As a part of SMU’s Second Century Campaign, the school hosted a symposium Friday that sought to promote discussions on important topics like “educating tomorrow’s workforce, the 21st century multicultural city, the role of urban universities, technology and the city of the future .”

“The University and the City: Higher Education and the Common Good,” consisted of different panels throughout the day that focused on a diverse array of subjects, including a noontime luncheon that discussed the problems facing the city’s educational infrastructure.

“The resource division between SMU and DISD schools needs to be lessened,” first-year student Rahfin Faruk said. “It is rather ironic that a world-class university is down the street from a school district with some of the lowest college matriculation rates in the nation.”

The day concluded with a panel discussion about the role of SMU’s students in serving and learning from their communities. Among others, panelists included some of the school’s most accomplished students including senior and Student Representative on the Board of Trustees Adriana Martinez, senior as well as Founder and Executive Director of Health Literacy Dallas Matthew Gayer, and senior Student Representative to the University Conduct Board Bethany Mackintee, who was recently selected as a candidate for Teach for America.

The students all espoused the importance of engagement in the wider community. According to the panelists, while the world of academia offers a grand world of theory, such ideas cannot be put into practice until one understands the value of service beyond the confines of the university. Alternative spring breaks and travel opportunities for classes such as Professor Dennis Simon’s Civil Rights Pilgrimage were cited as some of the group’s biggest influences for the work they’ve done and what they hope to continue.

Sophomore panelist Jillian Frederick said, the most effective way of engaging with what one learns in the university setting is to allow the school to “transform [its] students into service-minded citizens.”

As the panel drew to a close, 2010 SMU graduate Warren Seay, Jr. offered his own take on the importance of younger people plugging themselves into the needs of their community.

“All the great social change movements in this country have been started by young people,” he said. “We need to stand up for what we believe in and make that change happen.”

Seay is currently enrolled as a second-year student in the Dedman School of Law and also serves as President of the DeSoto ISD School Board.

The panelists seemed to be in agreement that programs such as the New Century Scholars and upcoming changes to the SMU general education curriculum (including the new community service requirement for students) will have the biggest impact in helping students to understand the value of serving not only the greater Dallas community but also the world at large.