Class of 2020: Related Content
![Photo of Mareme Dieng](/sites/default/files/styles/alumni_story_300x225/public/sources/stories/Mareme-Dieng300x225.jpg?itok=xKc033Xc)
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.
![Photo of jazz musicians](/sites/default/files/styles/alumni_story_300x225/public/sources/stories/Jazz-Trio300x225.jpg?itok=Fv0NquRQ)
At the start of Fall term, Bennington College 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.
![Convocation 2019](/sites/default/files/styles/alumni_story_300x225/public/sources/stories/convocation2019-300x225.jpg?itok=nCHKg7Mg)
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.
![Photo of Ahmad Yassir](/sites/default/files/styles/alumni_story_300x225/public/sources/stories/Ahmad-Yassir-UWC300x225.jpg?itok=TDBo1zPa)
Over his 2019 Field Work Term, Ahmad Yassir '20 designed and taught the first courses in arts and peacebuilding at Abaarso School for Sciences and Technology in Somaliland.
![Aerial photo of Palu earthquake](/sites/default/files/styles/alumni_story_300x225/public/sources/stories/palu-flood-waters300x225.jpg?itok=dOZWF0RS)
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.
![Artist making pottery onstage](/sites/default/files/styles/alumni_story_300x225/public/sources/stories/Aysha-Molly-Claytopia300x225.jpg?itok=KMrrrCjV)
“In higher education, ceramics is often taught with a community-oriented spirit,” said Joshua Green ’81. “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.”
![Photo of elementary school students working](/sites/default/files/styles/alumni_story_300x225/public/sources/stories/Hindi-Lesson300x225.jpg?itok=qu2SBLky)
![Photo of comfort dolls](/sites/default/files/styles/alumni_story_300x225/public/sources/stories/comfort-dolls300x225.jpg?itok=tMuGbg20)
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.
![Cover of the Walloomsack Review](/sites/default/files/styles/alumni_story_300x225/public/sources/stories/WalloomsackReview24-cover300x225.jpg?itok=8jADmcc_)
Students in Mirka Prazak's Fall 2018 course Studying Place by Metes and Bounds were published in a special issue of the Bennington Museum's Walloomsack Review.
![Alice Diop in conversation with students](/sites/default/files/styles/alumni_story_300x225/public/sources/stories/Alice-Diop300x225.png?itok=nntKZnVR)
Recently, students in Stephen Shapiro’s Insider Perspectives on the Francophone World II and Paris on Screen: Tradition and Modernity courses had the opportunity to meet with French filmmaker Alice Diop, whose documentary Towards Tenderness won the 2017 CÉSAR award for Best Short Film.
![Two people signing in ASL in an art studio](/sites/default/files/styles/alumni_story_300x225/public/sources/stories/madeline300x225.jpg?itok=3zsB0vH2)
“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.
![Eulala Scheel with Trex bone](/sites/default/files/styles/alumni_story_300x225/public/sources/stories/Eulala300x225.jpg?itok=p5a1arB9)
At the American Museum of Natural History’s exhibit T. rex: The Ultimate Predator, 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.
![Deja' Haley in front of Black library display](/sites/default/files/styles/alumni_story_300x225/public/sources/stories/Deja-Haley300x225.jpg?itok=OUFef28y)
During Fall term 2018, Crossett Library 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.
![FLoW](/sites/default/files/styles/alumni_story_300x225/public/sources/stories/FLoW300x225_0.jpg?itok=D5YnkOtT)
Bennington College 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 Bennington College students.
![Kent Hikida and Bennington architects](/sites/default/files/styles/alumni_story_300x225/public/sources/stories/Kent-Architects300x225.jpg?itok=IKIVs2qT)
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.
![Bennington Free Library](/sites/default/files/styles/alumni_story_300x225/public/sources/stories/Bennington-Free-Library300x225_0.jpg?itok=zyI5HRjz)
As part of her Field Work Term at the Bennington Free Library, Michelle Freeman '20 led community programs focused on mental health, learning, and self-esteem.
![Student Center model](/sites/default/files/styles/alumni_story_300x225/public/sources/stories/Student%20Center%20Model%20copy.jpg?itok=QTo8X9Lh)
2019 will be an exciting year of transition across Bennington College’s campus.
![Vote Buttons](/sites/default/files/styles/alumni_story_300x225/public/sources/stories/vote300x225.jpg?itok=a5H5jipR)
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.
![End of the World](/sites/default/files/styles/alumni_story_300x225/public/sources/stories/End%20of%20the%20World300x225_0.jpg?itok=LFcL7hbq)
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.
![Kelsey Broadfield](/sites/default/files/styles/alumni_story_300x225/public/sources/stories/fullsizeoutput_b6.jpeg?itok=kUKtBVmV)
For those looking for an intensive summer Field Work Term (FWT) experience, the Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) program, hosted by the Research Institute in Sociology and Social Inequality at Texas A&M University, literally turns up the heat.
![FLoW](/sites/default/files/styles/alumni_story_300x225/public/sources/stories/FLoW300x225.jpg?itok=9I7-orSF)
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.
![Prisoner of Pinochet](/sites/default/files/styles/alumni_story_300x225/public/sources/stories/Prisoner-of-Pinochet300x225.jpg?itok=oex-7mcC)
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.
![Resisting the Stitch](/sites/default/files/styles/alumni_story_300x225/public/sources/stories/Resisting-the-stitch300x225.jpg?itok=xvF-UIv7)
When students in Richard MacPike’s Resisting the Stitch unwrapped the silk scarves they had dyed using arashi and itajime techniques, they were surprised by the results they found.
![Terminal 3](/sites/default/files/styles/alumni_story_300x225/public/sources/stories/terminal-3_asad-j-malik_300x225.jpg?itok=slLdEnzS)
"The next passenger should be coming in for secondary screening any moment now. You know the drill. Don’t take too long.”
![Trainline](/sites/default/files/styles/alumni_story_300x225/public/sources/stories/Trainline_300x225.jpg?itok=KGbCxaCj)
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.
![Students at Auburn Middle School](/sites/default/files/styles/alumni_story_300x225/public/sources/stories/z%20winters%20300x225_0.png?itok=KqR23Bvx)
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.
![Senator Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Fox](/sites/default/files/styles/alumni_story_300x225/public/sources/stories/Elizabeth%20and%20Bernie%20300x225.png?itok=Bjwlr_Dn)
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.
![Ahmad Yassir](/sites/default/files/styles/alumni_story_300x225/public/sources/stories/ahmad.yassir%206.jpg?itok=coDUQdbB)
Field Work Term is Bennington College'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.