TLS 2022 Trustee Leader Scholar Program
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND SOCIAL ACTION
Bard
The path up Mohonk Mountain, a five-mile loop to the top, is difficult—slabs of rock laid one atop another, shafts of deep cold coming from underground. Difficult, but not dangerous. 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, their shoes worn flat by cement. Where they come from there are no snakes on the playground. On the first leg we pass lines of rock climbers scaling the rock face, leaving chalk marks on their way up. We cross a bridge to the trailhead, an incline 45 degrees from their comfort level. Their backpacks are already heavy on their shoulders as we circle trees and boulders, and begin to climb. Last in line, I see everything—gulping breaths from a quickening of excitement to a nodding wheeze from overworked muscles. They grip the rock to keep from falling; they brace against one another to resist fatigue. Not a word of complaint. On their faces, the novelty of adventure, the thrill of mastering a demanding physical activity. We promise them red-tailed hawks and turkey vultures. I watch them slow down and help each other, watch a boy guide the elbow of a larger girl with the grace and patience of a man twice his age. This is how we reach the top—a unit, a force propelled by love of the game. And hiking is a game, points to be won with wildlife sightings, and a true test of endurance met and surpassed. I could not be more proud of these kids. And at the top, when the hawk circles, we all win. RACHEL HYMAN ’12, YOUNG NATURALIST INITIATIVE
Front cover image: Young Naturalist Initiative 2
Theme for the Year
PRINCIPLES LEARNED OVER THE 25 YEARS OF TLS This is the 25th year of the Trustee Leader Scholar program. I’m not particularly interested in looking back nostalgically. There are just too many pressing issues in the world—crises, really—for nostalgia. I will, however, take a moment to note some of the principles that have emerged in these 25 years that I believe animate people. TLS is a development program, and it has been as much a learning experience for me as it has been for the hundreds of students I have had the privilege to work with. These are some of the important understandings that have emerged as basic tools for getting things done. I offer them to both stimulate your thinking and as a reminder to myself: • Always be a beginner at something, because learning new skills is humbling, and being humbled reminds us that we are human. • Good leadership is not about being a honcho, it’s about becoming more and more tuned in to other people’s kind of suffering. Practically, this means more listening and less talking! • My personal motto is “Say ‘yes’ unless there is a compelling reason to say ‘no.’” Every heartfelt idea deserves the best I can give it. Another way to say this is “Yes and . . .”, which means I strive to include everyone who wants to join, especially when I see a real desire to make a difference. • It’s okay to be exhausted. • Ask people what they want, and cultivate the ability to really hear the answer. This is harder than it looks. Paying deep attention to others while stilling one’s own inner chatter is a high-level human skill. • If you do more work than everyone else around you combined be thankful, not resentful. What a glorious thing to have energy and competence and the grit to do it all! • Remember that you are either hungry or about to be hungry, which means self-interest is always present. Stepping up for others, especially when it gets late, dark, and cold, takes discipline and will because our stomachs are selfish. Continued on Page 4
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Don’t make promises you cannot keep. Show up no matter what, and do whatever it takes to get the job done. Treat your allies well, especially in times of pressure. Don’t use more than you need. Enjoy the people you work with, even when you have conflict with them. Living with feeling and connecting through emotion makes for authentic and durable engagement. • Don’t ask anyone to do a job you are not willing to do yourself. This means shoveling the dirt, lifting the boxes, cleaning the toilet, folding the flyers, cooking the chili, washing the dishes, loading the truck. • Tell the volunteers in your project not to show up at the airport in Nicaragua with a beer in their hands. Paul Marienthal Director, Trustee Leader Scholar program
Community Engagement Arts Project
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| Theme for the Year
Trustee Leader Scholar Program Bard College’s Trustee Leader Scholar (TLS) program 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 give one-on-one music lessons to children who could not otherwise afford private instruction; provide ESL tutoring 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 with program administrators and attend workshops to explore issues in social action, public speaking, and facilitation. TLS students also raise their own funds, and many become proficient letter-writing campaign organizers. 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. Projects must contribute positively to the world and challenge the student— organizationally, ethically, politically, and emotionally. Trustee Leader Scholar Program |
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Bard Palestinian Youth Initiative
What are some key values in TLS? TLS addresses the issues of paternalism and privilege that are stirred up by the notion of “helping others.” Students are encouraged to read widely about oppression, identify their own motivations and needs, and experiment with ways of organizing that treat other people as partners, not passive recipients. We try hard to strike a balance between inward reflection, societal awareness, and passionate action. TLS projects are hard. They force students to reflect critically about participation in the world and develop beliefs based on real-world engagement with others. TLS considers this life training. We also say “yes” a lot. What is the ultimate goal of TLS? TLS 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, the Bard Farm, Brothers at Bard, Sister2Sister, and the awardwinning Spanish-language magazine La Voz.
