Highlighted Members of the Class of 2006
Sarabeth Berman and Professor Denny Partridge
“More than anything, Barnard has taught me to prod, inquire, doubt and wonder.”
—Sarabeth Berman |
Sarabeth Berman of Newton, Mass. is a Luce Scholar and Urban Studies Major (with a concentration in the Performing Arts) who believes in the power of theater to cross cultural divides, help people find common ground, and raise public consciousness of complex social issues. Inspired by the life’s work of her mentor, Theater Professor Denny Partridge (with whom she’s studied with since her freshman year), Berman chose to do her senior thesis on theater programming in prisons. As part of that thesis, she wrote and directed an original play with and about formerly incarcerated women that explores how time spent in prison affects women, families, and communities. Titled She Disappeared: Mothers and Daughters in Prison, it was performed as part of the Center for Research on Women’s annual Scholar & Feminist conference, and she was chosen to speak about her experience producing it at commencement. A recipient of a Student Leadership Award for her work on the satirical Columbia Varsity Show, Berman is headed to Hong Kong as a Luce Scholar after graduation where she’ll work for a performing arts organization for a year. She’s one of 15 young people chosen for their intellectual and professional promise, and targeted by the Henry Luce Foundation as future leaders of American society.
Jen Sokoler
with a student in Mississippi
“Being at Barnard means being surrounded by people who want to live by the highest ideals, have the difficult discussions, and take the sometimes unpopular actions that could eventually lead to solving some of the world’s biggest problems.”
—Jen Sokoler |
Senior Jen Sokoler of Albany, N.Y., is a Phi Beta Kappa Political Science major with a passion for social justice, including equal representation of women in political leadership and access to a good education as a basic human right. Founding co-president of Smart Women Lead – a non-partisan student organization whose mission is to encourage, empower, and train Barnard women to run for elected office and participate in the political process – she’s led a campus-wide get-out-the-vote campaign, a program to teach teenage girls about women in politics, and a trip to the state capitol to meet the Women’s Caucus. Having spent last summer in Mississippi, teaching and lobbying for a state-wide Civil Rights Movement history curriculum, Sokoler then invited some of her colleagues back to Barnard, and produced a two-day campus-wide dialogue on race. The recipient of several Barnard student leadership awards and grants, she is also a Project Tolerance Fellow. After graduation, she’s decided to defer law school to become a Teach for America corps member, dedicating the next two years to teaching sixth graders at PS 325 in the Bronx.
|
