Hey! I'm Owen from Hollywood, Florida and I'm a '24. My favorite activities are listening to music, running, and reading the same books over and over again. I'm an Earth Science modified with Physics major and Biology minor who loves "The New Yorker," the outdoors, and reading. On campus, I'm involved with hydrological research, the Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Science, Hillel, Greek Life, and—obviously—this blog!
Academic Program
Major in Earth Science modified with Physics & a Minor in Biology
A freshman-only introductory biology class taught by an amazing professor who's super invested and wants students to make friends and develop a love of cell biology.
A really cool introductory Earth Science course that taught the basics of geology, Earth history, and paleontology: all in one super accessible course.
This class taught us the basics of the R programming language in order to use it to analyze real-life hydrologic data. In class, we got to analyze datasets about rain, river discharge, flooding, and acid rain, using only the skills we gained from this course with no prerequisites.
This discussion-based geography class was my first interaction with the Geography Department, which other students have been raving to me about. The class, which is cross-listed with African-American Studies, analyzes how locations shape black embodiment and identity. Super cool stuff!
Food at Dartmouth: Eating My Way Through All the Options
Now that campus is back to full operations, there are a variety of delicious campus eateries to try, almost all of which have abundant options and their own unique flair. The options range from traditional cafeteria-style dining halls like the Class of '53 Commons—affectionately dubbed Foco—to Sweetgreen-style salad bars at the Courtyard Café and multiple coffee shops like Novack and Ramekin.
Courtyard Café
My personal favorite place to grab food on campus, the Courtyard Café, is conveniently located in the Hopkins Center for the Arts. The Courtyard Café has options abound, with full menu eateries (the Grill and Gathering Greens) and a daily buffet item. Personally, I love salads, so I'm a daily customer at Gathering Greens, which serves fresh custom salads (my go-to is the Southwest Salad with a base of kale). On the other side of the Café, the grill serves traditional comfort foods, like quesadillas, burgers, and fries: all of which are delicious and—may I say—made with love.
Foco
An all-you-can-eat style dining hall, Foco is a great option for when you're particularly hungry or when you're really craving desserts. Foco boasts a large variety of food genres, ranging from a grill station to a vegetarian station as well as an amazing dessert selection. While the entire campus is obsessed with the Foco chocolate chip cookies, I'm personally addicted to the mustard Brussel sprouts served every-once-in-a-while at Foco's vegetarian station.
Collis Cafe
With options between boba, coffee, omelets, stir fry, pasta, and smoothies, Collis Cafe has some excellent snack selections as well as a prepared food, all conveniently located in the Collis Center for Student Involvement. In my opinion, Collis is a great place to stop in and quickly grab some food, my favorite of which has got to be the pasta bar. Pasta at Collis is super quick, and you can choose between a variety of sauces and toppings like vegetables or meatballs. I also love grabbing a boba or smoothie to wash the pasta down with!
Novack
One of my ideal study spaces, Novack Café is in Berry Library and serves typical coffee shop fare and Starbucks coffee. A great place to get work done in a mildly noise-y environment, studying in Novack with a venti iced Matcha latte in hand, I feel academically unstoppable, which is objectively an amazing feeling!
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.