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| Trustee Leader Scholar Program
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? The best way to start the process is to talk with TLS staff members, who are always open to hearing the words, “I have an idea for 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.
My first TLS epiphany occurred in the process of translating the curriculum into Indonesian, when I realized that sometimes being a good leader means stepping back and letting people do things inefficiently. Our translator, Jo, was intensely lonely, and placing him in charge made everything circuitous and frantic. Yet all of the unnecessary hassle he created was ultimately beneficial. It was important to him to be in charge of something and have his time occupied because he was rapidly decreasing his methadone dose and close to relapsing. NICK SHAPIRO ’08, AWARE: BALI
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Current Projects Afghan Families The return of the Taliban created a harsh reality for Afghan women, children, and families. Afghan Families seeks to address these needs in a number of ways, through two branches of the project. Arezo (“Wish”) raises money that goes directly to children. The Bard Afghan Women’s Advocacy Project specifically addresses the oppression of women. The goal is to raise sufficient funds to support three children and three families each month. The funds are for basic living necessities: food, clothing, and school supplies. We mobilize the Bard community through art sales and bake sales. We also collaborate with other college-based organizations and academic departments. These joint efforts have included clothing sales (run by Thrift 2 Fight, another TLS project) and benefit concerts by musicians from Bard music programs. Student Leaders: Sonita Alizada ’23 and Khadija Ghanizada ’23 Astor Services for Children and Families Astor Services for Children and Families in Rhinebeck, New York, functions as a school and residential rehabilitation space, providing mental health services to young people who have experienced emotional and/or physical trauma. Bard students serve as mentors and positive role models for these young people, spending time with them and 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, depending on the interests of the Bard volunteer and Astor student. After working with the children, volunteers meet with an Astor therapist to discuss the sessions, hold additional training, and ask questions. The project serves as an opportunity for the children at Astor to be part of a safe, fun environment where they feel appreciated, listened to, and acknowledged. Bard students bring energy to the space, and this promotes authentic relationships to develop between the two groups. Student Leader: Campbell Kurlander ’22 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 these children something new at every event but we also introduce them to—and help develop—a precollege
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Bard Math Circle
math community in the Mid-Hudson Valley. Math is a hard subject and thus hard for the general public to love. So our goal is to step into children’s lives and show them that math has a lot more beauty to it than what they may encounter at school—and that appreciating this beauty doesn’t have to be isolating. We offer an assortment of math enrichment opportunities, especially for middle school students. Our flagship program is our math CAMP (Creative and Analytical Math Program), held for one week in late summer. We also host mathematics competitions, including AMC 8/10/12 and Purple Comet, and have expanded our online math tutoring network to meet a growing need for math help at home. Needbased scholarships are available for the camp and competitions. In addition, we have partnered with BEAM (Bridge to Enter Advanced Mathematics) to develop their Entry Points program for underserved students in the Kingston, New York, schools. The Bard Math Circle’s Family Math Nights help inspire students, both in Entry Points and around the Mid-Hudson Valley. Student Leader: Felicia Flores ’22
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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 (VOTE), 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+, a reentry project that helps individuals returning home from prison, and Power Coalition, which focuses on voter engagement and advocacy for politically marginalized populations. On campus, BNOE members organize anti–mass incarceration actions and teach-ins. We fundraise, host panels and movie screenings, and make information on mass incarceration accessible to Bard students. 10
