Nicole Young
Executive Director, Bard Early College Academy
Bard College, under the leadership of Nicole Young, is working with a consortium of public charter schools in New Orleans to create a new space between high school and college that reconciles equity and excellence for young people, with limited exposure to higher education. The Bard Early College Academy (BECA) enables young people to start a full-time undergraduate curriculum after the 10th grade, immerse themselves in rigorous and rewarding liberal arts coursework led by highly qualified college faculty, and earn a transferable Bard College Associate in Arts degree, tuition-free. Importantly, BECA has the potential to address multiple challenges at once: rigor in schools, college affordability, and college persistence.