Tory Mathieson ’14, Rebecca Coven ’13, and Emily Berman ’13 launched EdConnect, a new website aimed at creating a community for those who are interested in education, on Thursday, April 25. The creators hope the website will help foster communication and create and publicize opportunities in education, both on and off campus, more accessible to students.

The idea for EdConnect was generated by the trio when they were members of Wesleyan Students for Just Education.

“We had discussed creating a website, and then the three of us decided to make it on a whim because you can make a WordPress site,” Berman said. “Then we realized that we wanted the website to be separate from Wesleyan Students for Just Education because they are taking on so much already, and we realized that there are no resources [at the University] to follow a career in education.”

Mathieson added that the website’s main goal is to provide a venue for information about educational resources, so it can be found more easily.

“We thought that since we are going to have to do this for ourselves, we should just put the information up on a website so other students don’t have to go through archives to find information,” Mathieson explained.

Many students have responded positively to the website, including Molly Hanessian ’13, who mentioned that the EdConnect site highlights the large number of opportunities on campus for students interested in education.

“Education has a million student groups and crosses a bunch of majors, so there are a bunch of these resources, and it is hard for me to think of other interests that have so many,” Hanessian said

For those planning to work in the field of education at Wesleyan, like Hannah Rubin ’13, the website raises awareness of existing programs by providing a central source of information.

“EdConnect is a great working of resources,” Rubin said. “A lot of times there a lot of things happening on campus that are education related, but we are not really aware of them because there is no one group ready to bring them all together. I hope [the website] is going to attract volunteers for all of our tutoring programs, and I am really hoping people will find it through [the website] and learn about all the ways they can get involved.”

Alumni working in the education field have also showed interest in working with EdConnect.

“A lot of alumni are talking about Wesleyan’s lack of [an] Education Department, and how they want to foster more of a community on education,” Coven said. “So that was really exciting to hear from alums.”

Berman and other students voiced the opinion that EdConnect could provide a model for similar websites for other areas of interest at the University. Katherine Shervais ’13 noted that the website’s design will serve as a good example for other groups.

“I think it will be a really good model for other websites for other minors, certificates, and inter-specific things,” Shervais said. “It is really well done and everything is in one place.”

Coven tutors at the University and is interested in policy and research, and she plans to conduct education research next year in New York. She explained that the website is centered around its users.

“Any time anyone is hosting an education event on campus or an alum has a job opportunity, they should want it to be posted on our site,” she said. “We want it to be used.”

Berman is interested in teaching and interacting directly with students. Next year, she will be completing a program to become a certified educator. Mathieson is also interested in teaching and has been teaching every summer, as well as during the academic year.

Mathieson is currently planning for the next year of EdConnect.

“I am going to continue the handiwork [Berman and Coven] have been doing, and I will need some help for the website,” Mathieson said. “But at this point all of the groundwork has been created, and it is all about keeping the momentum and passion going and making sure people will use this website. I have this dream that I will be sitting in Olin and watch somebody procrastinating on their laptop, and the website they are procrastinating on will be EdConnect. That would be a we-have-made-it moment.”

Members of the University community interested in education can visit EdConnect at edconnect.site.wesleyan.edu.