Greetings from the woods! My name is Gavin Fry, and I'm a student blogger with the People, Places, and Pines team. I'm a proud first-generation college student, carrying with me the full support of my crazy family. I plan to be involved with undergraduate research, outdoor activities, and club golf here at Dartmouth! You can find me geeking out about the weather, reading novels, and always drinking coffee (at any time of the day). So nice to meet you!
Academic Program
Prospective Environmental Earth Science Major with a Minor in Public Policy
Favorite Thing Right Now
My idea of starting a chapter of the American Meteorological Society (AMS) here at Dartmouth!
Oh. My. Goodness. What a fun class this was! As a certified weather and climate geek, I was totally entrenched in everything we done in this course. From the labs and weather presentations to the "flipped" classroom experience, I thoroughly enjoyed this class. Dr. Osterberg's excitement for the course material made it that much more enjoyable! It was truly an extraordinary first-year course to take.
I’ve loved this class from beginning to end. For one, I enjoyed it because of the people in it, but I also loved it because of the content. Through frequent class discussion, I learned about the health of our democracy and the ways it is compromised. Very enlightening class!
Religion 5 was a quintessential liberal arts course that deepened my knowledge in a subject I thought I had all figured out. As a STEM-oriented student, this class offered the perfect balance to my spring term schedule. As a result of this class, I became more introspective of how I was raised, and I'm more grateful in my ability to be a free-thinker.
SummerOff Campus Internship - Princeton, New Jersey
This summer, I explored my future career plans by participating in a research internship with the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory at Princeton University. I learned a lot about what I want (and what I don't want) in a future career, and I made so many awesome lifelong connections!
A course rooted in both philosophical theory and real, practical methods of becoming a better public speaker was the highlight of the term. Our class of 16 students grew to be a sort of "mini-family," and I'm so grateful for the connections I made. I completely changed the way I view public speaking and homed in on my own skills as a public speaker!
Once again, a course outside my major found its way into my favorite class list. This sociology course helped me better understand how children are viewed in society, the way sociologists study youth, and the major differences in norms around childhood around the world. Who knew there was so much to learn about youth culture!
This final blog post of 23W marks the end of my fifth term in residence at Dartmouth and my sixth term as a college student. The past two months have flown by, and this term was once again full of self-growth, maturity, and solidifying my academic passions. I've tried to transition from the mindset of solely performing well in all my classes in terms of grades to a perspective of truly learning the material. The three classes I've taken this term have each taught me something valuable in my academic journey. On top of my three classes, I've found myself researching and self-learning material in the field that I absolutely love – meteorology. In my spare time, I've found myself reading meteorology books in the Baker-Berry Library even when I have assignments due for my other classes! Let me give you some insight into my academic journey this term through my courses:
Public policy is a field that I believe I should learn more about for my future career in meteorology. Advancing the science as we know is one task, but our science is only as good as our ability to communicate it to decision-makers and authorities in government. From climate resiliency to issues like poverty alleviation and Medicare, this class has given me a broad understanding of how public policy is made in the U.S. I've also learned a lot about the bureaucracy and the politics game behind public policy making, and that was the less-attractive side of this class for me. This class helped me realize I want a career that truly impacts people, not just a career behind the scenes. I want my work to matter.
Although this class has nothing to do with my future career in meteorology or my major, it's probably my favorite class of the term! I learned about the sociology of childhood and how kids form their own unique and complex worlds distinct from adult culture. I enrolled in the class initially because I wanted to understand how events in a child's life could affect their transition into adulthood – much like my not-so-ideal upbringing and family dynamic. I left this class with a broad and detailed understanding of how children socialize and form their own peer cultures. That's the recurring theme at Dartmouth; you will most enjoy the classes that you would least expect… so try things out!
After completing the calculus sequence at Dartmouth (Math 3, 8 and 13), I was excited to dive into the more complex and exciting math. Specifically, differential equations are the mathematical foundation of meteorology and atmospheric science; they are the language of the weather forecasting models we use to predict the weather! So, it has been very enlightening to get a foundation in this kind of math. The more I learned in this class, the more I was able to understand the equations I stumbled across in the more advanced meteorology textbooks. It's so exciting to actually apply the math I learn in class to a field that I'm so passionate about.
Two of my favorite things in life - learning about meteorology and drinking coffee!
Outside of class, I've been researching study abroad opportunities, looking at potential meteorology internships and research positions, applying to numerous scholarships and fellowships, and reading a LOT of meteorology literature and books. That's what I do in my free time… how much of a nerd am I?!? I suppose the takeaway from this term is being true to myself and focusing on what truly excites me academically. For me, that's been taking time to read up on all things meteorology even if I'm not formally learning the material in a classroom. It's what I love, and I hope you can find what excites you as well! Farewell for now, but I will be back before you know it!
This is my final term before senior year, which is both exciting and terrifying at the same time. One thing I am excited about is the classes I am taking this term, so let me tell you more!
This is part two of me "nerding out" about my honors thesis! If you want to learn more about independent projects, theses, or the humanities at Dartmouth, check it out!
Many small classes at Dartmouth are seminar-style and are the cornerstone of the intellectual exploration and intentionality that define the learning experience at Dartmouth.
Growing up in New England and transitioning to living at Dartmouth, I'm all too familiar with the unpredictability (and beauty) of New England's weather. Let me tell you about it here!