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BNOE’s 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 Leader: Stecy Mbemba ’22 Black Body Experience Conference The Black Body Experience Conference is an annual event that takes place during the spring semester. We provide a platform for Black marginalized people of all genders and a wide range of expertise to speak on a specific conference theme, which changes every year. We invite local community members, college students, and members of the Bard consortium to participate in safe and contained discussions that may involve race, identity, gender, sexuality, and the socioeconomics of difference. Student Leaders: Symonne Reid ’23 and Sage Swaby ’22 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 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 teambuilding 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 help our mentees make positive choices to ensure that they live healthy, successful lives that they themselves define. Student Leaders: Azriel “AZ” Almodovar ’24 and Heston Tucker ’24
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2021–22 Trustee Leader Scholar Program Project Leaders
Afghan Families
Sonita Alizada
Astor Services for Children and Families
Bard Math Circle
Bard New Orleans Exchange
Campbell Kurlander
Felicia Flores
Stecy Mbemba
Black Body Experience Conference
Symonne Reid
Sage Swaby
CommunityConnect/LLL
Hannah Baumann
Samantha Schwartz
Cuerdas para Cali
Earth's Tomorrow Foundation
Rowan Puig Davis
Mikelison Womack
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Khadija Ghanizada
Brothers at Bard
Azriel Almodovar
Heston Tucker
Community Engagement Arts Project
Emma Smith
Tallulah Woitach
Educational Outreach Initiative
Natalia Dziubelski
Danielle Jostlein
Girls Who Code
Haiti Jakmel Ekspresyon Exchange
Megumi Kivuva
Abigail Robinson
MAGPIES
Julia Crager
Skye Rothstein
Musical Mentorship Initiative
Me in Foundation
Sydney Williams
Blanche Darr
Aleksandar Vitanov
Old Gym
Ali Kane
Gabriel Moreno
Faith Williams
Ramapo for Children
Genesis Sandoval Corado
Rosalind Werner Winslow
Red Hook ESL
Anna Schupack
Marsela Doko
Freddie Hernandez
Sister2Sister
Tirzah Thomas
Miala Wilkerson
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CommunityConnect: Life, Learning, and Language The CommunityConnect program provides a local support network for immigrant families and first-generation Americans through mentoring, tutoring in English as a Second Language (ESL), and family advocacy. The program also provides legal support through information sessions on civil rights, connects families to translators, and acts as a sanctuary for undocumented students and their families who are threatened by deportation. In the classroom, volunteers from Bard College and surrounding schools connect 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: Hannah Baumann ’23 and Samantha Schwartz ’23 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. 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 activities. Currently these volunteers are partnering with Linden Avenue Middle School in Red Hook, New York; previous sites include Coarc in Mellenville, New York; Ulster BOCES in Port Ewen, New York; and Astor Services for Children and Families in Rhinebeck, New York. CEAP volunteers lead workshops that use the arts to engage with children, teens, and adult community members, and encourage them to explore the emotional content of their lives and overcome personal challenges. Student Leaders: Emma Smith ’22 and Tallulah Woitach ’23
After five full days of pulling chest-high weeds out of a Palestinian graveyard and looking at my tattered hands and wondering “for what?” I look up and see a mother, for the first time in years, have the opportunity to sit by her son’s tombstone and say a prayer. JASON TONEY ’17, BARD PALESTINIAN YOUTH INITIATIVE
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Cuerdas para Cali (Strings for Cali) Cuerdas para Cali (CPC) is a group of classically trained musicians who inspire students through music education. Each summer, CPC members travel to Colombia to work with the Orquesta Sinfónica de Siloé, a youth orchestra based in the Siloé barrio of Cali. Founded by Fundación Sidoc, the Orquesta de Siloé gives disadvantaged youths the opportunity to study music by providing them with instruments, education, and performance outlets. CPC supports these students in their musical growth and encourages the young musicians to have a positive impact on 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. Organizer: Rowan Puig Davis ’21
Cuerdas para Cali
