Meet This Year’s BHSEC Recipients
by Deborah Lanser
Introduction
Every year, LLI has provided a grant for students in the Bard High School Early College (BHSEC) program in New York City for expenses incurred during summer internships between their junior and senior years. This year, the four recipients, who each received $562.50, took full advantage of the opportunities the grant afforded them. Each was committed to creating and developing an educational program that aids disadvantaged students.
Amena Arshad: Helping Students With Hearing Loss
Amena is creating Hearing Each Other: Stories and Resources for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students in New York City, an online platform designed to support deaf and hard-of-hearing high school students. Inspired by her own experiences, she hopes to create a space where students can find resources, advice, and encouragement as they learn to navigate school, accommodations, and self-advocacy. Through this project, she hopes to help students feel less alone and build a stronger sense of community while advancing her long-term interest in improving accessibility for the deaf and hard-of-hearing community.
Delphine Levenson: Teaching Art
Delphine is a teaching artist this summer at Art Yard, a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to creating an educational space where artists of underserved communities can come together to learn from one another. During this teaching job, Delphine is developing art for an exhibition centering around queer love, joy, history, and culture. This exhibition showcases artwork from the LGBTQIA+ community and allows young artists to fully exercise their right to voice their experiences, thoughts, and true opinions through their artwork.
Lily Gilbert and Sirajuddin El-Shafei: Teaching Migrants
Lily and Sirajuddin are teaching migrant students at St. Mark’s on the Bowery, continuing a program founded by Matteo Edesess-Hardy, 2025 LLI grant recipient. The program, which has a growing volunteer staff consisting largely of BHSEC students and graduates, supports attainment of GEDs and high school diplomas, in addition to offering language tutoring and other services.
Matteo Edesess-Hardy, who founded the St. Mark’s migrant welcome center last year, used his grant money to buy ESL guides that his migrant students could take home to continue their studies. In a letter of appreciation he sent to then-president Robert Beaury, he wrote, “I am deeply enriched each week by my time with these incredibly smart and hopeful young men. I am grateful to have a way to push back against the despair and hopelessness I sometimes feel about the future of our democracy. This grant is making an important difference. Thank you so much for selecting this initiative for your support.”
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