Hello! I'm Cal Shin, and I am a '27 from Cary, North Carolina. I am hoping to double-major in Economics and Philosophy. Outside of academics and blogging, you'll find that I am involved with The Dartmouth as a designer, WebDCR as art director and weekly radio show host, and the Dartmouth QuestBridge Scholars Network (DQSN) as an executive board member and incoming vice president. Ultimately, I am a storyteller, and I hope you enjoy these stories about my Dartmouth journey!
I took this course with Professor James Binkoski and loved it! I had never taken a philosophy course prior to Dartmouth, so this introductory course in the department was perfect! After all, it combined my interests of philosophy with time and time travel — at least, how time and time travel are depicted in the media. This course may initially seem to be on the more technical side, but Professor Binkoski made sure to break down the various time travel theories — various ways scientists and philosophers think of time and its supposed movement — in a manner that’s easy for anyone to understand. A very popular course overall; I am fortunate to have been able to take it during my first term here!
I took this course with Professor Ha Yan Lee and it was absolutely amazing! I had my initial reservations about this course, mainly because I knew a lot of my classmates would have had some background knowledge while I had none. Professor Lee did a wonderful job of breaking down concepts in a manner that, as she often put it, is easy for even “your grandparents to understand”. Even beyond the course, the level of care Professor Lee exhibited towards her students is significant. She’s one of the most popular professors at Dartmouth, and for good reason! I ate lunch with her at The Pine through the Take a Faculty Member to Lunch program, and she gave me tremendous insight and advice! Because of this course, I have been inspired to explore more courses within the Econ department and potentially major in Economics.
Green Key: A quintessential Dartmouth tradition along with Homecoming and Winter Carnival—and the one remaining tradition I had yet to experience as a freshman. There is no one way to define Green Key, nor is there one Green Key experience. Green Key may refer to the big concert hosted by Collis Programming Board, but in general, it encapsulates the weekend people spend going to the PB concert, the live band performances at the Collis Center for Student Involvement, and the variety of concerts different Greek houses host.
I started off my Green Key weekend Friday afternoon attending a block party hosted by Phi Delta Alpha (colloquially known as Phi Delt). This, like most parties at Dartmouth, was advertised to the campus community and open to anyone on campus. Student band Tightrope performed their own renditions of popular songs that I personally enjoyed.
Phi Delt Block Party!
After a few hours of dancing and singing along, I remembered that I had signed up to volunteer for Green Key. I quickly headed to Tuck Drive, making sure to grab some dinner beforehand, and helped facilitate students' and their guests' entry into the venue. Due to the large number of people who attend this concert, Dartmouth requires all attendees to have wristbands. My job was to check that everyone entering the venue did in fact adorn their proper wristbands.
After an hour of volunteering (guaranteeing myself a free Green Key 2024 t-shirt), I headed to the stage to listen to the artists. Student band Read Receipts was first in the line-up, followed by student DJs Vivachae, rapper Young M.A., and Shaggy. We laughed, sang, and danced until way past sundown.
Shaggy!
Throughout the weekend, the Collis Center for Student Involvement offered a variety of programming. A variety of bands such as Chance Emerson, Bermuda Search Party, and Pacific Avenue performed live music on the Collis porch, accompanied with free food such as Ben & Jerry's ice cream. On Saturday afternoon, my friends and I grabbed some free bubble wands from Collis and blew some bubbles before listening to a couple of the band performances.
Next, I headed to another concert at Kappa Delta Epsilon (KDE). After the concert, one of my friends and I decided to go to the river and relax! We ended up meeting a few upperclassmen ('23s and '24s) who invited us to play cards. A simple invitation quickly turned into a long night of random conversation.
Sunset at the River!
While the concert itself was pretty nice, a weekend of memorable moments with friends—old and new—is what I think Green Key is about. As Green Key marks the start of an end to spring term and to my freshman year, it feels bittersweet in a way knowing that time flew by so fast. Still, I have three more years to go, and plenty of new memories on the horizon.
What an incredible spring! This term was undoubtedly my favorite that I've experienced thus far, and as I wait to board a flight back to campus for a highly anticipated Sophomore Summer, I reflect on everything that allowed this spring term to bloom.
I lived on the same dorm floor as the GIS LLC (Living Learning Community) this year. I asked some of my floormates about their experience with it so that you can hopefully get a holistic sense of what GIS is like!
I moved to Berlin for three months to live with a host family. These are my thoughts about the process and why exploring study abroad programs with host families is worthwhile!
Dartmouth's most anticipated spring tradition is over, prompting an influx of Green Key posts from Dartmouth students online (including this one from myself)! Join me as I reflect on the most memorable parts of this weekend!
Eastern European Easter (loads of E's, I know), a mock wedding with the Dartmouth African Student Association, and of course, Green Key! What a busy week!
