Ei! My name is Antônio Jorge Medeiros Batista Silva (yes—four last names!) and I'm a '25 from Governador Valadares, Brazil. My journey to Dartmouth has crossed two continents, three countries, and over 10 schools—and I'm a strong believer that everyone's path to the Big Green was unique in a way. At Dartmouth, I am interested in studying Linguistics, Native American & Indigenous Studies, and Spanish. I am really passionate about social justice, learning languages, and the oxford comma!
This class is an introduction to the Spanish minor and major courses and, although I did not expect to particularly like it, it not only turned out to be my favourite but it made me start considering a degree in the department!
In this class, we analysed different productions of Latinx American theatre. Prof. Analola Santana was probably the best person I met this year at Dartmouth. Being her student was a very important experience as I try to navigate my potential majors and minors.
In this class, I was able to carve time out of my busy Dartmouth schedule to study and learn my Indigenous language: Krenak. With the help of Prof. Gokke, all students were encouraged to develop a final project that spoke to their community's needs for language learning and revitalisation. It was an extremely important class for me, not only academically, but also for my personal healing process.
I had the honour of spending my sophomore fall in Madrid, taking part in the Spanish FSP. There, Prof. Martín was not only a great professor, responsible for my favourite lecture of the program, but also an incredible company throughout our classes and in-country trips. Great way to wrap up my Spanish minor, honestly!
This was my second class in the NAIS department, and thus it took me one step closer to wrapping up my major. Nonetheless, it was Prof. Powell's genuine charisma and caring personality that made it my favourite of the term!
This course was definitely life changing! Prof. Pochedley, a visiting post-doc of the Potawatomi nation did a great job at keeping the students engaged while teaching us to see the land we inhabit as a source of knowledge and spirituality. In a majority Indigenous classroom, we got to develop individual projects related to our traditional homelands, learning to navigate the world through Native world lenses.
Prof. Gómez is one of those profs I've always wanted to take a class with. His work with the Horror genre in Modern Spanish literatures amazes me, and it was an honour to guide in-class discussions and develop my own research on the themes of science, testimony, and fear.
LING54 is an umbrella course: the actual content of the course may vary each year, but it is the common letter-number code to refer to the course taught abroad by your accompanying Dartmouth Linguistics professor. In this year's Linguistics Foreign Study Program (FSP), LING54 was a 'Language Documentation' class, wonderfully taught by Prof. David Peterson.
People Places Pines has been a big part of my life here at Dartmouth. Through this job, I not only got one of my first professional experiences, but also a great network system and friend group! Thus, since joining the Admissions Office family, I have been excited to do more. Now, as I returned to campus as a sophomore, I was honoured to take on the role of International Student Ambassador as well. As part of my work, I have talked on webinars for prospective students and worked on formulating our yield season—when, after admitting a class, we try to show them how cool of an opportunity and how good of a fit Dartmouth can be. But, personally, the part I have been enjoying the most of my work has been conducting interviews.
I remember as if it were yesterday when I had my own Dartmouth interview. Everything seemed to be going wrong that day: my computer had just broken, and I was just getting my last high school exams results. Nonetheless, I soon realised that there was no point in getting even more stressed because of that interview at the end of the day. The interviewer, with whom I keep in touch to this day, ended up being super welcoming and respectable of my anxiety.
It took me a long to understand that the whole point of being interviewed is getting to know the college, its culture, and vice-versa. Your interviewer is probably as curious to meet you as you are. And that is especially true at Dartmouth, where getting to know alums and prospective students often feels almost like meeting friends!
Now, as part of my job, I get to be on the other side of the screen. I have just now started conducting interviews, as this is a new project in the Admissions Office. Traditionally, those are conducted by former students. Now, by putting myself out there to host these conversations with prospective students, I have been delighted to both get to meet them and to share my own first-hand experiences of being a Dartmouth student.
There is definitely no need to be nervous—but I think everyone has told you that already. What matters is making sure that your interviewer gets to know you, and that it should a joyful experience for both of you.
Dartmouth doesn't just care about the intellectual state of student minds but also their health and happiness. Through this week's monastic programming, I have found our commitment to mental health to be loud and clear.
As a high school senior, I chose to apply to colleges with a strong Chinese language department. Luckily, I have found Dartmouth's campus brimming with students passionate about Chinese culture and language.
My "The Making of 21st Century Exhibits: Curating a National Black Theater Museum/Institution" class went on a field trip like no other. Here's the play-by-play.
