Hi guys! I'm Chidera and I'm a '25 from Lagos, Nigeria. I've lived in a big city for nearly half of my life, so it's great to experience the scenic outdoor spaces surrounding Dartmouth. Outside of the classroom, I conduct research with the economics department, I'm a peer tutor for the Academic Skills Center and I'm also involved with the Dartmouth Energy Alliance.
Taking this class was a random and unexpected decision that I am so happy I made. This class was about the intersection between human and primate evolution and our social behaviors. It really opened my eyes to how unique and beautifully diverse different societies are, and how this uniqueness influences our biology in interesting ways.
Taught by Professor Doyle, this has been my favorite class at Dartmouth so far. It was a calculus integrated with economic applications of the concepts we learned. It was the first time this class was offered at Dartmouth, and Professor Doyle made sure we all had a thorough understanding of the material. The fact that we were also able to see the real-world applications of the calculus concepts also made the class uniquely interesting.
I took this class to fulfill Dartmouth's first-year seminar requirement. In selecting a first-year seminar class, I sought out a department that I would not have taken a class in otherwise. It was an incredibly fulfilling experience and I learnt so much about Parisian Impressionist painters in the late 19th century like Monet, Manet, Degas, Morisot and Renoir. It also taught me about the political, social and economic conditions that typically inspire pivotal art movements.
SummerWashington D.C.
This summer, I interned at the International Finance Corporation in DC, through the Rockefeller Center's First-Year Fellows program which gives first-year students the opportunity to engage in public policy early in their Dartmouth careers. I lived with about twenty other members of Dartmouth's Class of 2025 and got to experience life in a vibrant city while gaining professional work experience.
I spent this term in Accra, Ghana for the African and African American Studies department's Foreign Study Program (FSP). I'm so glad I was able to take advantage of one of Dartmouth's study-abroad programs. During this FSP, I got to explore a new country and city while taking classes taught by the amazing professors at the University of Ghana.
After being away from campus for six months, I decided to start working towards fulfilling my distributive requirements. To fulfill my ART distrib, I took a Russian film class with a friend. It was an amazing experience and a testament to the ways a liberal arts education encourages you to approach each class through an interdisciplinary lens. For my final essay in this class, I explored the ways that government and political culture affect the nature of the film industry in different countries.
This class is one of the prerequisites for the international economics track's culminating experience. Dartmouth's economics major allows you to focus on a specific field that you're interested in, while also having the opportunity to take a couple of classes in other fields. Before taking this class, I had always been interested in international economics and this class definitely cemented my interests in the field.
I used my sophomore summer off term to conduct research with the economics department through the Dartmouth Economics Research Scholars and with the funding of the James O. Freedman Presidential Scholarship. My research project, which was mentored and advised by a faculty member, focused on the effects of European Union climate policy on the economy of my home country, Nigeria. It gave me the opportunity to apply and better understand several concepts I learnt in economics classes at Dartmouth.
This was the most enjoyable and impactful class I have ever taken at Dartmouth! Each assigned reading and class discussion was more enthralling and thought-provoking than the last. This class taught me how to think outside the box, write academic articles in the field of the humanities and how to intellectualise and synthesise my own lived experiences in a way that contributes meaningfully to existing literature in African Studies. Lastly, it taught me to think critically about pressing social issues within the African continent.
The short answer to this is yes! Classes at Dartmouth can be rigorous and challenging, but they're always such a fun learning experience! Meeting new people in DC this summer, I find myself talking fondly about the classes I've taken this past year, from the amazing friends I made through them and the fun presentations and projects I worked on. I definitely couldn't pick a favorite class, as I've loved different parts of each one, so these are the highlights of a few of the classes I've taken at Dartmouth.
Writing 2-3
I took Writing 2-3 during fall and winter to fulfill the first-year writing requirement. This two-term course is designed to help students who are not confident in their writing skills to improve through intellectual engagement and intensive academic support. This class got really exciting during winter term as we were assigned a 15-page research paper to work on throughout the term. At first, I was really nervous about this assignment; I had never written a research paper before, especially one of that length. But there was a lot of support from my professor and my TA, with weekly meetings and office hours throughout the term. My classmates and I also had the opportunity to discuss our ideas and progress for our assignments and learn about the topics we were researching.
Art History First-Year Seminar
To fulfill my first-year seminar requirement, I took an art history class on Parisian Art in the 19th century, and it was a huge step out of my comfort zone! I had never taken an art history class before, but our professor made sure we understood the basics of art history analysis through constructive feedback and peer reviews. During the term, we visited the Hood Museum of Art on campus to see some of the actual works of the Impressionist artists we studied in class. As a final project, we had the opportunity to pick an Impressionist artist, explore one of their themes in their art and present our work to the class as a final project. Seeing the different perspectives of my classmates on the different artists we had studied was beyond interesting.
Economics Classes
Over the course of my freshman year, I took the three prerequisite classes for the Economics major at Dartmouth: Economics 1, Economics 3 and Economics 10. I can never decide which one of these classes was my favorite or which was the most fun because they all complemented each other. In Economics 3, I learnt the essential calculus tools for economic analysis, and learnt how to apply these tools to important economic concepts that I'd be learning later. At the end of the term, I also worked on a really fun final project where I used integration to analyze rising income inequality in Nigeria. In spring term, I took both Economics 1 and Economics 10. In Economics 1, I also worked on another final project on the effects of agricultural subsidies on different socioeconomic groups in Nigeria and actually used some of the concepts from my Economics 3 class in this final project. In Economics 10, I got an amazing introduction to research in the field of economics through fascinating group presentations on interesting economics papers.
At Dartmouth, there is an undergraduate requirement for language; after all, it is the liberal arts! Fulfilling this requirement looks different for various people and I will focus on my experience.
On Monday, April 8, 2024, a phenomenal total solar eclipse occurred — and we happened to be within the path of totality. As a result, Dartmouth hosted a variety of eclipse-related events on- and off-campus. Find out how I spent the eclipse!
Traditionally, Dartmouth students take three courses during a term, but I decided to take four courses this term! Learn about course load and the academic system at Dartmouth.
