Hello! My name is Cal Shin, and I am a '27 double-majoring in Economics and Philosophy. When I'm not studying or writing a blog post, you can find me drawing as the Design Editor for The Dartmouth, hosting my radio show at WebDCR, or spending time with my friends. And if I'm not doing any of those, I'm probably watching cat videos. Follow along as I share the moments that make Dartmouth feel like home!
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.
I took this course with Professor Jasmina Savic and examined how the vampire figure evolved over time, starting with Slavic literature, going through Dracula and Twilight, and ending with “vampire” political figures. I realized what the portrayal of vampires could tell me about the thoughts of that society, including the fact that the early notions of vampirism are akin to modern-day diseases. For my final project, I wrote a research paper comparing the gumiho (the Korean nine-tailed fox) to several Western vampires.
SummerNew York City, New York
I had the opportunity to visit New York City for the summer! I met up with a good friend of mine, explored the city itself, and went to a networking event with other college students.
ECON 10 is one of the required courses for the Economics major. Based on my stellar experience with Professor Ha Yan Lee during ECON 1, when I saw that she was teaching ECON 10 this term, I immediately jumped at the chance to take the course with her. Once again, Professor Lee did an amazing job of breaking down concepts in an easy-to-understand manner. (The fact that her slideshows were colorful and featured various pictures of cats helped.)
My main interest in philosophy lies in normative and applied ethics, so when I saw the opportunity to take a class on the former, I didn’t hesitate! The class focused on consequentialism, utilitarianism, deontology, and virtue ethics. I enjoyed the ample opportunities for discussion, including discussion posts about the readings, as well as the table-wide conversations. My table, in particular, had lots to say, and there was one reading in particular where we ended up diving into discussion, not once, but twice! In fact, we had so much to say that all of us coincidentally chose to write our essay on this reading — and none of us knew until after we started talking about our papers!
It's no secret that Dartmouth's terms are fast-paced and challenging, and people are bound to feel some level of stress at one point or another. Luckily, Dartmouth cares a lot about wellness and has many resources in which you can relieve some of that stress. One of those resources is the Student Wellness Center (SWC). Located on the 1st floor of Berry Library in what they refer to as the Garden Room, the SWC offers a variety of services that I had not taken advantage of — that is, until this term. You see, Dartmouth requires all students to take three PE/Wellness classes (in addition to their regular course load) in order to graduate. I was debating which PE/Wellness course I wanted to take, and upon hearing glowing recommendations from my friends, I chose to take the wellness sampler offered by the SWC as a way to fulfill this requirement.
The wellness sampler is, as you may tell by the name, a way to "sample" all the different programming the SWC has to offer. These include:yoga classes, reflective journaling, mindfulness and meditation sessions, one-on-one wellness check-ins, and a sleep course. Some events offered by the Academic Skills Center (ASC) counted too, including MoTEAvational Monday and Get It Done. All I needed to do in order to get credit for the wellness sampler was to attend any 12 of these events. Because there was at least one event offered every weekday, so I was able to find programming that fit my schedule. I ended up taking yoga classes and attending Get It Done sessions! The former was soothing, while the latter allowed me to work on assignments ahead of time in a dedicated setting with free snacks. Because of the course's flexibility, I was actually able to complete all 12 required events earlier than I expected, despite my busy schedule. I highly recommend the wellness sampler, especially if you have a busy schedule, have a tendency to procrastinate, want to try something else besides the more traditional ways of fulfilling a PE requirement, or want to get to know the SWC and its resources!
