Hi! I'm excited to welcome you to my blog! I'm Andrea Agola, a '26 born in Kenya and raised just outside of D.C. As the eldest child of three, I'm the first to go off to college! Dartmouth enables me to explore my passions in both the sciences and humanities. Don't even get me started on the numerous extracurriculars that pique my interest, like the Dartmouth Dickey Center, research projects (WISP & DHMC), and dance groups (Soyeya). Follow along as I navigate my unique college experience!
Academic Program
Sociology major, International Studies Minor, Pre-Health
Favorite Thing Right Now
Studying abroad on the French LSA+ in Toulouse, France!
Recently, I attended a Multi-University Black Christian Fellowship Convention at Tufts University with Dartmouth's Morning Glory Community Fellowship. The Saturday event was wonderful and a great time to join together in fellowship with students from Tufts, Brown University and Harvard University. The conference took place at Tufts' Interfaith Center, their version of our (Dartmouth's) William Jewett Tucker Center which is more commonly called Tucker.
"Tucker cultivates spiritual and ethical lives…is inclusive and affirming of all students, faculty, staff and alumni and offers caring, thought-provoking opportunities to grow a sense of connection and purpose through reflective personal exploration and intentional community engagement." Within Tucker, Morning Glory Community Fellowship is a student-led, interdenominational Christian group influenced by African, Diasporic & African-American worship traditions. All are welcome to join and participate in praise, worship, and fellowship every Monday evening at 7pm! Morning Glory hopes that students will "join us as we celebrate who God is and what He's doing in our lives."
After a Dartmouth Coach ride into Boston and a bit of train confusion – we may or may not have rode 30 minutes in the wrong direction – we arrived at the convention during mingling time. Everyone got to meet each other and the Tufts students even gave us a tour of campus! Worship followed afterwards in which Morning Glory's Anthony Fosu '24 played the ukulele and everyone sang. The songs were "King of Kings" by Chandler Moore (originally by Hillsong), "Promises" by Maverick City and the Doxology hymn. Soon after, we had Chick-fil-A for lunch which I was so happy about because I'd missed it so much. After lunch, we took turns doing scripture/passage readings then decided to go outside for small group discussions since the weather was lovely. The questions not only pertained to the scriptures but included ones like: What do you love about your community? Why is it important that your school has a Black Christian Ministry? We closed out by regrouping and sharing key moments from our small group discussions. After a little walk through the bustling city and with the sun setting around us, we boarded the coach back to Dartmouth.
Morning Glory meets the MBTA (handshake emoji)
I'm so grateful for this experience and for Morning Glory's existence at Dartmouth. I love the sense of community Morning Glory offers. This is especially felt when we close out meetings by going around the circle and hearing prayer requests on anything like health, exams, social relationships, internships, and more. To me, having a Black Christian Ministry is important because not only do we uplift the word of God, we uplift each other.
Dartmouth is no stranger to a variety of student-run full-year performance groups in dance, a cappella, improv, and comedy. Sophomore summer is particularly special, as most of these groups allow sophomores to audition and join just for the summer.
In one of my previous posts, I mentioned how I joined a sorority earlier this fall by going through the recruitment process. I've come a long way since then. In fact, I am living in my sorority house for my sophomore summer!
Dartmouth is not just a college. With world-renowned graduate schools, why would we choose to call ourselves a college instead of a university? The story behind that decision dates back to a significant Supreme Court ruling.
On a quiet spring Saturday in Hanover, I traded the usual campus buzz for Monet in the morning and archery in the afternoon—a reminder that Dartmouth weekends can be just as meaningful when they're slow, reflective, and a little unexpected.
During my sophomore spring quarter, I took on the challenge of four STEM courses, and while it has been intense, the unexpected connections across subjects and the joy of learning have made it one of my most rewarding academic experiences yet.
Read about the Sophomore Summer Soiree and how I got to witness the beginning of something that hopefully grows into a long-standing Dartmouth tradition!
