"Yesterday, I wanted to be doctor. Today, I want to be a teacher. Tomorrow, who knows?"
Cara Mathews '99 can't decide what she wants to do with her life after graduation.
But for now, Mathews is one of the three students who bears the responsibility of selecting the replacement for Dean of the College Lee Pelton when he steps down after Commencement this June.
"I look at the decisions that Dean Pelton has made over my three years at Dartmouth, and I think he has had one of the biggest effects on student life," Mathews said.
Mathews said she wants to see a dean who will be actively involved with students, is flexible to students' wishes and open to new ideas.
"Diversity is still a major issue on campus," Mathews said. "Given that, I hope the new dean will be very open-minded to a lot of different perspectives."
Mathews said she is periodically reminded of how imperfect Dartmouth sometimes can be.
"Sometimes, I go along in my own little world, then suddenly incidents like what happened in the River apartments scare me," she said.
Several students who live in Channing Cox residence halls found anti-Semitic slurs scrawled on their door last week.
"I get sort of jarred because incidents like this still happen on this campus," Mathews said. "I am reminded of the importance of diversity and having respect for other people."
Mathews has quite a full palette of activities.
Currently, she is the president of Delta Delta Delta sorority and is a member of the women's golf team. She is also active with the Book Buddies program through the Tucker Foundation and is a Women In Science Project peer mentor.
She also coaches the Hanover junior high basketball team.
"I love working with children," Mathews said.
"Everything is new, and they are appreciative. They don't need to win the lottery to enjoy life -- little things excite them."
This is part of the reason why she wants to become a teacher.
But that's not all she wants to be. Mathews, a chemistry major, is also pre-med and aspires to be a doctor as well.
"We dissected a cat in high school -- studied its system, layer by layer," Mathews said. "I thought it was amazing and that's when I decided I should be pre-med."
Mathews is off this term and is working at the Thayer School of Engineering in a lab researching ice.
"I happened to head towards one direction but I feel like I could have taken a different path and been just as happy at Dartmouth," Mathews said.
