A desire for reflection and intimate student discussion have fueled the creation of two new groups recently implemented by the Tucker Foundation. "What Matters to Me and Why: The Student Edition" and "Conversations That Matter" both aim to encourage and facilitate more "organic" conversation and contemplation, according to Tucker Student Director Amanda Marinoff '12.
Marinoff developed "What Matters to Me and Why: The Student Edition," which has also been publicized as "What Matters to Us and Why," as an offshoot of a Tuesday discussion group already hosted by the Tucker Foundation. The student edition of the group will implement a more personal conversational format than traditional panels, according to Marinoff.
"Our Dartmouth culture is built around the idea that we go, go, go, but never really take time to reflect on what our experiences mean," Marinoff said. "Both these programs are trying to encourage reflection among the students and staff."
"What Matters to Me and Why: The Student Edition" convened for the first time on Thursday and featured Mia Jessup '12, Dani Levin '12 and Hikaru Yamagishi '12. The students spoke about their experiences with V-Week, including general equality, sexual assault and coeducation.
Jessup, the director of "The Vagina Monologues," said her experience with the production as an actor and director has given her the opportunity to experience other women's stories of sexual identity and tell her own.
"It's V-Week, and there's a lot of controversy," Jessup said in an interview with The Dartmouth. "I wanted to speak about The Vagina Monologues' in an informal setting where students can really talk about what they think. It provides a more intimate setting."
Marinoff said "What Matters to Us and Why" the initial title for the new discussion group was misleading, and the new title clearly extends the forum to students and promotes authentic dialogue about student passions. The new group fills a need for reflection, for which Dartmouth students rarely make time, Levin said.
In the future, depending on available finances, the discussion group will assemble on a biweekly basis and discuss topics as diverse as the Israel-Palestine conflict, the dominance and injustice of the Greek system and the importance of environmental issues, Marinoff said. She said she hopes the group will establish regular conversation about students' passions as a part of campus culture.
"I think that many students' best memories of Dartmouth will be getting to know other students," said Marinoff. "We have such a diverse group. Dartmouth is such a fertile ground."
The original "What Matters to Me and Why" program invites faculty and members of the Dartmouth community to speak with students in the Tucker Living Room. Recent speakers have included geography professor Richard Wright and writer and actor Tayo Aluko.
"Conversations That Matter" takes the form of a program rather than a discussion group, according to Tracy Dustin-Eichler, program officer for local service at Tucker. "Conversations That Matter" founders are in the process of recruiting a core of students who will be trained to facilitate deep discussion. The program will also offer workshops across campus.
Peer reflection facilitators will be trained in the theory of reflection, group facilitation and different learning and engagement styles in order to help foster deeper conversations at the request of different campus organizations or groups, according to Dustin-Eichler. Applications for facilitator positions have been extended to March 14 from Feb. 20, and training has been extended to March 31 to accommodate students away from campus.
The project will launch in the spring with a workshop aiming to discuss reflective dialogue about service, Dustin-Eichler said.
While more than 90 percent of students graduate having completed some degree of service, the question of why service is pursued is rarely discussed, according to Marinoff.
"We chose this topic because it's an area we at Tucker are experts in and we wanted to pilot with something that we felt comfortable with before a broader launch," Dustin-Eichler said.
Eventually, the program will produce workshops targeting specific groups, such as athletic teams and Greek houses, according to Dustin-Eichler.