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Earth’s Tomorrow Foundation The Earth’s Tomorrow Foundation helps K–12 students become environmentally conscious through hands-on sustainability projects. These projects encourage students to become innovative thinkers as they tackle some of the world’s leading environmental issues, such as water disparities across the nation, pollution, and global warming. Ultimately, our students are tomorrow’s leaders, and through the Earth’s Tomorrow Foundation we make change together. Student Leader: Mikelison Womack ’24 Educational Outreach Initiative Educational Outreach Initiative (EOI) creates unique educational experiences for local community members through events that present academic subjects in creative and engaging ways. Using art making and imaginative methodologies, EOI pushes the limits of traditional and nontraditional subject areas. Student Leaders: Natalia Dziubelski ’23 and Danielle Jostlein ’25 Girls Who Code Our project utilizes the resources of the Girls Who Code organization to introduce 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 messages young women receive regarding their capabilities for computer science careers. Our program empowers young women to see programming as a skill they can fully acquire and develop. We give them the confidence and tools to solve community problems and be successful in the computer science field. Although we focus on computer science, the project gives young women the confidence to pursue any of the many STEM fields. Student Leader: Megumi Kivuva ’22 Haiti Jakmel Ekspresyon Exchange The Haiti Jakmel Ekspresyon (JE) Exchange 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
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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 assess the needs of the city and surrounding towns, without relying on foreign aid and NGOs. Student Leader: Abigail Robinson ’22 MAGPIES: Math and Girls plus Inspiration Equals Success MAGPIES helps girls in grades 4 through 9 develop an interest in math. Online workshops are offered monthly. Women are extremely underrepresented in mathematics despite scoring average to above average on math tests, according to the Programme for International Student Assessment’s latest report (2018), so our goal is to inspire the next generation of girls to forge their way in the math world. We provide a safe and supportive learning environment that encourages these students to pursue their mathematical interests. The program also introduces undergraduate students to teaching and creating lesson plans. Student Leaders: Julia Crager ’23 and Skye Rothstein ’23 Me In Foundation The Me In Foundation is an organization that enables underrepresented youth from low-income communities to be the writers of their own stories. Through year-round programming, students immerse themselves in a variety of artistic disciplines that challenge them to view themselves in a world with endless possibilities. Student Leader: Sydney Williams ’24
From conversations with people whose homes in the projects have been demolished by the city government, I experience the gravity of social analysis. Hauling rubble from a shuttered school building, a hundred of my peers argue political science through wheezing respirators. TLS gives me a direct and ongoing challenge: to see that theory and practice are never far apart, and to understand that action is a form of critical thought. STEPHEN TREMAINE 07’, FOUNDER OF THE NEW ORLEANS PROJECT
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Musical Mentorship Initiative The Musical Mentorship Initiative (MMI) is designed to support local communities while simultaneously allowing college students to develop mentorship skills. MMI enables students from a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences to explore instrumental guidance— primarily students who are unable to afford private lessons offered by professional organizations and instructors. We currently offer both inperson and online private lessons. The Bard students have taken workshops on teaching pedagogy and are well prepared to be musical mentors. Student Leaders: Blanche Darr ’25 and Aleksandar Vitanov ’25 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, and 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: Ali Kane ’22, Gabriel Moreno ’25, Faith Williams ’22, and Rosalind Werner Winslow ’25
“Isabella, me puedes ayudar” pops up on my Facebook Messenger. “I need help filling out forms for my friend.” I open the documents my ESL student has sent me. They are from Compassionate Hospice Care, Inc. I translate for him. At the end there is a space for naming the mortuary. I go online and research funeral homes near his friend in California. We have answered all the questions, and now I don’t know what else to do. “I’m sorry,” I say again. “It’s okay,” he says, “gracias por tu ayuda, y buenas noches.” ISABELLA MARTINEZ ’19, MAT ’20, RED HOOK ESL
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Ramapo for Children Project
Ramapo for Children Project The Ramapo for Children Project 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 transition-to-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: Genesis Sandoval Corado ’22 and Anna Schupack ’22 Current Projects |
