At the end of 10th grade, Leon Botstein comes to the Manhattan campus to address the students who will in just a few months become college students. His talk to the students is a tradition among the students and it is remembered.

Bard Early College students are challenged and engaged by college courses that embody the highest standards of a liberal arts education. At the Bard Early Colleges intellectual talent is fostered in classrooms in which rigorous inquiry, informed analysis, and deliberative discourse are the norm.