-speaking adults in the local community. Our tutors work twice a week with students through one-on-one tutoring and group tutoring. Though started to address migrant workers’ needs to learn English—to advocate for themselves and become part of the Hudson Valley community—Red Hook ESL has opened its doors to other students while maintaining migrants from Latin America as the core of our student population. We seek to create a comfortable learning environment for community members who might feel isolated by limited English proficiency, and allow Bard students the opportunity to build relationships with members of our community who may otherwise be overlooked. Student Leaders: Tatiana Alfaro ’21 and Freddie Hernandez ’22 26

Red Hook Residential Tutoring Program Bard students volunteer weekly, tutoring students at Red Hook Residential Center (RHRC) in Upper Red Hook, New York. With the assistance of the RHRC administration, our tutoring is individualized to fit the academic needs, curricula, and interests of each RHRC student. Volunteers tutor in reading, writing, math, social studies, and other prep (Regents, GED, etc.) in an engaging manner. This encourages the young learners to exceed their grade level. We hope to foster an environment that encourages the growth of a community centered on learning and an appreciation for continuing education. Student Leaders: Catherine Baum ’20 and Brianna Estrada ’21 Sail Forward Sail Forward is an after-school enrichment program based in the elementary school of the Germantown Central School District, where Bard students have created unique programs rooted in their own interests and skills. The curriculum serves the needs of the classroom and spans many disciplines including creative writing, art, debate, and the performing arts. Sail Forward has evolved into a mentoring and tutoring program that builds bonds between students and volunteers and advocates for greater academic success. Student Leader: Gabriela Garcia ’19

I’m working with a new student one-on-one to see how comfortable he is with English. He picks up new words quickly and easily. In Spanish he asks me, “¿Qué haces?” “I’m a junior in college,” I tell him. He sits up with a bright smile. And I ask him, “¿Qué hacías cuando estabas en Guatemala?” (What did you do when you were in Guatemala?) “Yo estaba estudiando en la universidad para ser profesor.” (I was studying at the university to be a teacher.) I am speechless. He should be tutoring me. TATIANA ALFARO ’21, RED HOOK ESL

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Brothers At Bard

Sister2Sister Sister2Sister is a program in partnership with Kingston High School in Kingston, New York, that connects high school–age girls with Bard College mentors to promote unity, self-confidence, and a sense of support through the arts. In addition, weekly discussion groups are held to target ways in which the students can prepare for college and life beyond high school. This includes field trips to colleges in the area. Sister2Sister has recently expanded to other high schools, specifically within the Bard network, by hosting conferences for young women at the Bard High School Early Colleges. Sister2Sister hopes to become a national program, creating a sisterhood throughout the globe. Student Leaders: Sakinah Bennett ’21 and Skylar Walker ’21 Student Athlete Community Outreach Student Athlete Community Outreach (SACO) teaches life lessons through sports to students ages 12 through 18 at the Red Hook Residential Center, which houses adjudicated males from many different backgrounds. Bard participants include a number of student athletes from the College’s varsity teams. Many of the same characteristics that make someone a successful student athlete, such as hard work, discipline, and communication, are the skills that can be used to live a good and respectable life. By demonstrating good habits through sports and relationship building, we are creating friendships with these young men and showing them how to be successful once they leave the center. The SACO program, in its first year, hopes to expand in the near future, with the goal of making a positive difference in every person who participates. Student Leaders: Zack Jacobs ’21 and Lukas "Luke" Klatke ‘22 Youth Initiative in Nigeria The Youth Initiative in Nigeria dreams of providing Nigerian youth a positive view of higher education by sending Bard student volunteers to host a month-long program in Ilorin, Nigeria. The program includes various learning workshops and hands-on activities, ultimately furthering the knowledge of students in their intended field of study, preparing them for college-level work, and inviting them into the exciting world of critical thinking. To develop these workshops and activities, volunteers host “fun nights” at the A. J. Williams-Meyers African Roots Center in Kingston, New York. Student Leader: Yaseer Abdulfatai ’23

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TLS Fair on campus

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

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 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 Gifted Girls at Columbia Habitat for Humanity at Bard Hope in Devereux International Tuberculosis Relief Project Making L&P Matter Media Analysis Project (MAP) Mexico Solidarity Network Delegation Migrant Labor Project Period. Project Why: Bard Senior Citizen Writing Project Sounds of Social Change SSTOP (Students Stopping Trafficking of Persons) Thailand Project Trans-Action Initiative Tuimarishane! Understanding Arabs and Muslims Visible and Invisible Disabilities Awareness Project Write-On! For the entire project archive, visit the TLS website: cce.bard.edu/community/tls/ Photos by Bard students Project Archive | 31

Tutoring is wrapping up. Kordell sits on the heater, talking to me about this and that and whether or not he likes talking to people or prefers being alone in his room. I have known him for a full year and today is the last time I will see him. He is being moved to a halfway house near his mother’s home. The other tutor isn’t picking up the look on Kordell’s face. He is not going home directly, and he is not excited. We pack up and I thank Kordell for his presence in tutoring and working with me. He grunts his usual grunt. As he leaves he bows his head, but then he lifts up both arms, fists curled in a sort of triumphant way. He holds this position going out the door. I am not sure exactly who that pose is for but it gives me faith I will never see him in the red uniform again. CATHERINE BAUM ’20, RED HOOK RESIDENTIAL TUTORING PROGRAM

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