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Red Hook ESL Red Hook ESL (English as a Second Language) provides a personalized learning experience in a safe, comfortable environment for Englishlearning adults in the local community. Our tutors work twice a week with students in one-on-one and group tutoring sessions. Originally conceived to address migrant workers’ need 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, although migrants from Latin America remain the core of our student population. We create a supportive environment, both in person and over Zoom, for community members who might feel isolated by limited English proficiency, while allowing Bard students the opportunity to build relationships with members of our community who may otherwise be overlooked. Student Leaders: Marsela Doko ’24 and Freddie Hernandez ’22 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 target ways in which the students can prepare for college and life beyond high school. We also facilitate field trips to colleges in the area. Sister2Sister has recently expanded to other high schools in the Bard network by hosting conferences for young women at several of the Bard High School Early Colleges. Sister2Sister hopes to become a national program, creating a sisterhood throughout the country—and ultimately across the globe. Student Leaders: Tirzah Thomas ’23 and Miala Wilkerson ’25
Bri shares her personal writing board and lists one self-affirmation after another: “I love myself because I’m beautiful, smart, and strong.” Ashara turns to Bri. “Wow, Bri, you really are all of those things.” She replies, “Thank you so much, Ashara.” I turn away and wipe a quiet tear off my cheek, having witnessed an embodied moment of sisterhood from young women who sometimes find it very hard to honor themselves. SKYLAR WALKER ’21, SISTER2SISTER
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Thrift 2 Fight Begun in June 2020 as an afternoon clothing sale to raise money for the Black Trans Protestors Emergency Fund, Thrift 2 Fight went on to raise over $40,000 in its first year through volunteer-run thrift sales throughout New York State. In June 2021, thanks to a Davis Projects for Peace grant, the Thrift 2 Fight team embarked on a nine-city tour of pop-up thrift sales across the state, partnering and raising funds for local grassroots organizations at each stop. Thrift 2 Fight now operates as a public benefit corporation and in January 2022 opened a retail and community space at 48 Broadway in Tivoli, New York. With the storefront as its base of operation, Thrift 2 Fight plans to continue raising funds for local organizations working at the intersections of racial justice, queer liberation, and disability rights activism. This year, the first Thrift 2 Fight TLS chapter is forming on the Bard campus, with plans to organize more fundraising thrift sales and connect Bard students with the greater Hudson Valley community. Organizers: Jillian Reed ’21 and Masha Zabara ’21
Thrift 2 Fight
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Selected Project Archive Activists Worldwide AIDS/HIV and Reproductive Education (AWARE): Russia Bard Branches Community Center Bard Builds Bard College Community Garden Bard Food Initiative Bard Health Initiative (BHI) Bard Model United Nations Initiative Bard Palestinian Youth 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! Young Naturalist Initiative
JOIN A TLS PROJECT Every project needs volunteers. A TLS student initiates and facilitates each of these projects, but the success of the work always depends on widespread participation. Please get involved. Contact the student leaders listed in this booklet. HAVE YOUR OWN IDEA FOR A PROJECT? Meet with us to discuss how to make your project come to life—even if your idea is still in formation. We are always available. Paul Marienthal, Director Micki Strawinski, Administrative Assistant Room 213, Bertelsmann Campus Center 845-758-7056 tls@bard.edu
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| Selected Project Archive
And this is their life, the life of the food makers: wrenches and bolts, oils and fluids, tractors and combines, tilling, seeding, weeding, harvesting, threshing the fields of light brown wheat. Others in the dark at 4 a.m. in front of the ovens, shelf after shelf, loaf after loaf, rack after rack. One of them puts their whole self into the farming, the other into the baking. And here I sit, consuming their labor. I stare at my slice of warm baguette. It’s a story, each bite a chapter written by a different hand. As I leave the dining room I read on the comment board, “Love the local bread!” and I smile, because I helped write one very short sentence of this extraordinary story. CARTER VANDERBILT ’15 (THE DRIVING FORCE BEHIND THE FOUNDING OF THE BARD FARM) BARD FOOD INITIATIVE
2022 MARKS THE 25TH YEAR OF THE TLS PROGRAM In order to acknowledge the milestone, this year’s brochure includes photos and quotes from past years as well as recent material. For the entire project archive, visit the TLS website: cce.bard.edu/community/tls Photos by Bard students
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Bard College Farm barn raising
Bard College PO Box 5000 Annandale-on-Hudson, NY 12504-5000 845-758-7056 | tls@bard.edu | cce.bard.edu/community/tls