After electing 38 members to its class council, the freshman class is looking forward to setting its agenda for the year, while upperclass councils already have a full schedule.
Freshman Council
Freshman class council officers will be elected next Wednesday, and "once the elections take place, the students will take charge of their own council and then it will begin to take on its own character," said Jessica Roberts '97, the First Year Office intern, who will supervise the class council's first meetings.
The main activities for the council during Fall term will be organizing the bonfire and freshman sweep.
"They need to make sure the bonfire lights, burns and they avoid disaster," Roberts said.
As far as long-term goals, the council may look to the '99 council as a model, Roberts said.
"They would like to distinguish themselves the way the '99 Council has through their amazing [attendance] numbers," she said.
"It appears the [class council] may have a chance to accomplish that goal as more than 70 students attended the first meeting last Wednesday and they all seemed pretty excited about making their mark on Dartmouth," Roberts said.
Casey Sixkiller '00, a new representative from North Massachusetts Hall, said his main goal for the council is to, "bring the class together and get to know who each other are."
South Massachusetts Hall's new representative Rebecca Udler '00, said through the Council she hopes "to meet a lot of people and become active in the school."
1999 Class Council
The 1999 Class Council has distinguished itself over the past year through both the activities it has planned and the sheer number of its members, Roberts said.
While most councils have less than 10 members, the 1999 council has more than 50 members, sophomore Class President Rex Morey said.
This year the council is planning a fall leadership conference at which at least 50 student leaders are expected to attend, Morey said.
The conference, which will take place the last weekend October, at Pierce's Inn in Etna is "to teach the leadership of Dartmouth how to work together as well as teach them leadership skills," he said. Participants will stay at the inn overnight, Morey said.
Nance Lucas, the associate director of the Center for Political Leadership at Maryland University and a respected speaker on leadership skills, is the featured speaker at the event, 1999 Class Council Vice President Nahoko Kawakyu said.
Dean of Student Life Holly Sateia, who has been working with the '99 Council on the conference project since last spring, said the retreat is "a very exciting idea which tackles the challenge of making the leaders on campus into even better leaders."
Along with the conference, the '99 Council expects to repeat the success of Freshman Family Weekend's Casino Night and also publish a Tucker Guide to Fellowships and Grants. The guide is expected to be ready by the end of the Fall term.
1998 Class Council
The junior class president and vice president were unable to be reached for comment yesterday.
1997 Class Council
The activities of the 1997 Class Council will center around traditions which have been in place for a number of years, said Matt Shafer, senior class vice president .
Senior tails, senior week and the senior symposium will be the major events handled by this year's council along with three or four major programming events each term, Shafer said.
Although the '97 council intends to change the format of the symposium slightly and make it shorter, Shafer said, "the council's events will be grounded in tradition and no major changes are expected."
