Global Civic Engagement

Empowering young leaders of change.

Growing a network of young social entrepreneurs and change agents who are actively using the liberal arts as a tool to develop solutions to challenges in their communities.

The 2020 Get Engaged Student Action and Youth Leadership Conference

See what happened at last year's Get Engaged Conference.

March 20-27, Budapest, Hungary

Application Deadline: Friday, Nov. 29

Student leaders from the Bard International Network who are actively engaged in community based work are eligible to apply for a five-day conference at Central European University. Students leaders working on community or socially-based projects and/or organizing, engaged in activism, journalism or government work or who are leading community-based Model UN and debate or whose campus leadership extends beyond the boundaries of campus are are invited to submit proposals.

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Not a traditional academic conference

The Get Engaged Conference brings together students from across the Bard International Network to develop community leadership skills and collaborate on solutions to local and global challenges.

Workshops focus on: Leadership, Public Speaking, Networking, Social Media, Community Partnerships, Innovation and Creativity, Fundraising and Grant Writing, and Emotional Intelligence.

Get Engaged Conference by the Numbers

47

Students
415

Project Team Members
5200+

People Impacted
$7,500

Microgrants / 2018

Get Engaged Student Action and Youth Leadership Conference 2019 Program

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Support for Alumni Projects

Get Engaged Microgrants

The Bard College Center for Civic Engagement provides microgrants for Get Engaged conference alumni/ae.

Microgrants provide supplemental resources to deepen (or initiate) student-led engagement projects and can be used to link two or more projects across the network. Grant awards range from $250–$500 USD and will not exceed $600. New microgrant applications are due April 2.

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Global Engagement Fellows

Global Engagement Fellows promote and coordinate thematic civic engagement projects across the Bard International Network.

Selected fellows have developed and sustained a civic engagement project and demonstrated leadership skills and a desire and aptitude for working with others. Fellows may apply for a microgrant of up to $750.

2019/2020 Global Fellows

Zarlasht Sarmast

Senior (4th year student) department of International and Comparative Politics
American University of Central Asia
What I am looking for to achieve as a member and lead fellow at the Global Fellows program is to work together with other members, help them with their projects and combine some of the similar projects together and make a big impactful team of global fellows. I am also planning to work on something similar to TedTalks within global fellows where global fellows members can go to other universities in Bard Network and present their amazing projects to inspire other students and maybe find people who can help them with their projects.

Adeeb Hadi

Junior at Bard College Berlin
I look forward to establishing a film festival within the Bard network to allow students to share their films and to be an opportunity to open the door for cooperation among the students of the network.

Dilshod Hamroboev

Sophomore in International and Comparative Politics at the American University of Central Asia.
As a Global Fellow, I am looking forward to broadening my network with other Bard partner universities and make a contribution to the Get Engaged Conference. Moreover, I wish to be able to develop an international project or research with other global fellows.

Shadin Nassar

Junior in International Law & Human Rights at AlQuds Bard College –Palestine
As a Global Fellow, I strive to attract students to contribute productively and
meaningfully to their community by assisting them in incorporating their skills, visions
and experiences figuratively and literally to lead civic engagement projects, which will
contribute to the excessive growth of their community in concrete-based results.

Sofia Sorokina

Senior at Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Saint Petersburg State University (Smolny College)
As a Global Fellow, I'm looking forward to improving the connections between Smolny and other universities of Bard Network, meeting even more passionate engaged people around the world and making our society a healthier place to live.

Viktar Filipenka

Junior at European Humanities University
My ultimate goal is to help young leaders on their way of doing important things for society and their communities. I want to inspire them even more to continue developing their ideas and thoughts, and there is no better time than during such a mind-blowing, in a good way, event called Get Engaged: it's a step forward for everyone.

Kathy Gaweda

Junior at Bard College
I attended the Get Engaged Conference in 2019 with my project Period@Bard. I am looking forward to meeting and getting to know all of our attendees this year and, of course, to get inspired by all of their incredible work. I am participating as a Global Fellow because I love the community that civic engagement, especially within our Bard network, creates and I want to provide whatever help I can throughout this lead-up to the conference and beyond.