Student Support Services

Academic Services

Opportunity Program scholars do well academically at Bard because of the outstanding academic, financial, and social support services provided through the Opportunity Programs Office and the College. The school's philosophy is geared toward retaining and graduating students, not simply admitting them. Our success is due in part to the following services:

HEOP/BOP Summer Orientation
The primary objective during this two-week period is to ensure that HEOP scholar participants reach and maintain the level of academic proficiency necessary for successful college work. The following courses are among those taught on a daily basis:

Quantitative Skills. In addition to basic math, students review algebra, logarithms, functions, and graphing of functions.
Reading and Rhetoric/Literature. Assignments include reading and analysis of selected fiction and nonfiction. Weekly papers are required

Academic Year Support
The Bard Academic Resource Center (BARC) provides tutoring and other forms of supplemental instruction to all students. Support is offered in writing, mathematics, subject-specific areas such as sociology and chemistry, and more general areas such as research strategies, time management, and study skills. The Center is open Monday through Friday from 9:00 a. m. to 9:00 p. m., and by appointment.

Amongst the most commonly used services are the two-credit developmental writing courses BARC offers each semester. While these courses are not exclusively for Opportunity scholars, they are designed to address the specific needs our students face when preparing for college level writing. The courses offered are Grammar for Writers, Rhetorical Grammar, Analytical Essay Writing, and Writing Essays.

Social Support Services

Workshop in Language and Thinking
All entering first-year students at Bard are required to enroll in the three-week Language and Thinking (L&T) Workshop held in the summer before their first semester. This is an intensive orientation program geared almost exclusively toward writing and critical thinking. The program also offers a substantive introduction to the campus, the College, and community activities.

Leadership Development
Opportunty Scholars are provided a lesson in leadership as early as summer orientation. From their first evening on campus students are informed of the expectations and hopes the College holds for them. Students participating in the OP Summer activities often play a major role in helping other students adjust during L&T since they have been on-campus already and "know the ropes."

Incoming Opportunity Scholars also inherit responsibilities, such as program management, student leadership positions, and community engagement activities, traditionally passed down from their older Opportunity counterparts. Students are also encouraged to participate in leadership development workshops, as well as endeavors that enable them to train other leaders, such as Peer Counselor, Peer Tutor, TLS and mentorship positions. The Office of Opportunity Programs commitment to develop leaders, academicians, and change agents is directly aligned with the College’s pledge to service, leadership and academic excellence.

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