Garrett Crouch

The Indigenous Fly-In Program at Dartmouth

As a native student, the Indigenous community at Dartmouth caught my attention early on in my college search process. Around this time last year, fall of 2021, as a senior in high school, I attended Dartmouth's Indigenous Fly-In Progam—and although it was presented in a virtual format, I had an extremely encouraging and enlightening experience. In retrospect, I would definitely say attending the program was critical to my final decision in applying Early Decision to Dartmouth, which is a binding commitment option available to students who are certain of the college they wish to attend. In my case, after attending the Fly-In Program, I was more than certain Dartmouth was going to be my new home. Let me highlight why!

The Indigenous Fly-In Program

The Indigenous Fly-In Program (IFI) at Dartmouth is a college admissions program designed to give prospective Indigenous students a glimpse into the daily life of a college student at Dartmouth. During my time as an IFI student, I met with various admissions officers and directors over Zoom and was able to essentially craft my entire understanding of Dartmouth as an institution, both through a prospective student lens, as well as a native student. This included everything from the basics of building and developing a successful application, learning about financial aid opportunities, as well as getting involved and immersed in the Indigenous community at Dartmouth. Being able to experience and participate in the program was really ground-breaking, I met fascinating professors, I got to chat one on one with admissions officers and directors, and I got to make friends in the native community! The program gave me a sense of belonging, answered all my nagging questions about Dartmouth and student life, and it provided me with an opportunity to share a Dartmouth-specific experience on my application.

I had such a valuable experience during the program, I made a vow to myself to find some sort of way to get involved for the next class of IFI students if I ended up fortunate enough to attend Dartmouth. Thankfully,  I had the opportunity this past week to do so! For the first time in three years, the 2022 fall class of IFI students were able to participate in the program in person, on campus—we had 65 amazing students join the native community and stay on campus for three days! One of my hometown friends happened to be attending the program and I was able to be his host!

 Throughout his time on campus exploring campus and meeting peers and faculty, Cashon (prospective '27), stayed in my dorm room with me for three nights!

It was really neat seeing the native community show so much support for all the prospective students; Dartmouth's Indigenous community as a whole is really inspiring. Everything from the professors to the Native American House (NAH) on campus pictured above, to the mentors and directors, to the IFI program, the manner in which students and faculty connect with one another is entirely unique to Dartmouth, and that's something I'm really proud to be a part of. 

With that, I'm glad I was able to share a bit about the Indigenous community here at Dartmouth as well as IFI this week, my hope is that you learned something new! With one last group picture of this year's class of IFI students, I'll see you next time!

Fall class of 2022 IFI students at Goldstein Hall here on campus

Your friend, 

Garrett