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!
Disclaimer: In this post, I will be speaking on behalf of my personal experiences during freshman year. While I intend for you to use this as guidance, you will have your own unique experiences as you enter the Dartmouth world, so please remain open-minded. Also, I will be giving advice through the lens of a STEM-oriented student, so be sure to keep that mind!
I've always been the type to push myself to my limits academically. If there was an opportunity present, I would jump on it—no question. Before I stepped foot on Dartmouth's campus, I had researched ways to get involved in research during my first year. As a person who's interested in climate science and meteorology, I wanted to get started as early as possible. So, the summer before I started my first term, I researched professors at Dartmouth and their research focus. For me, this was the number one priority my freshman year—to gain practical experiences to better my career. I was able to get in contact with a professor in the Earth Sciences department, and we emailed back and forth a bit that summer. When it was time to head to campus for the FYSEP program, I met with him, and we discussed my academic plans. He advised me to take it slow and to really appreciate the flexibility of a liberal arts education my first year—advice that I'm just now starting to resonate with. To be clear, I was dead set on a career in meteorology, and I could tell he knew that. Though that hasn't shifted much, I want to emphasize the importance of exploring your academic interests during your first year. Although this professor, who is now my research advisor, wanted me to take it easy, he knew how eager I was.
I was able to take a class with my research advisor in the fall, EARS 14: Meteorology, and I fell in love. Later on in fall term, we wrote a research proposal to the Irving Institute for Energy and Society via their mini-grant program that got approved! I spent a good amount of time winter term working on that research, and I presented it later in the spring term. It was a commitment, but I liked the work. At this point in the late fall to early winter, I was debating on whether or not to write another proposal for a URAD research assistantship term that allows you to conduct research with a faculty mentor. I had already applied for outside internships for the summer of 2022 (I'm finishing up my first internship right now), so I decided to take spring term to take a break from the flow of research I had just engaged in. Although I felt I was not maximizing my opportunities, my grades benefited, my mental health improved, and this allowed me to explore my more broad academic interests. I took a government seminar (GOV 7.14) that made me want to pursue a minor in Public Policy (I couldn't imagine not taking this class!). Stepping back and taking a breath was the best decision I made. Not only did it give me a well-deserved break, but I was able to reignite my love for weather and climate science so that I had the motivation to do well in my summer internship!
Here's me presenting research for the mini-grant program!
There are numerous ways to get involved with research your first year at Dartmouth; I just named a few ways—through the mini-grant program and URAD research terms. There are several others that you could easily investigate by doing a quick google search of "Dartmouth Undergraduate Research." When you come on campus, definitely check out the "Dartmouth Undergraduate Research Association" or DURA, which I am an executive member of! We help promote undergraduate research and get students off on the right foot. However, my biggest piece of advice here is to take it slow. Your first term or even year of college is more than getting a leg up on everyone else in your career. Take the time to make friends, go to various events, join clubs, and make memories. You will have plenty of time to pursue your career interests, so remain open-minded and explore anything you want to explore. Then, do some research and get in contact with a few professors whose research interests you think most align with yours, and give them a shout! Everyone at Dartmouth is here to help you, and I'm so grateful for the guidance I got my freshman year!
Every Dartmouth student is required to demonstrate proficiency in a language other than English. Here's my experience navigating the language requirement!
Unlike some other universities, many of the STEM lecture classes at Dartmouth require concurrent enrollment in a laboratory section. What is it like navigating that time as a student?
