Emily Hemelt
You are here
Rocks Around the Region!
I've always been more of a humanities girl—high school chemistry and I had a reactive relationship to say the least—but after taking a little time to let the dust settle, I decided to give it another chance. This term, I ventured out into the realm of science and am taking an earth science class—Earth Science 002 with Professor Justin Strauss—where we have been learning the history of the rocks we live on. And for our first assignment, our professor challenged us to get outside!
Our goal: Visit buildings on campus to identify the rocks holding them up.
Key players: Lebanon Granite, Ammonoosuc Volcanics, and Longmeadow Sandstone.
Crunching in the snow—seriously, it's the most satisfying thing!—I discovered a building I didn't even know was on campus! The Bartlett Tower, a little ways past the observatory (where you can see the stars for astronomy class!), reminded me of the sort of place you might find a princess with long golden hair. I was surprised to learn there was a Society named after the tower and could not believe I had not seen it before!
After a few more stops, we got to the last bit of the assignment: the part where we learned of what lies beneath the Green! Turns out, the college is built atop the remains of an ancient glacial lake. We actually were able to measure what the height of the lake would have been before it drained, and we used Baker Library Bell Tower as a reference!
Overall, I found it to be a valuable experience because you begin seeing what you study in real life, as opposed to pictures in a textbook. Now, I can identify components of the world around me, their history, and their origin—not only in buildings but also on hikes and drives around the area! While this is only the beginning of the class, I feel I've already learned so much about my environment in the first two weeks and even met a few more friendly faces from my class while on the adventure!
Posts You Might Like
The Lunar New Year festivities continue! Here's a photo gallery of Korean Student Association, Malaysian Student Association, and Vietnamese Student Association's celebrations!
A weekend of embracing the cold and finding fun activities to do! From winning money at a game show to the Annual Snowball Fight, this weekend is a core memory of my experience with Dartmouth winters!
"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!
During my time at Dartmouth, within the realm of medicine specifically, I was able to gain a broader outlook on what careers / optionalities are "really" out there, and I'm here to tell you the resources that were leveraged!
Where can I find internships? How do resumes and LinkedIn work in college? Am I behind if I do not have it all figured out my first year? All great questions so let's get them answered…
Come learn about ways I've been able to explore design at Dartmouth!
The first-generation community at Dartmouth is an extremely tight knit and supportive community! This past week, we celebrated first-gen week, with a myriad of activities and lots of chances to meet new people!
In this post, I write about what the culminating experience is as a part of Dartmouth's major requirements.