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!
Money has always been an issue for me and my family, and those concerns were a big priority of mine when I was searching for a college. I've talked about the financial aid aspect of Dartmouth in some other blog posts that I highly recommend you check out (after reading this one of course), so I won't be going into detail about that there. However, I do want to talk about having a job, or in my case, having a few jobs as a college student. I will be 100% transparent when I say that, of the four "jobs" I have here at Dartmouth, none of them seem like actual jobs to me. They aren't chores or tasks for me to complete on a daily basis. Instead, they are positions that I sought out that truly make me a well-rounded student. Having a job here is a unique experience from my perspective, and each job I have is special to me in its own way:
Blogger for Dartmouth Admissions
Of course I must list this one first… how could I not?! Doing this blog has been one of the best experiences of my Dartmouth career so far, and I'm genuinely grateful to have this position. I write one blog post per week throughout the ten-week term along with some training sessions and fun get-togethers with the other bloggers. I truly do not view this as a "job" in the traditional meaning of the word. This blog is a way for me to display my true Dartmouth experience, portray how I'm growing as a person, and perhaps touching some lives along the way.
Me and my fellow bloggers!
Weather Observer at the Shattuck Observatory
Working at the Shattuck observatory taking weather observations is a position I've had since my first few days on campus during the FYSEP program. Since I was a kid, I've always been utterly fascinated with all aspects of the weather, and still can't believe I have a job taking weather observations. It's certainly a step-up from working at the fast-food restaurant as a highschooler. Every time I walk to the observatory, I'm reminded of just how grateful I should be to have the job. I record temperature and precipitation observations daily, and it's a great way for me to disconnect for a few minutes of my day.
Walking to this place everyday is therapeutic, I mean, just look at it!
Academic Skills Center Meteorology Tutor
One of my more recent endeavors is taking on the role of the meteorology (study of the weather) tutor for the Academic Skills Center. (I told you, I absolutely love learning about the weather!) I took the Dartmouth meteorology class my first term on campus, and I loved it. So much, in fact, that I was able to become a tutor. Not only do I get to help students learn about the science behind the weather but working as a tutor helps reinforce my knowledge of the subject as well. I hold three one-hour sessions per week along with some training meetings through the week as well.
Grader for Math 13 – Calculus of Vector Valued Functions
The most recent position I've taken on is the role of the math 13 grader for the Dartmouth math department. I really enjoyed this math class I took back in the spring of 2022. It was a challenging and rigorous course, but it was taught by a professor that absolutely loved the material which made the class so much more enjoyable. There are weekly problem sets that the class turns in that I'm responsible for grading. Since I'm not currently taking a math class, I'm glad I can read through the grading material so that I refamiliarize myself with some of the content. It's a really good position that is flexible, and I can work according to my schedule!
I will not include research positions as a part of my list of jobs here on campus (I think that subject requires a blog post of its own!). These four jobs are more than enough to keep me financially stable throughout the academic year, and they give me a sense of financial security – which is something that I haven't had in a very long time. I want to stress the point that these positions really do not feel like jobs – they are more like activities that I really enjoy doing. Having a "job" here at Dartmouth really isn't what you would expect, and I'm so grateful to have the positions that I do.
Planning on visiting Dartmouth as a prospective student or an interested person wanting to see our beautiful campus? In this post, I share insider tips to ensure your visit is fulfilled!
As I approach the halfway mark of my Dartmouth journey this spring, I find myself reflecting on the significance of distributive and world culture requirements in shaping my academic experience.
Witnessing an eclipse was one of the most exciting days in my life to date, and a solid reminder of our place in this universe. Read on to hear about it!
Coming back from Spring break usually means coming back to an entirely different campus than the one you left in the Winter – but that was not the case this year! Read on to hear more...
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!
