Friday's graduation featured slideshows, presentations of student research projects and remarks from a number of SEAD students and staff members.
"This summer's program has shown again how precious a gift it is to provide these adolescents with a safe and nurturing place where they can not only be themselves but also have that identity celebrated over and over again," Program Director Jay Davis said. Davis is also an instructor and supervisor of the secondary education program in Dartmouth's education department.
The SEAD program is based largely on the support of sophomore volunteers who work as mentors and academic coaches for SEAD scholars or volunteer through Greek houses and other student organizations to host meals or provide entertainment for the program.
"The sophomore involvement this year was unprecedented," Davis said. "Close to 400 sophomores were directly involved with the program and interacted with our kids, allowing the scholars to see many parts of campus and understand what it takes to succeed on a college campus."
The SEAD program was founded in 2001 with the goal of providing students with guidance and support throughout three years of high school in order to expand their academic preparedness and educational opportunities.
This year's SEAD students were drawn from Stevens High School in Claremont, N.H., the Bronx Center for Mathematics and Science in New York City, Spartanburg High School in Spartanburg, S.C., El Cerrito High School in El Cerrito, Calif., and the Noonan Business Academy in Dorchester, Mass.
This summer, for the first time in SEAD's history, the volunteer staff included two SEAD graduates. Damaris Walker '09 and Mark Wilson '09, both SEAD scholars from 2002-2004, are among the 75 percent of SEAD graduates who have gone onto college after the program.
Walker, who came to SEAD from a magnet high school in Center-City, Philadelphia, volunteered as a mentor this summer.
"SEAD gave me the opportunity to develop my skills as a critical thinker and writer," Walker said. "The program also helped me grow as an individual and to build friendships with students from different cultural and geographic backgrounds."
Though Walker said he intended on going to college even before attending SEAD, his time at the College caused him to think seriously about attending a school like Dartmouth.
"It was great to have the chance to give back to the program and to be on the other side of the mentoring relationship," Walker said.
Academic Coach Justine Modica '09 distinguished SEAD from other mentoring programs in which she has been involved.
"The thing that I found different about SEAD is that the kids are so enthusiastic and positive about what they're doing," Modica said. "What's so great about the program is that every single kid has a squadron of adults attached to them," she said, referring to the mentor, academic coach and summer advisor that each SEAD scholar is assigned.
Thirty summer advisors, selected from College staff and administrators, commit to at least two meals with their SEAD student, allowing students to get a more intimate understanding of how a college campus works.
Troy Stewart '07, one of SEAD's student directors this summer, described his experience with SEAD this summer as the ideal capstone to his Dartmouth experience.
"SEAD is one of the best programs I've been involved with at Dartmouth both from a professional and personal viewpoint," Stewart, who himself was a mentor during his sophomore summer, said. "Being a product of urban education and New York City myself, one thing I think is necessary is some sort of guidance or mentoring in students' lives. SEAD does a great job combining this with an academic experience in a very short time span."
Stewart, who will be spending the upcoming year working with the New York City government as an urban fellow, plans to stay in close contact with SEAD scholars.
All three summer sessions focus on both science and humanities. SEAD I, the first summer session that the scholars attend, focuses on identity development through courses in language arts and design technology.
This year's program, SEAD II, explores the relationship to the environment with a focus on issues of sustainability. As part of the curriculum, students completed a research paper on an environmental activist as well as a presentation on a sustainability project for their environmental science course.
"I think our curriculum this year was our most integrated in the seven years that SEAD has existed," Davis said. "Students seemed to be very much engaged with the issues, particularly as they related to their own lives."
"I learned a lot about the environment," Kristy Chamberland, a SEAD scholar from Stevens High School in Claremont, N.H., said. "I'll definitely take what I learned back to my school and yell at people when they litter."
Chamberland added that her experience with SEAD has solidified her plans of going to college.
Modica, Chamberland's Academic Coach, believes SEAD's curriculum is geared towards helping to develop a social conscience in the students.
"They aren't learning as much in terms of facts as they are exploring a theme or concept," Modica said. "It's a way of learning that zooms in on the reason why we want to pursue an education in the first place -- to gain the skills to fix or improve something, be it social, environmental or internal."
SEAD III, the final summer session in the three-year cycle, focuses on the transition to college with courses on college essay writing, the application process, SAT preparation and public speaking.
Beyond their weeks on campus during the summer, SEAD scholars maintain contact with the program throughout the academic year. Winter interns are selected to spend nine weeks at each partner school to continue to support students and scholars return to campus each February for a five-day reunion weekend. Some Dartmouth volunteers also plan to maintain the connections they have made with the SEAD students this summer throughout the year.
In addition to their academics, students participated in a wide array of activities. Outings and activities this summer included trips to an amusement park and the Dartmouth organic farm, a whitewater rafting trip, talent show, bowling, swimming and an overnight trip to the Isle of Shoals Marine Research Laboratory off the coast of NH. SEAD scholars also participated in the 26th annual Prouty Century Bike Ride and Challenge Walk, raising $8,400 dollars for the Norris Cotton Cancer Center.
