Jenny Chen

With all of the study rooms already booked in Baker-Berry library, my friend and I turned to the less popular Haldeman and Kemeny buildings to find a space where we could study together. Since those buildings are used by the math department, and neither one of us has taken a math class at Dartmouth, we spent a bit of time exploring around as we opened study room after study room, only to find them already occupied. We were quite ready to give up when we stumbled into this huge lecture room – an empty one, too. There was so much blackboard space to write our chemical equations and synthesis maps on with clean white chalk, it made studying bearable.  

Before heading to the aforementioned study session, we walked by Novack, where the Dartmouth Tae Kwon Do team was selling Thai bubble tea! Even though they ran out of bubbles, I still bought a drink because I had never had Thai tea before and was curious to see how it tasted. It was quite delicious! If you're ever craving a sweet treat or snack, there are usually student organizations selling goods, either for charity fundraisers or to go towards maintaining their club. 

With just a few hours before our final project for GOVT 19 was due, my group was still confused about how to calculate the standard errors for a certain term in our model, given that we had not learned it in class. Having already emailed our professor and awaiting his response, one of my group members suggested that we talk to the Quantitative Social Science (QSS) librarians, who can be found in the first floor of Berry Library. I had not even known that there were librarians that we could consult about issues we were having with our code. It’s definitely nice to realize how many resources there are when you need some help.

Green 2 Go is a program that reduces the amount of take-out containers used by students. To start, students can pay $4 for a carabiner that can then be exchanged for a “to go” plastic container when they want to take food out of the Class of ’53 Commons, and now the dining hall at the Hopkins Center for the Arts as well. After using the plastic container, it can be dropped off at a variety of locations all around campus and students will receive the carabiner once again. And repeat! I think this is an ingenious idea, and it’s actually been very convenient. During my freshman fall, I was on the meal plan that includes 20 swipes to the Class of ’53 Commons so I took advantage by using the “to go” option when I had somewhere else to be. In the spring, it was also nice to have the option to take the food outside and sit on the Green.

King Arthur Flour is a café in the Baker-Berry library, and it’s a popular spot for coffee fanatics and dependents. If you bring your own mug, you receive a 25-cent discount, and every eighth person in line with their own mug gets their drink for free! One of my friends has already gotten three free drinks this term as a result. Since my sister just gave me a mug small enough for KAF drinks, I’m going to start using that instead of their disposable cups.

At the end of last year, when students may have extra DBA (dining dollars), there was an option to donate a certain amount of money towards a fund that would buy the incoming class reusable sporks. My House Community, North Park, was even giving out a few customized sporks during their spirit week. Instead of constantly taking plastic utensils for every meal, you can simply whip out your handy three-in-one spork! In addition to the sporks at Collis Center, which can be bought with DBA, there are also reusable straws because plastic straws (which used to be in each Collis smoothie) were phased out last year.