October 28, 1963

Vassar students began what The New York Times called their “own version of the Peace Corps,” an after-school tutoring program called “Horizons Unlimited.” Coordinated by Patricia Blumenthal ’64 and Joan Leven ’66, the program sent 150 student volunteers four days a week to classrooms in four participating elementary schools for hour-long help sessions intended to provide “educational and cultural enrichment” to students identified by their teachers as having “potential for greater achievement.”

“It does reduce,” Blumenthal admitted, “the amount of time available for keeping up with our own studies. But, in a world where so much needs to be done, an experiment like ’Horizons Unlimited’ also gives us a purpose and an opportunity for fulfillment.”

The New York Times