Hey y'all, welcome to the woods! My name is Garrett Crouch, and I'm a '26 from Edmond, Oklahoma. Besides blogging, I'm involved in Greek Life and Dartmouth's Psychological and Brain Sciences Department. I enjoy reading fiction, listening to 90s rock, and playing video games and guitar in my free time. Other than that, I'm thrilled to have the opportunity to share a bit of my Dartmouth student experience with you—stay a while and enjoy!
For my first term at Dartmouth, I had a lot of fun exploring different courses/areas of study that piqued my interest—EARS 14 is a perfect example. This course in particular was very friendly to new students. I had a lot of fun analyzing the ways in which Earth's weather system works, everything from the tornado and climate labs to black lightning and supercooled ice. Professor Osterberg made the course extremely fascinating and personable! I'm extremely glad I took this course and recommend it to anyone interested in Earth Science.
I had zero programming experience prior to taking this course, and quite honestly, It was a split decision on my part. Nonetheless, I'm extremely glad I took COSC 1, and as a byproduct, I have a newfound love for computers. I came out of the course with a solid foundation in computer science principles as well as programming skills. More importantly, I made my own fully-functioning video game! ; )
I didn’t anticipate this course being all that different from Latin I, but it ended up being a nice surprise. A typical Latin course at Dartmouth involves small class sizes, group work, and the occasional lecture; however, within Latin II, we had opportunities to take a wide variety of field trips and learn more about the history of the Latin language as well as the many people that spoke it. I thoroughly enjoyed stepping outside the sphere of strictly language work (grammar, vocabulary, etc.) and learning more about the history of Latin in Latin II.
Psych 6 is by far my favorite course I've taken at Dartmouth—this course made me decide to pursue the neuroscience major. Whether it was walking out of the Moore Psychology Building with goosebumps down my spine having just seen a human brain in the flesh, or lying in bed rewatching lectures on the cellular mechanisms of long-term memory storage. This course genuinely made me feel like a kid discovering the world again for the first time, I loved it.
I loved this course—it was a fascinating mix of the neuroscience behind addiction as well as a deep dive into every class of drug. What particularly stood out about this course was the ability to connect my undergraduate research lab experience with the concepts I was learning (I'm currently involved in a neuroscience research lab studying psilocybin, the main psychoactive compound found in magic mushrooms, so it was fascinating to see the parallels there).
At first, I was worried Cognitive Psychology was going to be a slight rerun of some of the concepts covered in Psych 6: Introduction to Neuroscience, but this class was actually a pleasant surprise. We covered everything from how babies accurately learn their native language so quickly, to how we uniquely store complex, emotional memories as humans. We even covered a unit on everything psychologists know about the problem of consciousness, which was my personal favorite. There’s something alluring (and undeniably meta) about being conscious while learning about how we know nothing about consciousness—a recurring theme in the Brain Sciences!
Instructed by the esteemed Reverend Dr. Randall Balmer, The Sixties was by far my favorite course during my sophomore summer at Dartmouth. As its title suggests, the class was an in-depth historical overview of American history spanning the years 1963–1974. Now, I wouldn’t typically consider myself a history buff, but this course was extremely intriguing. For one, while we explored widely known 1960s American history topics like Watergate and the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., we also covered less mainstream subjects such as Freedom Summer and the murder of Medgar Evers. Additionally, as a class, we examined each topic in far greater depth than I had anticipated—the course was structured so that, in each week of the ten-week term, we covered a new year of “The Sixties.”
In 1804-06, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark completed a remarkable odyssey, from St. Louis to the Pacific, and back. They wrote more than one million words, describing the country, and paid particular attention to the Indian nations they met.” This course, taught by Professor Colin Calloway, reminded me time and time again that what I think I know about American history, that is to say, how I think my nation developed, is remarkably untrue—as students of history, we often forget about the first actual inhabitants of this land before it came to be what we know as America, and in that way I would say this course completely changed the way I view the world (a reoccurring theme in Dartmouth courses ;))
Reflecting on Dartmouth's Health and Wellness Resources
Recently, I've developed several new health and wellness habits that've significantly enhanced my ability to succeed as a student at a bustling academic institution like Dartmouth. In particular, I've finally been making an effort to utilize the free gym membership that comes with being a student. And like I said, all I can say is that I wish I started taking advantage earlier.
I'm not sugar coating when I say the fitness center—called Alumni Gym—at Dartmouth is incredible. Picture 16,000 square feet, housing hundreds of lifting machines, 3 full-sized dumbbell areas, pools, basketball courts, and my personal favorite: a wet sauna. I've been making an effort to go to the gym as much as possible and take diligent care of my body, and I've definitely seen improvements in my academics as a result.
The sauna at Alumni Gym is amazing
This is just the first floor of the main gym (staircase to the left)
A picture of the Dartmouth Alumni Gymnasium Indoor Track and Basketball courts
While it may seem like a standard requirement for colleges to provide access to health and wellness resources like a gym, I'd argue Dartmouth goes above and beyond. Not only are the facilities at Dartmouth top-notch, but over the course of my undergraduate career, I've really noticed that the embedded sort of culture here surrounding the advocacy of student health upkeep is unique to an academic research institution like Dartmouth.
It goes beyond physical spaces—upon request, we students have access to personal trainers, quality dining and nutrition plans from registered dietitians (especially for those of us with food allergies, Dartmouth does a phenomenal job of catering to specific health needs), free clinical therapy, and more.
Health and wellness wasn't something I necessarily considered when applying to college, admittedly it wasn't even a residual concern of mine, but as I'm starting to grow more as a student in my third year here, I'm realizing how important the sort of "mind-body" connection is for overall success; whether it's doing well in your studies, maintaining quality relationships, or even just feeling "good," prioritizing health and wellness is something I believe should be more emphasized in our daily lives as college students, and I'm thankful Dartmouth does such a thorough job.
In short, if you ever find yourself thinking about this sort of thing: "how feasible is it to prioritize health and wellness at a school like Dartmouth?" I would say it's not just possible, it's continuously encouraged.
In celebration of the new Attitudes of Coexistence exhibit at the Hood Museum of Art, artist Choe U-Ram spoke at two artist talks I attended. Read on for highlights from the experience!
In celebration of Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month (AAPIHM), a variety of programming was offered to celebrate AAPI students and culture on campus. Read on to hear about my experience serving on the committee and attending events!
The Fourth of July: a federal holiday usually spent over summer break with family and friends. Not this year, though! As a result of sophomore summer, I spent this holiday with my friends at Dartmouth.
