Every class has a select group of students who have sincerely dedicated their time at Dartmouth to making a difference on the campus. Bridget Eng '93, Andrew Beebe '93, Doug Chia '93, Rebecca Meyercord '93, Mark Steifman '93 and Marisol Negron '93 are six students who stand out.
Eng is known for the incredible energy she puts into building school spirit and class unity.
Beebe took a courageous step when he advocated for the dismantling of the single-sex Greek system, which more than 50 percent of the campus have affiliations with.
Chia sits on some of the most important policy-making committees on campus.
Meyercord is in the position to bring issues straight to the administration's core as College President James Freedman's intern.
Steifman was instrumental in the design and implementation of the new alcohol policy.
And Negron played a crucial role in the recruitment of Latinos in the Class of 1996.
Bridget Eng
Bridget Eng, senior class vice president, made significant contributions through her work with the Green Key society, the Student Assembly and the '93 Class Council.
As a freshman, Eng got "an insider view of how the leadership worked" in the Student Assembly while working as an intern. At the same time, she worked on the Class Council as a freshman representative.
Eng's first significant experience in student government at the College involved a report the freshman representatives put together calling for the revamping of the freshman faculty advisor program.
"I am still proud of it today. It was the first thing I did that really made a change. It got Dean Beaudoin's attention, and I really liked that feeling of respect."
Eng said her sophomore year was not a very active one for the Assembly, but she still continued to learn the ropes working again as an Assembly intern, as co-chair of the Administrative Affairs Committee and as a member of the Executive Committee, predominantly composed of upperclassmen.
"I realized that I could hold my own in that situation. It empowered me, and gave me the push to run for bigger offices with more responsibility."
By her junior year, Eng said she was disillusioned with the Assembly and decided to turn her attentions to Class Council where she served as vice president under Doug Chia. She and Chia joined forces again to head the Class Council this year.
Most of the goals of the senior Class Council focused on fostering class spirit.
Shortly before Commencement, Eng was caught up in the bustle of organizing Class Day activities.
"I do not know how I can possibly make 1,000 people happy, but I want everyone to leave with a warm fuzzy feeling."
After graduating, she will work in Washington D.C. as a legal assistant. She has been accepted to the University of Maryland Law School and will go there in the fall of '94. She would like to tie law into education and obtain her masters degree in education.
Andrew Beebe
Much of Andrew Beebe's experience came while he was president of the Student Assembly. He had never dreamed he would have so much responsibility for the policies that shape students' lives.
"In my high school, I was much more involved with gardening and carpentry. I was commissioned by the high school to build, landscape and furnish a cactus garden. It is the sole thing I am known for in my high school- 'the Beebe Garden.'"
His start in student government was not altogether planned. He was practically dragged to his first meeting by Doug Chia. "I probably have him to blame. I mean thank."
Beebe's first position in the SA was co-chair of the policy committee his sophomore year.
Once he made it through the ranks of the SA, his biggest concerns were to better the sense of community and to prove the campus did not need to fracture into small groups.
Beebe said one of his major accomplishments within the Assembly was finding seats for students on administrative committees.
Last year, Beebe depledged from Alpha Chi Alpha fraternity after he was harshly criticized by many of his former fraternity brothers for his intent to revolutionize the single-sex Greek systems into undergraduate co-educational societies.
Beebe said he cannot understand the idea that students come here to experience the diversity the College has to offer, and then after freshman year, segregate themselves in single-sex houses.
"I hope I am remembered for suggesting to students that there are a lot of things on campus that should be open for discussion, things that are typically taboo. There is a protective layer that surrounds much of the tradition that needs to be lifted for the sake of Dartmouth's future."
After graduation, Beebe said he will motorcycle around Eastern Europe before he spends a year in Spain working for an olive company. He said he hopes to eventually study political philosophy at Oxford.
Doug Chia
Senior Class President Doug Chia's plunge into Dartmouth's politics was not immediate.
"I stayed out of student government for a year. But at some point, despite giving all my time to academics, I was not getting the grades I wanted. I was frustrated and unfulfilled. So, toward the end of the year, I started getting involved."
His work with the Assembly involved many important responsibilities, such as giving a student voice to the lobbying project by Holly Sateia for a campus center, acting as co-chair of the Nominations Committee, as a liaison for Telephone Services and proposing the idea of video rentals, vending machines and a cold clinic at Topside
"The biggest thing I feel I had a part in was getting students on the Budget Committee. We made a large lobbying effort with Strohbehn, Pelton and Freedman. We did a lot of research to figure out where the whole structure of the budget was going."
