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 past winter term was filled with pleasant surprises. I formed new connections with some amazing people that I know I'll never forget. Academics were rigorous, but I loved the challenge that continually stood before me. A mix of personal obligations and deadlines put a strain on my mental health. Looking back, I wouldn't change a single part of what I went through because I know the events that happened over the past few months are meant to teach me a lesson. I woke up each morning with a different time on my alarm clock, went to bed at drastically different times, and found myself mentally wandering throughout the day. A simple solution to many of the problems I faced during winter term could have been sticking to a daily routine.
Just to give you some insight into my personality, I've always adopted the mindset of taking control of everything in my life. It has worked out pretty darn well for me up until this point. What I've begun to realize over the past few weeks is that there are many things you can't have direct control over. It's a dangerous thing to try and take the reigns on all aspects of your life. If you're like me, then you try to analyze all the different outcomes of certain situations and act like you're in the driver's seat. This mindset has been truly detrimental to my mental health over the past few months. I think a huge aspect of maturing in life is realizing there are only a handful of things that you are truly in control of. In the vast scheme of life, you are powerless. You are responsible for prioritizing the happiness and mental success of yourself and those you love, and beyond that, you can't control the flow of the universe. My uncle put it eloquently, "In life, you can't let the tail wag the dog." That's just my case, I've let life live me instead of living my own life.
That's a bit much, but let me give you a few examples of what I'm talking about. During winter term, when I would be preparing for some kind of exam or paper, I would tell myself, "You can only be satisfied if you get an A- or higher, anything lower than that and you don't meet your standards." The dangerous part of this statement comes with me believing I am in total control of the grade I would receive on that assignment. In reality, I should be saying, "I will study for a minimum of 3 hours per day leading up to this exam, and I will do the best on it and that's all I can hope for." This is an attainable goal. It's what I can control. Something I compare this to is my fishing life. Often, I will set goals for myself during the beginning of the year like, "I challenge myself to catch a 10-pound bass this summer." Is that a realistic, attainable goal that I could achieve? Sure. Do I have immediate control over that outcome? Nope, not at all. Again, what I should be saying is, "I challenge myself to make time to go fishing at least five times per month this summer." That is an immediate goal that I can control. One more example: If I text a friend to hang out with me or study with me that night, and the response is "no," I immediately assume there is something I can do to change that, or they said no because they don't want to be around me. I think that's another problem that stems from assuming I'm in control of everything in my life, and this isn't true. In reality, I should understand that people have lives and commitments and it's never personal.
I think the issues I've outlined to you thus far can be combatted by adopting a routine and incorporating a mindset that prioritizes my mental health and one that helps me think logically. Here, I am going to formally challenge myself to adopt a morning routine that consists of meditation, contemplation, and physical/mental exercise. That way, I can digest the upcoming day already prioritizing things in my immediate control. I believe this will be revolutionary for me. I haven't done anything like this before, but it starts the morning of Monday, March 28th, 2022 – the start of spring term. I will take a few sentences during each of my blog posts this upcoming term to hold myself accountable to maintain this routine. I know you all will stick with me.
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!
