First, I'll explain who I am. I'm Nicholas Sugiarto, a '23 from San Diego, California. Second, a quick disclaimer. I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. Prior to Dartmouth, I've never hiked, skied, or seen snow. So yeah, you could say that Dartmouth is quite a bit different from what I'm used to. You'll probably find me on campus lost. I have no sense of direction. Please help.
A class studying how Christian language has permeated into how we as a society talk about economics. I have virtually no interest in either field as a major, nor am I really religious, but the class is super fun! It challenges you to think in ways that aren't outstandingly obvious, but get more and more interesting if you're willing to put the time in to thinking about them. It's by no means your traditional class. At least in the high school I came from, the idea of dedicating an entire term to a topic as niche as this is unheard of. But honestly? That just makes it so much more fulfilling. Like most Dartmouth classes, there's a ton of freedom to explore topics that interest you. For my final term paper, since I'm a huge hip hop fan, I wrote about the religious and economic underpinnings of Kendrick Lamar's "How Much a Dollar Cost." Without diving too deep into the jargon, I argued that money according to Kendrick Lamar, is defined by Western capitalism heavily intertwined with American Prosperity Gospel; its true nature, on the other hand, is a form of spiritual exchange. I loved this class so much that I was able to take my professor out to breakfast (on Dartmouth's dime, of course. Quick college lesson, never, ever pay for food. Live life Aladdin style.).
For those that don't know, Writing 5 is a class that's mandated for all Freshman. It helps you adjust to college writing, research, all that good stuff. There's a ton of topics to choose from, ranging from the criminal justice system to how food affects your mind. I personally chose "Pursuit of Happiness" because, well, who doesn't want to be happy? This class was my first intro to what the Dartmouth academic experience is really about. It was a small class of only 16 strong where classes were discussion-based and the professor's door is always open. It goes without saying that the course was immensely interesting (is there really a way to make happiness boring?), and we studied a vast majority of topics from Aristotle to Voltaire to Biochemical research studies. I tell incoming students all the time that if you want to make the most of your Dartmouth experience, take classes that interest you and make what you do with those classes interesting too. There's nothing more painful than having to write a paper on a topic you find absolutely mind-numbingly dull. Given my fascination with stand up comedy, I focused on viewing comedy as a form of happiness, starting from comedy in relation to Camus's absurd, the higher prevalence of mental illness in comedians, and what kind of comedians deserve happiness. Honestly? Even though this class was technically "mandatory," I would have taken it regardless.
This is the class I'm currently taking, and it's by far my favorite. You couldn't tell by my posts, or my favorite classes I listed earlier, but I'm actually a huge STEM guy. I'm a biomedical engineering major for a reason, and Dartmouth classes really make STEM fun. They're also so easy a child could follow them. Literally. I'm using the computer science 1 curriculum to teach my little sister coding. At a slower pace of course. She's not THAT smart (yet). I've never tried coding before, but the task-based approach of the CS department really makes things interesting. So far, we've drawn a children's book/ logo, a chalkboard drawing (I drew the Kanye bear), and a retro pong game. There's something fun about solving puzzles for a grade, and even though the course is admittedly pretty challenging at times, it's so worth it.
If you clicked on this, you're probably why or how I got this monitor for free. Because usually when you hear college students talking about free stuff, they're talking about free school-branded t-shirts, lanyards, maybe a pop socket, but that's about it. It's often a symbiotic relationship, where the college gets free advertising and the student gets a free $5 t-shirt. That was something I expected coming into college, which is why I was especially shocked when the school gave me, not a t-shirt, but a 27-inch monitor. Yeah.
Just to clarify, we do get free hoodies and stuff! Including this hilarious baby-blue crewneck that just says "School" on it
To make a long story short, on campus I'm pretty involved in research. Usually I'd be in the lab, but because of the global pandemic, the college has some very understandable hesitation in letting undergraduates into labs. And since I do work affiliated with the medical school, I can understand the extra hesitation the college has in letting me into the university hospital where there are a lot of immunocompromised patients. Because of that, this fall I've been doing all my work remotely. To make the story even shorter, my PI (Principal Investigator, aka the person in charge of the lab I'm in), got me the aforementioned 27" monitor to "make my work easier."
These brownies are the only thing keeping me sane right now
I was immensely grateful, but absolutely floored. Never would I have imagined that anyone, much less a professor, would do something like this for me. But this isn't the first time that my supervisors have gone out of their way for me. I mean, just this last week, my boss (the one who runs this blog) drove over to the dorms of the writers for this blog (including me) and dropped off homemade baked goods. It's really comforting to be able to snack on chocolate chip cookies as you're losing your mind grinding out for your impending physics final exam.
At the end of the day, what I'm trying to say is this. A lot of my high school friends, especially those at large state schools, complain that the schools don't care about undergraduates. At those large schools, even if they can find research opportunities, it's often just doing grunt work and they rarely ever see the PI. I doubt they can even imagine being lucky enough to have a PI that's so invested in you and what you have to contribute that they'll just buy you stuff. Or even as a student employee, I feel so lucky to have a boss kind enough to not only be cognisant of when our finals are, but to consider that we may be feeling stressed out and show us a little token of appreciation that makes these times just a little more bearable.
In the Winter term of 2024, I composed and performed an hour-long, avant-garde concert as the culmination of the grant award. Here is more on my experiences with research as a musician.
