Trustee Leader Scholar Program

In keeping with Bard’s ethos of encouraging initiative at all levels of campus life, students in the Trustee Leader Scholar Program design and implement service projects based on their own interests. Student leaders receive stipends in exchange for their participation in the program, and most projects run for multiple years. Examples of current TLS projects include building homes in Nicaragua, helping inmates in local prisons prepare for the GED exam, organizing work trips to New Orleans to support the recovery of low-income housing and the reemergence of public school education, and running ESL programs for migrant laborers in the Hudson Valley. A number of TLS projects have become permanent programs, including the Bard Prison Initiative, the New Orleans Initiative, and La Voz, a Spanish language newsletter widely circulated in the mid-Hudson region.

Every Bard student is eligible to apply for TLS status. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, and acceptance is based primarily on the student’s willingness and capacity to direct a large-scale project. TLS students meet one-on-one with the program director and assistant; take part in skill-building workshops; and write formal project proposals, budgets, and evaluations. They are offered hands-on opportunities to acquire skills in grant writing, lesson planning, and group facilitation.

Website: http://inside.bard.edu/tls

Contact: Paul Marienthal
Phone: 845-758-7065
E-mail: marienth@bard.edu