The European Union: Institutions, Policies, and Procedures
The Democracy School launched in the fall of 2024. Bard College Berlin students enrolled in the seminar The European Union: Institutions, Policies, and Procedures collaborated with students from Schiller-Gymnasium and John F. Kennedy School. This unique partnership brought university and high school students together for a model Council of the European Union debate. The discussion focused on the proposed "Council regulation on jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition of decisions and acceptance of authentic instruments in matters of parenthood and on the creation of a European Certificate of Parenthood." Key topics included the rule of law, democracy, family concepts, and civil law in various EU Member States.
Mini-Model NATO Germany
Mini Model NATO Germany is a one-day simulation of NATO’s diplomatic decision-making processes. During the crisis simulation, participants represent a NATO member state in the North Atlantic Council (NAC). In their roles as state representatives, participants are tasked with responding to and resolving a simulated crisis as well as engaging in structured debates and negotiations. As part of the preparation, participants are required to write a Country Report. Model NATO Germany e.V. is the executing partner and the event is hosted in collaboration with the Freie Universität Berlin and the German Atlantic Association.
Telling True Stories
The European Democracy Institute publishes news reports written by students of Deborah Amos’ journalism course “449 Migration Reporting.” The course blends policy analysis with intimate, on-the-ground reporting. After six weeks of studying the political, legal, and economic forces shaping migration, the class travels to Berlin over winter break to conduct interviews and to examine the European political landscape on democracy, participation, and immigration as well as the parallels with U.S. policies. Students return with reporter’s notebooks full of interviews that challenge assumptions and deepen understanding of migration, culminating in a 2,500-word news report that weaves rigorous research, field interviews, and narrative craft.
Teen World of Arts Essay Competition and Student Publications
Teen World of Arts (TWoA) is an online magazine for young adults about the performing and visual arts. It is published in English but based in Berlin. TWoA offers entertaining but thought-provoking content about classical music, ballet/contemporary dance and the visual arts written specifically for a younger audience. In many democracies, budgetary pressures have led to a decline in providing a broad arts education to the next generation. In higher education, the arts are often seen as a luxury that must take second place to functional professions such as engineering, the law and business. But the arts fulfil a profoundly functional role in democratic societies. The arts can provide a society with a sense of where it is coming from, where it is right now, and a vision of what it might become. The arts explore and interpret the emotional, spiritual and moral dimensions of being human. They help us make sense of the world around us and our place within it. A critical engagement with art trains the type of critical thinking so vital for thriving democracies. In a world that is increasingly visual, and image driven, enabling the next generation to train their visual literacy through an active engagement with the arts is crucial. As part of the Democracy School, TWoA invites students to engage with the world and the arts in an annual essay competition linking social, political, or historical topics with the arts. For more information, visit Teen World of Arts. An essay competition will be opened in the spring of 2026 and we invite Bard College Berlin students to participate.