Families

×

William Helman ’25 Receives Hudson Institute Fellowship

Bard graduate William Helman ’25 has been announced as a recipient of the Political Studies Summer Fellowship in the Theory and Practice of Politics by the Hudson Institute. Helman’s fellowship will run from June 15 through July 25, during which he will engage in daily seminar classes and policy workshops at the think tank’s headquarters in Washington, DC. Seminars will examine works such as Plato’s Republic, Machiavelli’s The Prince, and Shakespeare’s The Tempest, along with selections from the Federalist Papers, the speeches of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, and current scholarship on American foreign policy. “William has a profound engagement with the theory and practice of politics, so I have no doubt this is the start of a very bright future for him,” said Richard Aldous, Eugene Meyer Distinguished Professor of History and Helman’s advisor. “He has just written an outstanding History and Film Studies senior project on elections and political advertising in the 1980s and 1990s, so this is a chance for him to put some of that history and communication theory to the test somewhere that sits at the intersection between the worlds of politics and ideas.”

Post Date: 06-02-2025

×

Brothers@ Celebrated 10th Anniversary with NYC Gala

Members of Brothers@, the initiative dedicated to building a community supportive of Black students and students of color, celebrated the group’s 10th anniversary with a gala in New York City this April. Attendees reflected on and celebrated a decade of transforming the lives of young men across the country, and the event was marked by powerful stories and heartfelt speeches. “By sharing my experiences and knowledge, I can help these young men navigate challenges, develop life skills, and build confidence,” said Williams Hernandez ’27, current coleader with Jalen Smiley ‘27 of Bard’s chapter. “I grew up not having some of the opportunities that these high schoolers have and I always wished that I would have had a program like Brothers@.”

In 2015, group founders Dariel Vasquez ‘17 and Harry Johnson ‘17 created an on-campus support group for men of color which offered a safe space for healing circles, near-peer group mentorship, and cultural-event planning for men of color on Bard’s campus. With the assistance of the Bard Center for Civic Engagement’s Trustee Leader Scholar program, Brothers@ later launched a youth outreach program designed to assist students from low-income high schools as they prepare for college or a career. The group's efforts have a demonstrable impact on students at Bard. Currently, the four-year graduation rate for Black students at Bard is just over 70%, while the four-year graduation rate for members of Brothers@Bard members is 90%.

Post Date: 05-20-2025