13 Years in the Making

“I am returning home with a transformed version of myself,” writes one of the enthusiastic student leaders who attended the 13th annual GHEA21 Get Engaged Student Action and Youth Leadership Conference in Dhaka, Bangladesh last week. Hosted by the BRAC University School of General Education, and organized in collaboration with the Bard Center for Civic Engagement, this year’s conference brought together 37 student leaders from 17 countries who are participating in the GHEA21 Civic Engagement Fellowship. The year-long fellowship focuses on building global citizens and each student was selected for their inspiring work running community-based projects that address pressing issues ranging from access to education and digital literacy for refugees, to youth mentorship and gender based violence in local communities. The in person conference is the highlight of the fellowship but it also includes an online conference for students who are unable to travel. Miriam Schormann from CEU noted, “Being in a room with like-minded people and having conversations where everyone actually listens is not only incredibly inspiring, it sparks new ideas and creates the most amazing connections. It teaches you more than any class ever could.” 

Over the course of the week, each student gave a presentation about their project, participated in workshops, visited cultural and community sites in and around Dhaka, and spoke with hundreds of local dignitaries and BRACU faculty and staff at the student poster session. This conference isn't just an academic exercise,” said Sandip Kumar Paul from BRACU, “it drives immediate action.” This year’s conference included the energy of BRAC student volunteers – many of whom are Get Engaged alumni/ae – and who coordinated activities and dinners together with the participants.

For many students this is their first time traveling internationally. They join a long line of ~600 Get Engaged alumni/ae who continue to demonstrate their commitment to global citizenship and community engagement.  This includes two conference staff, Zarlasht Sarmast and Shadin Nassar, that are alumna of the conference from 2017 and 2019 respectively, and now work to strengthen the alumni/ae network across GHEA21 partner institutions.

Erin Cannan, Vice President for Civic Engagement at Bard College, has been leading the Get Engaged Conference since its inception. “It’s what we all look forward to each year,” says Cannan. “In a moment when the world feels fractured, when conflict, distance, and division can seem like the dominant story, we know that connections at the conference create a radically different space.” Jaella Mohammed from Bard Annandale summed it up well: “…while people from different cultures face unique challenges, we can learn so much from one another and we’re united by the same desire to create positive change.”

View the conference video and program on the GHEA21 Get Engaged Conference page.

Post Date: 06-26-2026