The Bard Math Circle primarily targets middle school and elementary school students in the Mid-Hudson Valley region of New York State.
In Kingston, NY (a small city in which 15% of residents live below the poverty line and 27% of children live below the poverty line) , the target audience for the past two years has been members of the Boys & Girls Club, whose members are primarily minority youth from low socio-economic households. The highlight of the activities in Kingston was a group visit to the Bard campus, in which the Boys & Girls Club members participated in math workshops led by Bard College math professors. In 2010, the primary location is the Kingston Library in Midtown Kingston and targets a wider middle school audience, a diverse socio-economic, racial and gender balanced group.
In Tivoli, (a semi-rural community north of Bard College) the Bard Math Circle holds monthly sessions at the Tivoli Library, The audience consists of families with children in middle school and younger.
In Red Hook, (a suburban and semi-rural rural community east and south of Bard College), we also target a middle school audience, in partnership with a math teacher at the Linden Avenue Middle School.
Origins
The Bard Math Circle was formed in 2007 by Bard College Professors Lauren Rose and Japheth Wood and then students Shelley Stahl and Ezra Winston. The Bard Math Circle is run jointly by students, under Bard’s Trustee Leader Scholar Program, and faculty at Bard College.