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!
We're back! Welcome to the 2023 spring term! I can't believe the class of 2027 has already taken shape. It seems like yesterday I was getting my class of 2025 merch in the mail… my how time flies. I'm almost finished with my second year here at Dartmouth, and it's been nothing short of memorable (just visit some of my past blogs if you don't believe me!). This is going to be a busy term packed with all sorts of adventures that I hope to document throughout the term. For now, I'd like to catch you up on my whereabouts, my plans for this term and beyond, and just lay the groundwork for the next few months.
Let's start off with spring break. It was great to spend some time with family, get a little rest & relaxation, and storm chase of course. I was reminded of why I love what I'm pursuing academically (meteorology), and I reconnected with that passion. My love for weather and climate has been apparent in many of my blogs, and it's been fascinating to see how my interests have evolved over my time here. My blog has kept track of that over the past two years. So, to the class of 2027, I advise you to be open to new academic adventures. Find the things that light you up and chase them (I quite literally chase mine with storm chasing haha).
Managed to capture this pic while on my storm chasing adventures back at home. Look closely. It's actually striking the tree just a couple hundred yards from me!
This is spring term, which means that some of my favorite activities will open back up in the Upper Valley including fishing, golfing, and leisurely walks or a jog across campus. I'll be sure to post as many pictures of the spring vibes as I can throughout the term. I encourage you to find the pastimes that bring you as much joy as these do for me. Dartmouth has a rural campus surrounded by trees, trails, water, and beautiful skies. I highly recommend taking advantage of that during your time here. Even if it's only for a couple minutes, don't underestimate how much a simple walk across campus can do for you. As opposed to a bigger city, Dartmouth is quite literally in the middle of the forest. It's not a con, in fact, I think it's the biggest attribute Dartmouth has!
Can't wait for scenes like these to return here in just a couple of weeks!
I'm also going to be dedicating a bit more time to my research this term analyzing severe storms back in the southern U.S. I'm grateful to say that I was recently awarded the Goldwater Scholarship to help fund my research career in the future. The support I've gotten at Dartmouth through my professors, advisors, and peers helped me achieve this honor. After this spring, I'm planning on going abroad to the Baltic countries! I'll be visiting my grandfather's home country of Latvia, and I'll be spending time in Lithuania and Estonia learning about government and energy. As a first-generation and low-income student, I'm very grateful to have this opportunity. Thinking about the fall term in September, I'm going to have a so-called "off-term" where I'll be pursuing an internship I'm currently lining up!
I very much appreciate you coming along with me during my journey. I can't believe my Dartmouth adventures are almost halfway over, but I've got another two full years of memories to look forward to. Congratulations to the class of 2027, your adventures await you!
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!
As a senior, one of the most exciting things for me is my thesis project. In this blog, I describe how to approach making a senior honors thesis. As Dartmouth focuses on their undergraduate research, many students complete a thesis, so let's dive in!
