In each issue of 3D, we ask a Dartmouth senior to reflect on a question they answered roughly four years prior: "As you seek admission to Dartmouth's incoming class, what aspects of the College's academic program, community, and/or campus environment attract your interest? In short, why Dartmouth?" Here, Eliza Holmes '24 revisits that prompt in her final year at the College. Now a Senior Fellow in the Office of Admissions, Eliza serves as an ambassador for Dartmouth to prospective students in their college search.
As a senior in high school, I wrote in my "Why Dartmouth?" essay that I wanted to explore "the backyard of my home state." My hometown of Keene, New Hampshire is only an hour's drive from the Dartmouth campus. The outdoors were an important part of my upbringing in the southwestern corner of the state. Hiking, skiing, and exploring the surrounding area brought my family and me closer together, and I knew I wanted to continue developing my connection to the outdoors.
I was sure I wanted to stay close to home for college, but I wasn't entirely sure what I wanted to study. Growing up, I was a voracious reader, often staying up way past my bedtime to finish one more chapter. English was my favorite subject in high school, but I often felt alone in that passion: the reading and writing assignments that excited me were usually the same ones my friends complained about. I often felt pressured to pursue a STEM path, which only added to my indecision.
When I started researching colleges, I couldn't help but be drawn in by the Dartmouth Outing Club, the oldest and largest collegiate outing club in the nation. And I'm sure you can imagine my relief when I learned that I wouldn't have to rush to pick a major at Dartmouth—its liberal arts curriculum would not only allow me to explore, it encouraged exploration.
When I arrived at Dartmouth as a first-year, my surroundings felt simultaneously familiar and unknown. Amid the stress of the COVID-19 pandemic, the outdoors was one of the only places that felt normal. I spent any free moment I could outside, often taking walks around nearby Occom Pond and Mink Brook. I even rode an e-bike to the trailhead of Gile Mountain, a beautiful hiking path near campus that culminates in breathtaking 360-degree views of New Hampshire and Vermont.
I joined the Dartmouth Outing Club, the same organization that had captivated my interest one year earlier. I tried climbing, backcountry skiing, and whitewater kayaking across places like Cardigan Mountain, Dartmouth's Moosilauke Ravine Lodge, and Acadia National Park. The DOC offers many trips for beginners and even lent me gear for free, which made me feel more comfortable learning unfamiliar skills. In the DOC, I also met my best friend. I found a community.
At Dartmouth, I have rediscovered and solidified my interest in literature—especially Victorian literature. As a first-year, I took a course called Victorian Children's Literature: Fairytale and Fantasy, and since then, I have explored a range of Victorian works. Studying literature across time and place has afforded me new analytical lenses that lead me to think critically about the world.
Dartmouth has taught me that learning can happen anywhere and in many forms, whether that be reading in the library or kayaking on the nearby Connecticut River. Together, the outdoors and English literature have inspired me to pursue a career in education. I'm so grateful to Dartmouth, this college community in the backyard of my home state, for the ways it has challenged me in all its spaces.
Photograph by Don Hamerman, at Still North Books & Bar in Hanover, where Eliza works as a barista
