Greetings from the woods! My name is Gavin Fry, and I'm a student blogger with the People, Places, and Pines team. I'm a proud first-generation college student, carrying with me the full support of my crazy family. I plan to be involved with undergraduate research, outdoor activities, and club golf here at Dartmouth! You can find me geeking out about the weather, reading novels, and always drinking coffee (at any time of the day). So nice to meet you!
Academic Program
Prospective Environmental Earth Science Major with a Minor in Public Policy
Favorite Thing Right Now
My idea of starting a chapter of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) here at Dartmouth!
Oh. My. Goodness. What a fun class this was! As a certified weather and climate geek, I was totally entrenched in everything we done in this course. From the labs and weather presentations to the "flipped" classroom experience, I thoroughly enjoyed this class. Dr. Osterberg's excitement for the course material made it that much more enjoyable! It was truly an extraordinary first-year course to take.
I’ve loved this class from beginning to end. For one, I enjoyed it because of the people in it, but I also loved it because of the content. Through frequent class discussion, I learned about the health of our democracy and the ways it is compromised. Very enlightening class!
Religion 5 was a quintessential liberal arts course that deepened my knowledge in a subject I thought I had all figured out. As a STEM-oriented student, this class offered the perfect balance to my spring term schedule. As a result of this class, I became more introspective of how I was raised, and I'm more grateful in my ability to be a free-thinker.
SummerOff Campus Internship - Princeton, New Jersey
This summer, I explored my future career plans by participating in a research internship with the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory at Princeton University. I learned a lot about what I want (and what I don't want) in a future career, and I made so many awesome lifelong connections!
A course rooted in both philosophical theory and real, practical methods of becoming a better public speaker was the highlight of the term. Our class of 16 students grew to be a sort of "mini-family," and I'm so grateful for the connections I made. I completely changed the way I view public speaking and homed in on my own skills as a public speaker!
Once again, a course outside my major found its way into my favorite class list. This sociology course helped me better understand how children are viewed in society, the way sociologists study youth, and the major differences in norms around childhood around the world. Who knew there was so much to learn about youth culture!
Dartmouth's quarter system allows for some very memorable experiences during your four years in undergrad, and I'm incredibly grateful to take advantage of it. So far, I've been able to participate in inspiring internships, study abroad in Europe, and pursue independent research during my off terms. I spent this summer in Europe, and I have an entire blog post dedicated to this journey. This fall, I'm doing independent research in my home community. Despite these wonderful opportunities, I'm really missing Dartmouth and the Upper Valley. I could make a generalization that I "miss everything" about the college, which is true, but I wanted to give you all some specifics. I can't wait to get back to campus in the winter of 2024!
The Scenery
Dartmouth's rural campus – the undulating hills and pine trees that surround you as you walk across campus represent the perfect college image in my opinion. Dartmouth is quaint in this regard yet buzzing with the sounds of students conversing and alumni strolling alongside them. When I watch the early sunset during the winter from the Shattuck Observatory, I'm blown away by Hanover's beauty. It's truly a spectacle to behold. The fall foliage is another chapter in the "scenery" category in itself; it's like you're in an entirely different universe during the fall in the Upper Valley. Finally, the Connecticut River flowing along the west side of Dartmouth puts a bow on an already exquisite college campus.
The Shattuck Observatory offers a beautiful view of campus, and it's not so bad looking itself!
I'll let this picture speak for itself... it's so beautiful!
The Spaces
There are many locations on Dartmouth's campus that I would consider my "safe" spaces. These include but are not limited to the Shattuck Observatory, One Wheelock café, the First-Generation Office (FGO), and the '53 Commons dining hall (otherwise known as FoCo). Whenever I need to unwind with a nice cup of coffee and do some schoolwork, I can always count on One Wheelock to make me feel all nice and cozy on a cold winter day. The FGO is always filled with students and staff that I can count on to make me feel loved and welcome on some of my bad days. FoCo will always have my back with delicious food, warm tea, and an upstairs area with TVs where I can watch the Weather Channel while doing my work.
The First-Generation Office is amazing. We've even got our own stickers!
The Students
Above all else, I miss the friends I've made along the way. I've made some incredible connections over my two+ years now at Dartmouth, and we are all on our unique journeys that take us all over the world – to Europe, to the desert U.S. west, and to the Upper Valley and beyond. The scenery and the spaces at Dartmouth shine so much brighter when you have the right people to enjoy it with. Thankfully, I've been able to stay in contact with the friends I've made so far over my off-term journey, and there's always opportunities to make more connections when I return. I'm so excited to be back on campus this winter!
I'm very grateful to say that I've got some of the best friends that support me at Dartmouth!
At Dartmouth, there is an undergraduate requirement for language; after all, it is the liberal arts! Fulfilling this requirement looks different for various people and I will focus on my experience.
I have written about being a student worker plenty of times in the past, but I have yet to talk about one of my favorite jobs ever: ticket selling at the Hopkins Center for the Arts.
