Hey!! I'm Eloise and this is my blog! I'm a '28 from New Holland, Pennsylvania. I love to read and write in my free time and I'm so excited to get involved in clubs at Dartmouth. I love exploring the outdoors and I can't wait to go on more trips with the Dartmouth Outing Club. I hope you enjoy my blog!
This course covers modern American history through an imperial lens. It was my first time learning about these topics and events in-depth, and I learned so much! The class focuses on small group discussions and having nuanced conversations about assigned readings. It was the perfect class for my first fall! I cannot recommend this class enough!
Every winter term, Dartmouth puts on the Winter Carnival, a weekend of winter activities and community fun! The events are planned by students, and this year, I was a part of the planning committee.
Applications to join the Winter Carnival Council went out in the fall. I knew I wanted to play a part in organizing the beloved tradition, so I immediately signed up for it!
During the fall term, the council's biggest task is picking a theme for the carnival. In years past, we've done themes like space, wizards, and video games. This year, we came up with the idea of dinosaurs.
From the theme, we had to come up with a catchy title. We chose "Jurassic Parka: The Carnival Before Time!"
After choosing the theme, we brainstormed fun ideas for new activities and how to rebrand old ones to fit the dinosaur theme. From this, we came up with events like the "Prehistoric Plunge" and "Raptors Live!"
Once winter term started, our planning became action. We bought supplies, created flyers, and assembled decorations. Our biggest undertaking was putting on the opening ceremony, the first event of the weekend that kicks off all other festivities.
The opener is thrown in the Collis Center for Student Involvement. We decorated Common Ground, the main room in Collis, to look like a dinosaur jungle!
The Jurassic Park Gate!
Using boxes and tape, we recreated the Jurassic Park gate, which welcomed people into the room!
Following the dinosaur footprints on the floor, students and community members grabbed free food, including dinosaur nuggets.
After grabbing food, people could participate in a bunch of fun dinosaur-themed activities, like making a dinosaur bracelet or terrarium, digging for dinosaur bones, or admiring real-life fossils donated by the Environmental Science and Biological Sciences departments.
The fossil table!
As a committee member, I helped out at the event by helping set up the room and staffing an activity table. The activity I helped with was terrarium making, where people could fill a mason jar with whatever they wanted, like moss, dirt, and rocks, and add a toy dinosaur to live in it.
Everyone loved the terrariums, and more importantly, everyone loved the opening ceremony! The room was packed throughout the night, so much so that we ran out of food and supplies.
My first Winter Carnival Weekend was so amazing and I am so glad I had a part in planning the fun!
The Lunar New Year festivities continue! Here's a photo gallery of Korean Student Association, Malaysian Student Association, and Vietnamese Student Association's celebrations!
"Only three classes?!" The typical response I get from someone outside of Dartmouth. Come and join as I describe how those three classes actually feel in a ten week term!
