Meredith Herald Volume XVII, Issue 23 Educating Women to Excel March 21,2001 On the inside: New resource for classes □ Spring break trip allows students to help others Page 2 □ Tennis team breaks even at spring break tournament Page 5 □ House of Mirth comes to life on the big screen. Page 8 Meredith Herald at Meredith CoUege 3800 Hillsborough St. Raleigh, NC 27607 (919) 760-2824 FAX (919) 760-2869 maxwelil@meredith.edu □ Program assists students in intro-level classes Lkue Maxwell Editor in chief Academic resources such as the Learning Center, faculty advisers and the Office of Aca demic Advising have long been available to students who need a little extra help with their classwork. Now, Meredith is introduc ing another program to help students in their classes. Sup plemental Instruction. SI, is being coordinated by the offices of Academic Advising and First Year Experience. Supplemental Instruction offers students a way to review concepts learned in selected classes and practice those con cepts. Some of the courses SI is offering help in are Biology 101 and Geology 100. And, according to the SI flier, the sessions are voluntary and open to all students who want to improve their understanding of course material. The review sessions are offered two times a week, and they are facilitated by a stu dent. Working with other stu dents, discussing concepts and developing ways to study and learn the material are just some of the activities that take place during a Supplemental Instruc tion session. And data taken from other schools shows that students who regularly attend Supple mental Instruction sessions have higher grade point aver ages than those who do not attend sessions. At N.C. State, for instance. students who attended one or two sessions had an average GPA of 2.4 for that class, while students who attended 10 to 13 sessions averaged a 3.0 and students who attended 14 or more sessions averaged a 3.2 GPA for that class. The classes Supplemental Instruction is offered in are geology, taught by Dr. Carol Hazard, with SI led by junior Robyn Ratcliffe; biology, taught by Dr. Bob Reid, with SI led by junior Christina Brizen- dine; religion, taught by Dr. Janet Nelson, with SI led by senior Missy Neff; and psy chology, taught by Dr. Mark O’DeKirk, with SI led by senior Amy Leeper. The student leaders know the content of the courses, and they attend each regularly scheduled class taught by the instructor. SGA president-elect plans JONi Smith staff Writer A Carolina girl will be lead ing the show next year at Meredith, A South Carolina girl, that is. Hope Parrish, a rising senior from Columbia, S.C., has recently been elected Student Government Association presi dent for the 2001-02 year. Parrish is double majoring in American civilizations and pre-law with hopes of going to law school at the University of South Carolina or Wake Forest University, "I have loved history ever since I took my first We-stern Civilization course here at Meredith,” she said, “and I want to be a lawyer because I think 1 could really help peo ple.” Parrish definitely has enough activities on her resume to be a worthy Student Government President and law school student. She has been an active member of Meredith Recreation Association, this year serving as secretary. She has also been involved with SGA and Senate in her role as SGA vice president/ Senate chair for 2000-01. As a history and politics major, she has also been involved in the History/Politics Club and served on the Club Coordinating Committee this year, “I have always loved to interact with different people and there really is no better way to come into contact with different groups of people than being involved with SGA,” she said. As a rising senior, Parrish has had time to reflect on her years on campus, “I love the friendships 1 have made. The girls are one of a kind here. 1 also love the academic part of Meredith. “I enjoy being in my classes, and my teachers are just won derful; they’re so passionate about teaching and helping stu dents learn and become better people," Although she has enjoyed her time at Meredith, there are some things she would like to see change next year during her time as SGA President. “A lot of people at Meredith feel that their voice is not heard, and 1 want to change that, I want every voice to be heard, not just the loudest," she said. Parrish would also like to change the way some people on campus think. “I wish people at Meredith would be more open minded and accepting of others. Some people don’t realize that there is life outside of Raleigh, “I also want to encourage students to walk away from their parents’ views and form their own.” Hope is excited about the approaching new semester and hopes to get the entire Mered ith community involved and excited as well. "We have a great Executive Board for next semester, I can't wait to get started,” Hope would like to be con nected with every group of stu dents at Meredith next year. "Next year will be the year of the students," she said, "I real ly want everyone to feel they can voice their concerns because I really want to hear them." Ground breaking for science building to be April OFncE OF Marketing and Communications Meredith will break ground on an 80,000-square foot sci ence/ mathematics building on Monday, Apr. 9 at 2:30 p.m. in the courtyard of the Mae Grim mer Alumnae House. A reception will be held immediately following the cer emony. All students, faculty and staff are invited to attend both events. v The first new classroom building to be constructed on campus since 1993, the state- of-the-art science/ mathematics building will house Meredith's biology and health sciences, chemistry and physical science and mathematics and computer science departments. It will include student-facul- ty research laboratories, inter disciplinary spaces, outdoor classrooms, high-tech instru- mentaiion and a roof-top tele scope platform and is expected to be complete in January 2003. Recommended in the col lege's strategic plan, the new building is a key element of Meredith’s initiative to prepare women to excel in science-and- math-related careers-two tra ditionally male-dominated fields.