The Cross Cultural Education and Service Program (CCESP) is founded on the principles of education, immersion, service and reflection. Under these principles, the program strives to accomplish two main objectives.
The first is to create a wide variety of learning opportunities for both undergraduate and graduate students of Dartmouth College in order that they might:
The second, equally important objective is to provide service in an under-developed community by focusing resources on issues and concerns determined by members of the host community.
These objectives are met by a collaborative effort that focuses on many varying components of the Dartmouth community, assessing their various resources and working towards a common goal. The community includes administrators, staff and faculty from a variety of college departments and programs, undergraduates, graduate students and alumni.
The Common Ground symbol, the official symbol of the Cross Cultural Education and Service Program, depicts two converging circles, which represent the worlds of Dartmouth and another culture coming together. Each of these worlds has its own multitude of viewpoint, as represented by the many points on each circle. When these two worlds come together on an equal plane, with an attitude of service, respect, and learning, they create a third world. It is in this world of overlap that transformation takes place, hence lines connect these distinct overlapping points to a central point, or a common ground: a ground where people from different cultures recognize their shared humanity in one another. Through the relationships that form, an inextricable bond joins these two worlds together. It is in this spirit that students and faculty from Dartmouth College endeavor to carry out the Cross Cultural Initiative.
