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As a college student, getting to an 8:00 am class on a Friday morning can be difficult. For Mareme Dieng ’20, however, balancing self-care and commitments to make it to class is all the more a victory on days when she’s arriving to Bennington from Tunisia. Or San Francisco. Or Turkey. Or Barcelona. 

At the start of Fall term, 51�������� students celebrated with Student Works, an annual showcase of projects done across disciplines—from poetry and play readings, to musical performances, genetics research, oral histories, and more.

On September 3, 2019, the Bennington community gathered to celebrate the start of the academic year and welcome over 180 new students to the College. 

Over his 2019 Field Work Term, Ahmad Yassir '20 designed and taught the first courses in arts and peacebuilding at  in Somaliland.

In fall 2018, Ekaterina Burtseva '20, Maria Salim '21, and Benyamin Mohammadzadeh '20 organized an Asian Cultural Festival to fundraise for the city of Palu in Sulawesi, Indonesia, which was rocked by an earthquake and tsunami. 

“In higher education, ceramics is often taught with a community-oriented spirit,” said . “Students work together in a common space and in front of one another. They’ll put their works together in a kiln load that’s then fired collaboratively. Ceramics tends to draw in students who value community.”

At 51��������, students studying Languages have the opportunity to apply their studies in the broader Bennington community by teaching languages and cultures—including Chinese, French, Japanese, and Spanish—at Bennington Elementary and the Village School of North Bennington (VSNB).

Madeline Poultridge '20, Hadley Pack '22, Annabel Hoffman '22, Lola Wilson-Kolp '22, and Ella Stewart '22 have been volunteering with Vermont Arts Exchange's TLC Dolls program.

Students in Mirka Prazak's Fall 2018 course  were published in a special issue of the Bennington Museum's Walloomsack Review. 

Recently, students in Stephen Shapiro’s and courses had the opportunity to meet with French filmmaker Alice Diop, whose documentary Towards Tenderness won the 2017 CÉSAR award for Best Short Film.

“In the world, it’s often the case that a Deaf person is expected to read lips, have the accommodations they need, to do the work to hold a conversation, when really it’s hearing people who should be making the effort,” said Madeline Poultridge ’20.

At the American Museum of Natural History’s exhibit , guests are invited to interact with displays, including a touchable cast of a T. rex femur, which Eulala Harden Scheel ’20 helped sculpt during her Field Work Term.

During Fall term 2018, set up a display of suggestion cards, inviting students to suggest ways to make the library more inclusive.

“Bring back the Black Library,” wrote Deja’ Haley ’20.

51�������� has received a $3,000 grant from the Vermont Community Foundation’s Opportunity Fund for Southshire Youth. This award will be used to implement Student to Student, a college access mentoring program that will pair first-generation students  from Mount Anthony Union High School with first-generation 51�������� students.

Kent Hikida ’85 knows the value of the Bennington network extends long after graduation. Along with his wife, Amy Schweitzer Hikida ’85, he co-chairs the New York City Steering Committee for the Bennington Alumni Cooperative.

As part of her Field Work Term at the , Michelle Freeman '20 led community programs focused on mental health, learning, and self-esteem.

2019 will be an exciting year of transition across 51��������’s campus.

In preparation for the United States midterm elections on Tuesday, November 6, Bennington students, staff, and faculty have been collaborating on voter education and registration programs, encouraging college students and beyond to participate in the democratic process.

Many Bennington alumni credit the community they found at the College among their most valuable lifelong influences. For Connie Golub Gorfinkle ’57, Jeanne Gorfinkle-Wiley ’85, and Lulu Wiley ’20, however, the Bennington network exists even within their own family.

For those looking for an intensive summer Field Work Term (FWT) experience, the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program, hosted by the at Texas A&M University, literally turns up the heat.

For many young adults, college is the first time they get to independently navigate their own lives. From incorporating feedback from professors into developed projects to managing and balancing course requirements with personal relationships and work experiences, college is intended to be demanding for all students.

Faculty member Marguerite Feitlowitz published "A Tale of Survival," a review of Sergio Bitar's Prisoner of Pinochet: My Year in a Chilean Concentration Camp, through ReVista, the Harvard Review of Latin America.

When students in Richard MacPike’s unwrapped the silk scarves they had dyed using arashi and itajime techniques, they were surprised by the results they found.  

"The next passenger should be coming in for secondary screening any moment now. You know the drill. Don’t take too long.”

Mirror, mirror on the wall, how can we improve this conference call?

Search engine optimization, data management, and...rapping? At first glance, selling train tickets might not seem like an artistic job, but as Zanna Huth ’20 can attest, Trainline’s innovation-friendly culture encourages creative work.

Bennington’s experiential “learning by doing philosophy” of education allows students to assemble a toolbox of skills, which in turn prepare them to not just secure a job, but also to become innovators and leaders in their chosen fields.

Writing briefings for Senator Bernie Sanders’s staff. Discussing healthcare with callers from Kansas. Crossing paths with former Vice President Joe Biden. All a normal day in the life for political science student Elizabeth Fox ’20 during her Field Work Term (FWT) internship for Senator Sanders’s office in Washington, DC.

Field Work Term is 51��������'s annual work-learning term during which students gain hands-on experience and test their classroom ideas in the world of work.

This photo contest brings those experiences  to life. Students use #FieldWorkTerm to share photos of themselves making, working, and learning to tell the story of their unique work exploration over Field Work Term.