SCEC heads to New Orleans

This month, approximately 25 junior and senior special education majors in the Georgia College & State University’s Student Council for Exceptional Children (SCEC) will travel to New Orleans, La. for the 2004 Council for Exceptional Children Convention and Expo.
Cara Meade and Rosemary Jackson, co-advisers of the SCEC, say the trip will be an informative experience.
“It is a fantastic opportunity for our special education majors to hear important information and to see the multitude of materials available to work with,” stated Jackson. “I think they will gain a greater sense of the importance of our mission as special educators.”
The SCEC Convention and Expo is an international conference attended by over 6,000 people every year. During the expo, there will be over 20 presentations on the latest research regarding teaching children with special needs. The expo also showcases products that assist in teaching children and adolescents with special needs.
Students can also look forward to a job fair with representatives from every state and several international communities.
“I’m looking forward to the conference because of the career opportunities,” said senior education major Teresa Ignatius. “They’ll be teaching us about new techniques in teaching as well, but we’ll be able to make lots of professional connections.”
The primary focus of the trip for the students attending from GC&SU will be presenting the findings of a research project they’ve conducted over the course of the past year.
Last year, the students of the SCEC decided to concentrate its efforts on helping general education teachers have a more positive attitude about teaching children with special needs. The group designed a survey with questions for majors in early childhood, middle grades, and master of arts in teaching programs. The students also conducted interviews and focus groups.
A small group of students then analyzed the results of the survey and is now in the process of determining what is statistically significant. The results of the analysis will be used to design SCEC programs and activities that would be relevant to general education teachers next year.
In preparation for the trip, the group of students attending has been heavily fundraising in an effort to cut down on the cost of the trip. They have held monthly bake sales, a fall carnival, a cheesecake raffle and a rummage sale. They have also sold T-shirts and response boards to faculty and students in the school of education.
“Faculty members have been very supportive,” Jackson said, “as has Dr. Craig Smith, our department chair, who donated three of his world famous cheesecakes to raffle off.”
The final big fundraising event, a basket raffle and silent auction, was on Thursday, Feb. 12. The auction was held in the MSU Lounge, due to rainy conditions.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Feb 13 2004. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry