Welcome from Principal Valeri Thomson

Dear Friends:

At Bard High School Early College (BHSEC), in Manhattan and Queens, we offer our students two years of high school education in the 9th and 10th grades. During the final two years at BHSEC, our students are enrolled in our early college program rather than in 11th or 12th grade.

BHSEC students take college courses and are offered intellectual challenges equivalent to those found on college campuses across the country—be it a First Year Seminar course in the humanities or a course in Organic Chemistry. The unique partnership between Bard College and the New York City Department of Education allows us to offer this kind of education at no cost to eligible students who are enrolled in the New York City public school system.

Graduates of BHSEC leave after four years with a high school Regents diploma and an associates degree from Bard College. Nearly all BHSEC graduates transfer to a four-year college to complete a bachelor’s degree. The BHSEC Queens campus opened in 2008, in 2010 and 2011 we had a graduation rate of 100% and 95% of our students graduated with an Associate degree from Bard College and have gone on to persue their bachelor's degree.   In 2012 we will proudly celebrate the graduation of our students who entered as our founding 9th grade students four years ago.

I am proud to have been a part of the founding of the Queens campus and to watch the curriculum take shape and grow based on the areas of expertise of our expanding faculty. I welcome you to peruse the website to learn more or to visit one of our Open Houses held in late spring and early fall.

Best regards,
Valeri J. Thomson, Ph.D., Principal
Bard High School Early College Queens