The Voice of the Future: SEAM members speak out about their program

College is the time to develop skills necessary to become successful in your future career. Although classes provide essential information, it is important to participate in extracurricular activities that further your personal growth as well. As future educators, the Student Education Association of Maine provides the link between current college experiences and our first teaching positions. SEAM is the pre-professional organization affiliated with the MEA that is designed to help college students transition into effective and successful educators. SEAM also creates opportunities for students with similar goals and interests to come together to learn and grow with each other through networking and sharing of ideas. As many members can tell you, a SEAM membership is the key to a beneficial college experience.

SEAM provides us the opportunity to feel connected to other students desiring to also become a teacher. In addition, SEAM gives us the tools to become professionals, allowing us to focus on applying those tools in the classroom. At Saint Joseph’s College, we value the benefits of a close-knit community where everyone works toward furthering their intellect. This is exactly why SEAM is a perfect fit for us. –Iris Guimond, President; Jeremy Gervais, Vice President; Amanda Ruel, Treasurer; Julia Peaslee, Secretary

Joining SEAM is certainly the best professional decision I’ve made thus far. I continue to be amazed by what the organization has to offer: the workshops and conferences, the discounts and rebates - it is well worth the investment. We’ve been able to offer a Diversity Conference, a Technology Workshop, the upcoming Classroom Management Workshop, and we even managed to send members to national conferences! Our school supply drive for the Downeast School in Bangor has been a huge success, and after collaborating with the chapter from St. Joseph’s College we have two more great community outreach projects planned for the spring semester.

Our chapter at the University of Maine has more members right now than it did at the end of last year, and our enthusiasm and momentum continues to attract student interest. I wish that every pre-service teacher knew how amazing SEAM really is. Students deserve the best teachers possible, and I believe that is something that SEAM membership can help us to become. –Jaime Dorion, President, SEAM-UM

Here at UMaine Farmington, SEAM is very important to us. Our university is geared toward the education field and professional development. SEAM is a good spring board to help us get there. Not only does it give us great tools to use in our classes, but it helps us to form our very first professional learning community. The exchange of ideas and experiences between us all has helped us so much. On an individual level, it helps us to be involved in our own futures. By joining SEAM we are showing how involved we are in our professional lives and how dedicated we are to making ourselves better educators. SEAM is a great investment in a bright future. –Cassandra Ouellette, Vice President

Having a new chapter of SEAM on our campus has been a great opportunity for me, along with all education majors on campus. It has given us a chance to get to know one another, work with the public and learn from other students, professors and local school administrators. One of the first events that SEAM allowed us to bring to our town was a workshop on classroom management entitled "I Can Do It!". This was very well received by all and allowed us to get the name of our organization out into our community. As president of the UMPI chapter of SEAM one of my goals is to use this organization as one of the stepping stones to regaining the reputation of being a prestigious university for education majors in Maine. Having our own chapter of SEAM on our campus has already brought great opportunities to UMPI students in the few shorts months that we have been active and I’m very excited to see even more benefits in the future. –Amber Blackstone, President

State Student Organizer Cindy Fabbricatore may be reached at cfabbricatore@nea.org.