Scholar Co-Heads Community Outreach Program

Sophomore Tayler Butler is co-head of Building Up Hudson, a community outreach program at Bard College that is designed and implemented by students. The program, established four years ago as one of Bard’s Trustee-Leadership Scholar projects, serves high school students in a town close to Bard’s campus.

As co-head, Tayler is responsible for creating and implementing lesson plans for weekly meetings where high school students are tutored and mentored by Bard volunteers, covering topics such as leadership development and professional skills. Tayler also leads fundraising efforts to provide scholarships to students in the Hudson community that can be used toward college tuition and other expenses.

“We recently worked on resumes, cover letters and applying for financial aid,” Tayler says. “We’re working to help these students understand the different resources that are available for them for college.”

Tayler, who is pursuing a joint major in economics and political studies and is a dorm peer counselor, hopes to work in investment banking and wants to influence education public policy in impoverished communities.