Chia served as his class president during sophomore summer and junior spring. He was re-elected senior year as well. He also served as an Administrative Affairs Committee Co-Chair, a Nominations Committee Chair and a member of the Elections Advisory Committee.
Along with the Eng, and the junior class president and vice-president, Chia formed the Committee for a Responsible Student Assembly (CRSA) to make a collective endorsement for Assembly president.
Chia admits he has had to make sacrifices to maintain his high level of involvement in the student government.
And for all his hard work and dedication, he would like to be remembered "as someone who is an honest person who made an effort to help people in whatever way he could."
Next year, Chia will be teaching English in China and then probably going on to law school.
Rebecca Meyercord
Rebecca Meyercord has been working closely this year with the College's most important leader, James Freedman, as his intern.
Meyercord's responsibilities are many, working not just with Freedman but also the office secretaries and Peter Gilbert, the president's assistant.
She collates and mails academic citations, arranges a listing of courses for wives of the Trustees to sit in on when in town and conducts research with Freedman and his assistants. One of her most important jobs is to put together an Ivy League news summary.
Meyercord's other main responsibility is to arrange Freedman's meetings with students and organizations and make suggestions for possible meetings. His busy schedule is one of her greatest obstacles.
"But I still try to push for meetings. I think persistence helps. This year his number of official meetings with students has doubled. I still really encourage students to attend his office hours."
Meyercord tries to bring important campus issues and opinions to the attention of Freedman.
She said there is a lot to learn from watching the campus leaders at work. "In an effort to get to know the president better, I attend a lot of the events where he is speaking. I sit in a back corner and just listen."
Meyercord is very satisfied with her experience at the College. "I think I definitely have more of an appreciation for the outdoors, and I take away a lot of relationships with professors, President Freedman and other administrators."
She plans to pursue a career in education. She will start the master's program in elementary education at the University of Pennsylvania in May and hopes to teach in an inner-city public school system after that.
Marc Steifman
President of the Interfraternity Council Mark Steifman found the brotherhood he was looking for in the College's strong Greek system.
Steifman became involved in fraternity government because he wanted to help out his house, Theta Delta Chi.
"I was the vice president of my house which did not have that many tangible duties. I wanted to get more involved and give my house a say. I thought I had some good ideas to help turn the IFC around."
One of the IFC's major projects this year was the revision of the alcohol policy.
"We wanted to make the students more responsible. The whole idea was to set up a safeguard to make sure parties are safe with door monitors, alcohol monitors and trained bartenders. Bringing the keg back was a way to control the flow of alcohol. You have to look people in the eye and know who is getting beer and who is not."
Pressure for the new policy to work was on the IFC. "We know that the ball is in our hands, and the College can say if you do not stick to your own policy, we will stick you with one of our own."
Another recent accomplishment of the IFC under Steifman was the changing of the rush procedure to give houses with smaller memberships more exposure and a better chance to recruit new students.
Steifman also helped create the Order of Omega, a honor society for Greek-affiliated members, designed to "realign the Greek system with the faculty and the College's academic goals."
Despite his active Greek role, Steifman said he was not entirely opposed to Beebe push for co-ed societies.
"I am all for choice. And I have spoken to people in co-ed houses and colleges where they were forced to go co-ed, and problems still exist there. It seems like an easy way out. I am all for it if it works, but until they can prove it does, I think we should try to improve the current system."
From his experience in policy-making, Steifman has learned to listen to other people more and "see things from their perspectives, trying to include something for everyone."
After graduation, Steifman will work in New York with Prudential Securities, an insurance company.
Marisol Negron
Marisol Negron is wrapping up her fourth year "filled with continual battles" because she would not remain silent. For all of her four years, she was constantly attacked and questioned for some of policies and opinions.
An active member of La Alianza Latina, the College's Latino student organization, Negron has fought passionately to improve the lives of minority students and in particular Latinos.
Her most influential work was in the Admissions Office, where she co-founded the Committee on U.S. Latino Students to recruit Latinos and increase the number of applications.
"My work in admissions was very important in terms of bringing students to Dartmouth-- not traditional students from white, middle-class backgrounds. For the Class of '96, I had to organize activities, dinners and classes to attend for African American, Native American and Latino students."
Negron's main mission has been to "build a strong, united voice for Latino students on campus."
She sees an important difference between herself and other student activists.
"As students of color, we have a responsibility that does not end at Dartmouth. We live with our race, out ethnicity, our heritage everyday. I am not going into the corporate world and forget I have a responsibility to my community and to myself, especially when you are one of the stark numbers of Latinos who make it to college and get through," she said.
Next year, Negron will work with Diana Taylor toward her masters in comparative literature, then her doctorate in Latino Studies, and eventually, she wants a doctorate in jurisprudence.
