ABOUT BHSEC

Why Early College?
The creation of this unique opportunity for New York City public school students is based largely on Bard’s recognition that many bright, highly motivated young people are ready to begin serious college work by age sixteen. Since 1966, Simon's Rock College of Bard, the nation's only four-year college of the liberal arts and sciences specifically designed for younger scholars, has provided such students the opportunity to prove themselves in a rigorous and supportive learning environment. Students with an A.A. degree from Simon's Rock have transferred to the finest colleges and universities in the country.

• Bard High School Profile
• History
• Administration
• Afilliated Institutions

BHSEC PROFILE

Bard High School Early College (“BHSEC”) was created in 2001 as a collaboration between the New York City Department of Education and Bard College. Designed to offer motivated New York City public school students rigorous intellectual challenge, BHSEC admits ninth graders and prepares them to enter the early college program at the end of tenth grade. Students entering in ninth grade complete the required New York State Regents Exams in the first two years at BHSEC. At the end of four years, they receive the Associate in Arts (A.A.) degree in the liberal arts and sciences from Bard College as well as a New York State Regents diploma. In 2001 and 2002, BHSEC admitted students who had completed tenth grade directly into the A.A. program. Beginning with the class of 2005, most graduates will have entered ninth grade and completed four years at BHSEC.

Our student body is diverse in ethnic and economic background, in interests, and in prior school experiences. Students from the five boroughs of New York City are eligible to apply. Enrollment is limited to 500. No tuition is charged. Admission is based on the student's record, teacher recommendations, a writing exercise and math assessment, and an interview. Successful applicants typically have a grade average of at least 85. Evidence of ambition and intellectual curiosity is critical.

HISTORY

ADMINISTRATION

• Ray Peterson
• Patricia Sharpe
• Ba Win
• Marjorie Kaplan
• Sara Yaffee

• Ray Peterson, Principal. B.A. Southwestern College, M.A., University of Iowa.
  Mr. Peterson served as Director of the Institute for Writing and Thinking at Bard College; he had been on the Institute faculty since its origin in 1981. He chaired the Department of English at Rye (N.Y.) High School for many years and s also taught at Central Missouri State University and at Santa Rose Junior College. He was a consultant for the Bay Area Project, was active in the New Jersey Consortium in Language and Learning in content areas, and was an exchange teacher to Australia in 1985-86.
• Patricia Sharpe, Dean of Studies. B.A. Barnard College, Ph.D. University of Texas.
  Dr. Sharpe has served as Dean of Academic Affairs at Simon’s Rock College of Bard since 1993. She came to the college as a professor of English in 1983. Earlier, she taught at the University of Michigan where she was honored with the Class of ’23 Award for Distinguished Undergraduate Teaching. She began her career as a college teacher in Nagpur, India supported by a Fulbright grant. She has received three grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities to lead summer seminars for school teachers on the topic of “women and fiction." She is co-author of the book Taking a Stand in a Post-Feminist World: Toward an Engaged Cultural Criticism (State University of New York Press, 2000), as well as numerous articles about literature and culture.
• Ba Win, Provost. B.A. Kalamzoo College, M.A. Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. Ba Win has long experience offering support and advice to adolescent students. Provost at Simon’s Rock for fifteen of the last twenty-three years, he has worked with students on their applications to graduate and professional schools and to transfer colleges, and has built an impressive record of acceptances at the most desirable institutions. Previously, he served for eight years as Dean of Students at Simon’s Rock, overseeing all aspects of student life and extracurricular activities. He also advises students about foreign study and has led several study trips himself, taking a group to his native Burma (Myanmar) in 2000. In 1991, he organized an arts trip to Bali, and in 1992 led a community service project at a Karen village in Northern Thailand
• Marjorie Kaplan
• Sara Yaffee, Guidance Counselor. B.A. Gettysburg College, M.A. Counseling Psychology N.Y.U. and M.A. Social Work, N.Y.U. Ms. Yaffee trained and worked at Stuyvesant High School, then was Director of Guidance at Chelsea School. She is well-traveled, having spent her junior year in Lugano, Switzerland and later visited Israel, Japan, Vietnam and Thailand. She is currently working towards a Master’s degree in school administration.
  

AFFILIATED INSTITUTIONS

• Bard College
• Simon's Rock College of Bard
• Department of Education
• Rockefeller Univeristy
• ASO