Bard Early High School Bronx Student Ariella Thompson Cowrites Op-Ed with NY State Senator Luis Sepulveda for NY Daily News
Photo by Danny Santana
Ariella Thompson, a senior at Bard High School Early College (BHSEC) Bronx, coauthored an opinion piece with Luis R. Sepulveda, the New York State Senator for the Bronx’s 32nd district, for the New York Daily News. The op-ed emphasizes the importance of early college education in giving students opportunities for advanced learning, allowing them to establish intellectual confidence and to develop their own ideas. “Most students hear that college is the place where they will finally learn to think independently, to express themselves with confidence, and to have control over what they want to learn,” the op-ed states. “But at early college programs such as Bard High School Early College (BHSEC) Bronx, that process begins before many students are even old enough to drive.”
Bard has a 40-year history in early college education, and pioneered the movement with the opening of Simon’s rock in 1979, and the opening of the first BHSEC school in 2001. The first decade of the Bard Early College was focused on launching and establishing one of the country’s first public early college high schools, expanding access to higher education, with the flagship campuses in New York City. Senator Sepulveda elaborates that “programs such as BHSEC Bronx exist because educators, institutions, and public leaders make a deliberate decision to invest in students and expand access to opportunities that have historically been out of reach for many young people.”
Post Date: 07-29-2026
Bard has a 40-year history in early college education, and pioneered the movement with the opening of Simon’s rock in 1979, and the opening of the first BHSEC school in 2001. The first decade of the Bard Early College was focused on launching and establishing one of the country’s first public early college high schools, expanding access to higher education, with the flagship campuses in New York City. Senator Sepulveda elaborates that “programs such as BHSEC Bronx exist because educators, institutions, and public leaders make a deliberate decision to invest in students and expand access to opportunities that have historically been out of reach for many young people.”
Post Date: 07-29-2026