Hey y’all! I’m Catherine and I’m from the great state of Texas. When I’m not in class you’ll probably find me carefully curating Spotify playlists, exploring the Upper Valley with my friends, or finding ways to enjoy the ups and downs of Hanover weather in the great outdoors. I am a part of the club lacrosse team, and involved with research in machine learning to improve healthcare outcomes through the Women in Science Project!
Academic Program
Quantitative Social Science/Computer Science/History??
One of the things I enjoy most about college is the opportunity to experience a diversity of thought and opinion. My friends range across the political spectrum from red to blue and every shade of purple in between. Everyone here comes from such vastly different backgrounds, and from that, I get a better chance to learn more about myself and the world around me.
I also learn from the people that come to speak on campus; Dartmouth brings in many speakers we get to listen and learn from, and it has been my goal this year to take advantage of this opportunity. Over the last week, in particular, I have gotten to listen to two noteworthy speakers from either side of the political spectrum: Dartmouth alums Kristen Gillibrand ’88 and Dinesh D’Souza ’83. Each talk was invariably different in topic and ideology, but after each talk I walked away, feeling as if I had gained some bit of wisdom or knowledge.
During D’Souza’s talk, he spoke of his opinion on the immigration debate and a rough overview of the essentials of conservatism. Gillibrand spoke of how she, as a woman of Dartmouth, got involved in politics and how she’s RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT. Afterwards, there was a Q&A where she gave us some insight on the policies and ideas on her platform. And I got to shake her hand. How incredibly cool.
Kristen Gillibrand speaking to the crowd of Dartmouth students. Look at her. Such an inspiration.
All in all, I appreciate how Dartmouth embraces free speech and intellectual discourse. I am a firm believer in the importance of being exposed to a variety of viewpoints, whether that be politics or how one pronounces "both" (apparently some people from the Midwest think it’s "bolth"??). Either way, I still love that here at Dartmouth I am able to be exposed to so many different ideas.
On a side note, I am counting down the days until primary season when all the 2020 candidates come to campus and campaign for our vote in the New Hampshire primary. I can’t wait.
GIS was one of the experiences that played a major role in influencing my freshman experience, and I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to give back and continue participating in the program.
Something that is relatively important to a Dartmouth term that has an unnecessary mysticism about it is the elusive period of testing at the end of every term known simply as "finals." While they are certainly difficult and do take a lot of work,
I participated as a Women in Science Program (WISP) intern, presenting a poster entitled “Visualizing machine learning models for predicting readmission after an acute myocardial infarction”.
A great number of candidates will visit Hanover and organize events in Dartmouth College to speak to students about their policy positions and plans for the future.
Kristen Gillibrand speaking to the crowd of Dartmouth students. Look at her. Such an inspiration.
