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GREAT BARRINGTON, MA — It’s not every day that students start college early, but this Orange resident is no ordinary student. This year, Grace Gossard joined the fall 2020 class at Bard College at Simon’s Rock in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, the nation’s first early college. Simon’s Rock successfully created a safe, socially distanced learning environment this semester, with primarily in-person classes as well as hybrid and remote offerings.

Gossard’s academic and personal achievements stood out, securing Grace a spot at Simon’s Rock this fall. The college is home to about 400 students who engage in a rigorous liberal arts and sciences curriculum and graduate from college one or two years ahead of their peers.

Bard College at Simon’s Rock, founded in 1966 and nestled in the bucolic Berkshires, is the only college in the country specifically designed for highly motivated students ready to enter college early, usually after the 10th or 11th grade. Simon’s Rock offers a challenging program in the liberal arts and sciences, taught in small seminars by supportive, highly-trained faculty. The Princeton Review’s Best 382 Colleges rates academics at Simon’s Rock higher than Harvard and Princeton