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.
When I was deciding what colleges to apply to and ultimately attend, there were several things that attracted me to Dartmouth, and none of them was Greek Life. I looked forward to taking classes with professors who were experts in their fields alongside intellectually curious students, as well as the strong sense of community our small campus and remote location foster. However, it wasn't until I actually got to Dartmouth that I started to think about Greek Life and what belonging to a Greek organization would entail.
Approximately 60% of Dartmouth's students are members of the Greek organizations on campus, which include three gender-inclusive chapters, ten sororities, and fourteen fraternities. Greek organizations provide a community for students as well as a space for events and activities hosted by members. However, students cannot join Greek organizations until their sophomore year, which allows them to form connections with students and engage with the Dartmouth community outside of the Greek system.
I approached the concept of joining a Greek organization with a very exploratory mentality, deciding to participate in the sorority recruitment process and join a sorority if I enjoyed the process. Sorority recruitment takes place twice each year, in the fall and winter, to accommodate differences in students' D-Plans. Since I studied abroad in the fall, I did winter recruitment. In the sorority recruitment process, each potential new member (or PNM for short) visits all the sororities at Dartmouth and gets to meet the members, and through three rounds of a mutual selection process, you are matched with a sorority.
The recruitment process really showed me that although Dartmouth is a small school with a relatively small student population, there are students with an immense variety of interests, backgrounds, hobbies, aspirations and pursuits. I got to meet Dartmouth students carving incredibly impressive academic, athletic and extracurricular niches for themselves and saw how intellectually diverse the student body is. I think recruitment and joining a Greek organization gives you the opportunity to meet so many people that you may never have encountered otherwise.
After going through the recruitment process, I decided to join a sorority and have been so happy that I made that decision! Through my sorority I've not only met so many amazing women and formed new friendships, I've also been able to meet other students who have offered support and advice in challenging situations. My sorority has been a helpful resource for picking classes, deciding on a major, dealing with challenging classes, applying to internships and so much more. It has also been so fun and exciting to have a physical space where I can hang out, both casually and formally, with other members of my sorority.
Overall, I think Greek Life at Dartmouth is like many other aspects of life on campus; there are so many different activities, organizations, extracurriculars and other experiences that are worth trying out. And, it's perfectly fine if you like or dislike them because they all give you opportunities to meet new people, broaden your community, and develop as a person.
Through Dartmouth's Guarini Institute for International Study, I am getting to take classes and experience life at Wellesley College, an all-women's school!
