Hey! I'm excited to welcome you to my blog page! I'm Andrea Agola, a '26 born in Kenya and raised just outside of D.C. As the eldest child of three, I'm the first to go off to college! I'm glad Dartmouth will enable me to explore both the sciences and humanities. Don't even get me started on the numerous extracurriculars that pique my interest, like the Dartmouth Center for Social Impact, research projects and dance groups. Follow along as I navigate this unique college experience!
Academic Program
Sociology major, International Studies Minor, Pre-Med
Favorite Thing Right Now
Studying abroad on the French LSA+ in Toulouse, France!
When I began my first term at Dartmouth, I knew I wanted to explore the French language and culture more after having been a French music and film fan for as long as I can remember. This was an accelerated course that covered French 1 and 2 in one term and offered an exciting and fast-paced atmosphere. The small nature of our class allowed us all to have more speaking time in class from partner activities to performing creative skits. One of the best assignments was a scavenger hunt! I was also able to learn and make a presentation about francophone countries. This class really prompted me to apply for the ‘24 Winter–Toulouse, France Study Abroad which I got accepted into!
This course considers the discipline and political happenings of Black Feminist Thought by highlighting interlocking issues related to gender, sexuality, race, and economics. The professor was amazing! I was always genuinely excited to do her assigned readings/viewings and remember being sad when she canceled class one day (imagine!). I reveled in the thought-provoking, warm, restorative (the list goes on & on) ambience that she fostered. I even took advantage of a cool opportunity that Dartmouth offers, the “Take a Faculty Member out To Lunch” program at Pine Restaurant across from campus. I enjoyed the lovely conversation we had over delicious food. Her class was such a great source of empowerment!
This course examines the epidemiology and social impact of past and present infectious disease epidemics. It was a great and insightful class to take for the Global Health Minor! I had the chance of hearing from many influential guest lecturers like the Former Minister of Health of Rwanda and a key member of the U.S Covid Task Force.
This course explores causes and patterns of global poverty and links this with the urgent need for care and care ethics in our lives and in society broadly. Not only did the class feel like such a caring environment but it was especially interesting because it had a Social Impact Practicum (SIP) component. A SIP is a project-based experiential learning opportunity connecting undergraduate courses at Dartmouth with community needs identified by nonprofit organizations. In other words, a SIP is a real-world project with real-world impact. My SIP was my care work as a UGA within Dartmouth's Residential Life.
Springterim (the interim or break period between winter and spring term) was fun, relaxing and over too fast. So, I decided to chronicle a bit of each day to share (minus the jetlag I dealt with from dropping back 5 hours from the French time-zone).
Tuesday, March 19:
My mom works in Washington DC, so I usually drive in with her in the mornings and do one of my favorite pastimes: meander around the streets of DC and enjoy moments popping into bookstore-cafes or people watching. This morning, I drove in with her and took the DC Circulator bus into Georgetown because I had decided that I would cosplay as a Georgetown University student for the day. Even though it's so close to my house, I had never perused the campus like I had at the nearby George Washington University. Over the summer, I had gone into a GWU library and found out that my Dartmouth Student ID actually afforded me access to working in the library and checking out books from it!
It was such a cool discovery and the librarian I had spoken to explained that GWU partners with great research universities like Dartmouth. So when I arrived at Georgetown's campus, I went into the Intercultural Center Galleria which was a lively hub of students talking with each other over school work. I joined a line of students in front of a nice coffee shop boasting interesting drinks. Warm cup in hand, I went back into the crisp somewhat drizzly outdoors and found my next spot: the Bioethics Research Library. It was a beautiful library that reminded me of a cross between Dartmouth's Sherman Arts Library and Sanborn library. It had the quietness of Dartmouth's Tower room as students were in the middle of finals. After some time there, I ended the day off at the lively Healy Family Student Center which reminded me of our Collis Student Life Center.
Wednesday, March 20:
Today I woke up a bit later than usual since I had stayed up watching the Hulu show "Normal People." I lounged around for the most part of the day before heading to one of my favorite coffee shops near my house called Gathering Grounds Cafe to write some blogs and research some possible internships for next winter term since that is when I plan to take my next "off-term" in my D-PLAN. I went back home for a delicious dinner with my family and helped my brother with his Chemistry homework afterwards.
Thursday, March 21:
My friend invited me to join her and her sister at a great cafe/study area in the nearby Tysons Galleria Mall. The cafe had opened while I was away at Dartmouth over Fall term, so I was pleasantly surprised to find a popular gorgeous place. I loved everything about the comfy elegant seating, cozy lighting and the fact that the walls were covered in amazing paintings of animals that looked like they were sitting for their portraiture like royals themselves. We definitely did more talking and giggling then work but alas–it's spring break!
Friday, March 22:
My friend from the day before invited me to her Zumba class and I gladly accepted because I love Zumba. As opposed to the Latina instructors I'd had in the past, this instructor was a young guy with big muscles who infused bollywood sounds and dances plus led the class in a military bootcamp style. Yup, try to picture that. So different yet so amazing. This also made it so that you had to put in your best effort at all times or he would come up directly to you with aggressive encouragement…it was a workout to say the least.
The Weekend:
I babysat for a family friend on Saturday. Their two young girls were so sweet and wondered why I had to go back to college instead of staying with them and having dance parties forever (LOL!). On Sunday, my family and I went to see the DC cherry blossoms and the National Mall was busy with many admiring the beautiful view. In the afternoon we went to a family friend's college graduation party. It had a really unique British high-tea theme which I loved since it reminded me of my European winter term.
Being a super senior ('23) is like being an incoming freshman ('28) in that you get to make a new set of friends. Luckily, Dartmouth is a small school with many social spaces students can tap into.
With the beginning of Week 5 of spring term already upon us comes an outline of my schedule for the term. From trying new activities to settling into courses and club positions, this is what I've been up to during my most beloved term!
This spring in Spare Rib, the intersectional feminist zine and feminist collective on campus, has been quite busy and exciting with a bunch of new events. Keep reading to find out more!
