If there is something that needs to be said, trust that Natalie Dokken '23 will be the one to say it. She's spent the past four years immersing herself in the Dartmouth experience and reveling in the sense of identity that comes with it. "The person I was when I arrived here is so radically different from who I am now," she reflects. "Dartmouth has been such a helpful place for me to come into my own."
Natalie credits part of that change to Dartmouth's liberal arts curriculum, which emphasizes flexibility. She switched her focus from the pre-health track, which prepares students for careers in health professions, to philosophy after taking the course Identity, Liberalism, and Democracy with Professor of Philosophy David Plunkett and visiting professor Yascha Mounk. "It was the first class that really made me question what I thought about the world," she remembers.
Natalie now works with Professor Plunkett as a research assistant, and she's also found a mentor in Assistant Professor of Government Charles Crabtree, who—like Natalie—is the first member of his family to attend college. "He very much brings that identity into the classroom," Natalie says. "It was perhaps the first time I've had a first-generation, low-income professor telling me 'You have this wonderful analytical mind, and we need more students like you here. That's why I am here.'" Together, the two have been studying factors that influence assimilation in America.
Professor Crabtree's class wasn't the first time that Natalie had explored parts of her identity in the classroom. "Being queer was something I understood in the context of myself, but not in the larger context of the world," she says. "The liberal arts curriculum has allowed me to explore parts of myself I hadn't ever explored."
In her senior seminar class on the controversies in feminist philosophy,
she confidently brings her perspective to the discussion. "I've seen myself progress from someone who was very hesitant to even openly identify as queer to someone now willing to have these conversations in a small classroom setting," she says. She's also the Vice President of Epsilon Kappa Theta sorority, where "a good portion of our members are part of the LGBTQ+ community. Our hope is to be a community where everyone feels welcome."
Natalie believes that using her voice is the greatest gift she can give to Dartmouth. As a senior staff columnist and editor for the Opinion section of the school newspaper, The Dartmouth, Natalie has contributed to more than 80 Verbum Ultimums, the joint weekly column written by the paper's more senior Opinion columnists and editors. Each week, the Verbum Ultimum features a column on a topic deemed worthy of discussion for the community, ranging from mental health and inclusivity to housing and dining prices.
"It's a place to express your ideas, advocate for yourself, and advocate for the community," she says. "As a whole, Dartmouth has really pushed me to reflect on my own place in the world."
Photograph by Don Hamerman
