Hi! Welcome to the blog! I'm from a small suburb in South Carolina, just outside of Augusta, Georgia, so I'm excited to document my first New England winter! On campus, I'm involved in club water polo, the America Reads program, and research in a computational neuroscience lab. In the classroom, I'm super excited to find a balance between STEM and humanities by focusing on both English and pre-med classes. I hope you enjoy following along as I explore all that Dartmouth has to offer!
Academic Program
English with focus on creative writing (also on the pre-med track)
Here at Dartmouth, there's a special category of classes known as Social Impact Practicums (SIPS). I know when I was a prospective student, I hadn't heard of the SIPs program, but it has really impacted my freshman fall, so I thought I would explain!
This poster was made by one of my classmates and was used around the Upper Valley to advertise our exhibit!
Essentially, a Social Impact Practicums is a class with a real-world project that impacts people outside of the Dartmouth community. These practicums are included in a wide range of subject areas from environmental science to psychology to education studies. My experience took place in an English class called "God, Darwin, and the Literary Imagination" which focused on the discourse surrounding religion and evolutionary theory. Throughout the term, we studied how Darwin's Origin of Species shook up scientific, religious, and political thinking in the Victorian era.
This is my portion of the exhibit! Lots of Excel tutorials involved in the making of this poster!
The social impact aspect of the course was a final project that brought what we learned in class to an exhibit at the Fairbanks Natural History Museum, in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. While reading and analyzing different points of view surrounding creationism and evolution, the social impact aspect of the course pushed me to constantly think about how the ideas could be translated into a modern dialogue. I think the Social Impact Practicum part of the class was super helpful to my learning because it grounded all of our discussions and readings in real world conversations.
This was taken as my classmates and I explored each others' work in the museum!
As I mentioned, the SIPs part of "God, Darwin, and the Literary Imagination" involved each student in the class making a contribution to a larger exhibit at the Fairbanks Museum. I choose to focus on the relationship between childhood learning and beliefs about science and religion. My favorite thing about the project was that the topic was completely my own, and everyone in the class could work with a medium and topic that interested them. For example, my project was based on a survey and statistical analysis, but I also had friends who created paintings, sculptures, research posters, and even a hanging Ferris wheel! So, you're interested in creating a project based on your interests and leaving an impact on the world around you, I encourage you to check out Dartmouth's Social Impact Practicums! Also, if you're interested in learning more about the God and Darwin exhibit, click here for a video from when the class was offered two years ago!
But at the end of the day, when people ask me what my favorite Dartmouth memories are, I'm always thinking about the place. Ice skating, pink sunsets, riverbanks, or canoeing? That's my highlight reel.
The last week of October was especially ~spooky~ as I was able to find more time than usual to enjoy my weekend with friends and the small-town-charm of Hanover.
While the student body at the College may be relatively small, students here recognize that their vote can hold a lot of weight in New Hampshire, a classic swing state.
Right now, I'm taking a Writing 5 class called Food for Thought, focusing on environmental, agricultural, culinary, and nutritional aspects of the food we choose to eat.
Read all about my course selection for freshman fall! In order to mask my panic at the idea of it already being week 7 and having to once again choose classes, I decided to reflect on the classes I chose this term.
Now that we're all champing at the bit for the end of term, it's become coy and fleeting, tiptoeing further out of sight with each new assignment. And somewhere in waiting-for-finals I've found myself growing a little weary.
This poster was made by one of my classmates and was used around the Upper Valley to advertise our exhibit!
This is my portion of the exhibit! Lots of Excel tutorials involved in the making of this poster!
This was taken as my classmates and I explored each others' work in the museum!
