Barnard Pre-College Summer
Program
by Joan Baum, Ph.D.
If ever Mayor Bloomberg needed proof
that New York City in the wake of 9/11 has lost none of its
ability to attract out-of-town youngsters—with the obvious blessing of their parents—Barnard
College’s Pre-college Program For Young Men And Women
would be more than ample proof. In the words of its even-toned
director, Allison B. Kimmich, who grows enthusiastic as she
reports the fact, the post 9/11 reaction to Barnard’s
summer in the city offering of courses, visits to major cultural
institutions, life-after-college seminars, and mini career
fairs, has been “just the opposite” of what she
had expected. And so New York City got a different look in
the brochure—going from a traditional skyline shot for
summer 2002 to a spectacular photo of the city at dusk for
summer 2003. Rather than get defensive about being in a highly
targeted urban area, “we embraced the city,” says
Allison Kimmich, promoting it as an extension of the classroom.
The result has been “fantastic.”
Over the past two summers, applications
have been way up (with a 34% gain from 2001 to 2002), and
the program now caps at a little over 200. Considering that
the program began 18 summers ago with a score of participants,
the growth has been phenomenal, much of it reflective, no
doubt, of the significant growth of the College itself. The
program thus could be said to enhance the College’s recruitment efforts, but in fact, Barnard
hardly needs the boost. Besides, the mission of the program
stands on its own: to explore the complex relationship between
gender and leadership and to foster those academic and social
skills that will make young women truly competitive in the
professional world. Though only 15-20% of the 16-17 year olds
who attend the Barnard pre-college program actually apply to
the undergraduate college, the program measures success by
its ability to diversify and develop its own offerings while
continuing to be selective. Most applicants come from out of
town (26 states were represented last summer), but native New
Yorkers participate, with the greatest number of applicants
coming from the NY /NJ region (25% and 16% respectively), followed
by applicants from California (14%), not to mention six foreign
countries. The demographic resembles Barnard’s freshman
class. Of those who will be graduating in 2006, for example,
26 attended the pre-college program.
Other institutions, of course offer
similar summer institutes, but Barnard’s is unique in several ways, says Dr. Kimmich.
For one, the program has her—a Ph.D. in Women’s
Studies from Emory University. She also has extensive administrative
experience working in programs such as the Johns Hopkins Center
for Talented Youth (for ages 12-16). Though the heart of Barnard’s
pre-college program is its five-week offerings in the Humanities
and Social Sciences, the program also offers special one-week
mini courses, a newly instituted Young Women’s Leadership
Institute (to begin July 6), expanded opportunities to meet
with Barnard alums, and an increasing number of evening and
weekend activities, including outdoor film festivals, theatre
outings, romps at Jones Beach, and nibblings at various restaurants.
The most popular courses reflect
the program’s responsiveness
to contemporary interests. There’s the ever-popular “From
Page to Screen,” where students wind up making a three-minute
short film, a silent with music, using Barnard’s state-of-the-art
equipment. And then there’s “Reform and Revolution
in the Sixties” and courses in art history with their
attendant Wednesday visits to MOMA and the Met. Some of the
workshops, discussions, and seminars are student-run. The one-week
Institute, for example, concludes with showcase sessions at
which students discuss action plans to take back home. Other
curricular tracks have students creating action-oriented projects,
which they demonstrate to the full group at the end. Students
can also elect to participate in a joint initiative sponsored
by the United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism, where they
live and study at the nearby Jewish Theological Seminary. Other
collaborative ideas are in the works.
Hard to believe that so much can
go on in one intensive week, but it does, some of it subtly.
Central to the Barnard program is the residential experience.
Many summer campuses “bemoan” this
aspect, Dr. Kimmich notes, but at Barnard, where approximately
75% of the pre-college fellows live in residence halls, learning
how to get along with peers is an essential part of the “developmentally
appropriate” experience. Students have freedom, Dr.Kimmich
adds, but they also understand, or come to understand, what
it means to have “freedom with limitations.” Not
at all incompatible with having fun in summer in the city.#
