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!
First, I've got to acknowledge just how beautiful campus looks after the recent snowfall. Each season brings its own unique spin to the wonder of Dartmouth's campus, but winter term has a different feel. The snow blankets everything – from the bare branches of the deciduous trees across campus to the pine needles on the conifers that paint the surrounding hills. I'll include a few more photos below; you're welcome!
Now let's get down to business. I wanted to talk about my experience with Greek life on campus. In particular, I wanted to frame my experience through the lens of an introverted person. I also wanted to clear up some misconceptions about making friends at Dartmouth. To make a very long story short, I figured out that Greek life wasn't for me. During my freshman year, I heard a lot about what "rushing" was, the process of formally joining a Greek space, but I didn't get give it much thought after that. I knew I didn't want to be around alcohol, and I've always been a low-key kind of person. That's just who I am. That being said, there was a Greek space on campus that seemed it might align with my values. I joined in the fall of 2022, but it didn't last too long.
I spent that entire term as a part of a fraternity, and I'm glad I had the experience. But the truth is, it's simply not for me. In my experience, being a part of a fraternity meant having a fairly big time-commitment, participating in "high-strung" events like rather loud parties (without alcohol), planning events, etc. There were good elements to the Greek space I was involved in – a bond with the other members, "family" meals, and a good support group. In the end, the cons outweighed the pros, and I decided to resign from the fraternity, and I made the right decision. Although a good amount of the undergraduate population is affiliated with some Greek organization, there are a lot of people who aren't. It turns out, you absolutely don't need to be involved in Greek life to make awesome connections and form an awesome friend group.
The closest friends that I've made at Dartmouth have nothing to do with any kind of Greek life experience. Part of why I chose to go to Dartmouth was that it's small, and I love that about this place. You don't have to over-exert yourself to make friends here. From my experience, whether it be through classes, extracurricular activities, study groups, etc., it's been fairly stress-free to make connections. Keep in mind, this is coming from someone who would much rather stay in his dorm, read a book, and drink some coffee rather than go out to a party. The point is, I'm an introverted person and I appreciate my alone time. Still, I don't feel isolated because there are plenty of opportunities to be social and make friends. In my mind, it's truly not something that's worth stressing over. Of course, put yourself out there, talk to people, and, most importantly, be kind to someone. You'll be surprised just how big of an impression kindness can have on someone here!
Now, enjoy the photos of the beautiful snow that I mentioned:
View from the Shattuck Observatory after the recent snowstorm!
Just look at those trees!
Nice view of the Hopkins Center's (the Hop) smokestack!
This is a beautiful little trail just beside my apartment
In addition to blogging, I work as a Fellow for the Tucker Center, which focuses on promoting spiritual and ethical life on campus. As part of this role, I'm leading the Interfaith Alternative Spring Break Trip. Read on to learn more about my work!
