Through SPARK, our event series, ignite your thinking about what's possible and what you might do.
What can you do here?
Find your people and your flow in one of our four communities of practice: the Athena Fellows Program, Athena Entrepreneurs, the Athena Advocacy Institute, the Williams Program for Women in Politics, and Athena Digital Design (ADDA).
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Want to know what collaborative changemaking looks like? For a decade+, we've worked to redress the gender imbalance in Hollywood in front of and behind the camera, with our fantastic partner, Women and Hollywood, through the Athena Film Festival.
Join us!
Drop by the final Athena Entrepreneurs meetup of the semester on Thursday, December 9 to connect with other entrepreneurially-minded students and learn about tools to help you further develop your idea over the holiday break! Students will share their ideas with peers and receive practical support in identifying the next steps to validate their business model alongside Athena’s Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Deepti Sharma. Regardless of what stage you’re at, bring an idea you’re eager to explore with others! Athena Entrepreneurs is a community of aspiring and emerging women and nonbinary entrepreneurs from Barnard and Columbia who gather regularly to further develop their ideas.
We are back! After nearly two years of isolation, the Athena Film Festival is returning to the Barnard Campus for three days of shorts, features, and documentary films as well as panel conversations and filmmaker Q&As. A virtual program will also be available March 11 - 20, 2022 for ticket and passholders across the country. Click above to snag your festival pass today or navigate over to our Calendar of Events to check our Athena Film Festival Student Series events.
Here at the Athena Center for Leadership, changemaking is always on our minds, and the holiday season is no exception. Curated with our mission in mind, this gift guide contains everything from books by some of our favorite authors, to Barnard-student led shops, and unbeatable experiential gifts. Know folks that want to give rather than receive? We've got you covered there too with a list of some of our favorite charities and non-profits. Celebrate the holiday season this year by treating your loved ones to meaningful and thoughtful gifts that are sure to make an impact on their lives and the communities around them.
Field Notes
We are thrilled to announce the inaugural cohort of Athena Fellows! Eleven Barnard students from diverse majors and class years have been selected to participate in the program, which takes place from September 17 to December 17.
Our Fall 2021 Fellows are exploring a wide array of interests, ranging from reducing pollution in space and adopting telemedicine in underserved communities to increasing access to justice through transparency in pricing and improving the patient experience through UX design.
Community Conversation
We partnered with the office of Community Engagement and Inclusion, Barnard Alumnae, and the Francine A. LeFrak Foundation Center for Well-Being, on a Community Conversation about community building, resilience, and innovation on October 27 from 6-7pm EST. The conversation was held with Harlem and Washington Heights leaders who reimagined their businesses and nonprofit organizations during the pandemic. This virtual event invited participants to engage in dialogue, working together to discover creative solutions to social justice issues and community-identified needs.
In summer 2021, nearly 100 high school women participated in our Pre-College Leadership in Action series. Over the course of four weeks, students worked in groups to investigate and explore social challenges and build creative, collaborative approaches to solving them. With support from Barnard's Zine Library team, students developed zines to share what they learned. Check them out! They cover topics including reproductive freedom, incarceration, body image, disparities in education, and more!
We are so proud to continue our partnership with Athena Scholar, Claudia Polgar '19, as she represents Barnard in her cohort at the Columbia Startup Lab. As Founder of CheckPoint Health, she is truly doing great things and we are so happy to be a part of that. Check out a day in the life with Claudia at the Lab on Athena's instagram, and be sure to follow CheckPoint Health as well!
Held June 17-19, 2021, in partnership with BEnet, the Barnard Startup Summit was a virtual opportunity for students and recent alums to work with a successful group of Barnard alumnae entrepreneurs to develop their for-profit business ideas. Participants received a rapid introduction to the ins and outs of building a successful business. Click here to read about Christina Graham ’23’s experience.
“I have developed numerous coding, communication, and organizational skills, and most importantly, grown my confidence in my abilities since joining ADDA. I believe possessing that confidence is imperative for women, especially women of color, to succeed in the workforce today.” -- Elise St Amant '23, Neuroscience and Behavior
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