Students for Excellence in Education, a service support group formed last summer for students interested in education, met for the first time last week at Rockefeller Center.
SEE's goal is to create an environment on campus where undergraduates can meet and share resources about education, said Lisa Hacken '95, SEE president.
Kevin Lapin '95, a SEE member, said, "I think that a pre-professional group for the teaching profession is an essential first step in making teaching into the well-respected and renumerated profession it should be."
The organization plans to make students aware of volunteer and community activities affiliated with the Tucker Foundation and local schools in the Upper Valley near Hanover.
SEE will also offer many other services to its members. Hacken said the group will keep a file on all students who have taken education courses to serve as a resource for other students interested in a particular education course.
She also plans to create a networking system that will be put students in contact with alumni who are involved in the field of education. Those graduates could then help graduating students find jobs in education-related fields.
SEE Program Chair Cresencia Spencer '95, will organize throughout the term events such as speeches, panel discussions and lunches with professors in the education department.
Hacken said she created the group after attending an alumni meeting called Friends of Education this summer. According to Hacken, the alumni discussed the uncertain future of Dartmouth's education program at the meeting, and their desire to maintain some form of education training on the campus.
She said that this inspired her to form a students organization because students would be more affected by changes in the education department than alumni.
