HOLYOKE — Between making sure her 8-year-old daughter got to camp in the morning and an appointment at the welfare office that afternoon, Andrea Nina Diaz had a question: Why did the Greek god Dionysus punish his mortal family in Euripides’s tragedy “The Bacchae”?
That was the topic of discussion for Diaz and 10 other women who are part of a novel approach to helping young, low-income mothers earn college degrees.
Bard College and a Holyoke nonprofit group launched what they say is the nation’s first accredited “microcollege” on Aug. 15. The two-year program gives women in this community — many of whom otherwise wouldn’t be able to earn their college degrees — a chance at a free, world-class liberal arts education.
Students immerse themselves in Aristotle, Shakespeare, James Baldwin, and Jorge Luis Borges. They once thought they would never finish high school, yet find themselves debating philosophy and politics.
