Hi there! My name is Jenny and I'm a senior at Dartmouth studying biology and quantitative social science. On campus, I also work as a communications intern for the Admissions Office, tutor local high school students through Health Access for All, and mentor freshmen in the Great Issues Scholars LLC. My hobbies include reading (especially dystopian and historical fiction) and embroidering, which I only recently picked up. I hope you enjoy my blog!
I looked forward to this class every week, partly because of the professor and partly due to the content. We read books on a wide variety of topics, ranging from privilege and how it affects our interactions with others to restaurant kitchens and the hierarchies inherent in surgical residencies.
Biol13 is structured so that you have to work as a group on difficult class problems and even on some exams, which was novel to me and pushed me to really understand the material. This class inspired me to pursue research (both off-campus and on-campus) related to genetics.
Although this class was daunting to me in the beginning, given that I had little to no experience in either Women's, Gender, and Sexuality or Art History, it was also one of the classes in which I became the most engaged in. For our final project, I investigated the history of allegories in Western art and why they were so often portrayed as women.
SummerOff Campus
I interned at Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, MA under Dr. Livingston. I explored the mechanism by which BRCA1 acts as a tumor suppressor. It was really rewarding to be able to apply what I had learned in Biol13, including specific procedures and techniques we had been tested on, to a real-life laboratory setting.
This class is notorious for its difficulty, and I would not call it an easy class. Nonetheless, it was my favorite class because I loved Professor Jacobi, who has taught at Dartmouth for 22 years, and I appreciated learning mechanisms behind why certain reactions happen. Instead of rote memorization, this class relied on being able to predict the products of a reaction, a skill picked up from lots of practice.
Although this was an introductory class, Professor Craig made it more dynamic and interactive, with several visits to the Hood Museum of Art, ethnography labs, and weekly discussion posts. I learned about everything from the Gebusi culture and their rites of passage to the opioid epidemic. For my final paper, I conducted an ethnography studying the social dynamics that take place in Baker Lobby and how that relates to the exchange of capital.
Though I had taken four years of computer science before (mostly in middle school), I did not have a very good experience with coding prior to taking CS1. However, the professor was one of the best professors I have had, explaining jargon in understandable ways and even giving out chocolate bars to students who answered the most difficult questions she would ask in class. I was certain that there was no way I would be able to create the lab assignments (such as a revolving solar system animation and map of Dartmouth that calculated the shortest possible route between two points), but she enabled all of us to through exercises, short assignments, and exams.
I took this class for a distributive requirement and ended up loving it. Each student was assigned a day to present on a certain topic - mine being patriarchy. I decided to analyze relationships in Crazy Rich Asians through a lens of the patriarchal bargain. We explored transgender issues, the history of feminism, gender identity, and so much more. Would highly recommend!
As someone who didn't know the rules to pretty much any sport, I tentatively signed up for this class. However, the professors made it clear that everyone had a different sports background, so I never felt at a disadvantage. We used Markov chains to predict winners of tennis matches, analyzed field goals kicks using logit models, and listened to guest speakers from a variety of industries.
WinterOff Campus
I spent the winter at the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health, studying epidemiology and global health. I was first involved on a project using data surveillance and social media to model Ebola outbreaks in the DRC, but as soon as the COVID-19 outbreak started, I transitioned to that. I was even able to publish my first paper!
SpringOff Campus
I was planning to study in Rome for the term and practice my basic Italian skills, but unfortunately the program was canceled. Instead of taking classes, I decided to continue working at my winter internship at NIH. Some of the research I conducted involved analyzing data on excess mortality as a method of estimating the true burden of COVID-19.
A week before class started, right when my family was in the middle of marathoning all eight Harry Potter movies, I received an email from my House Community, North Park. Dartmouth has a total of six House Communities, which are not unlike Gryffindor or Slytherin (minus the talking sorting hat and association with different personality traits). The email advertised the first event of the winter, and to my surprise, it was going to be Harry Potter-themed!
I brought a few of my friends who are also in North Park, and we set out for House Center A (aka the Onion), a building meant for North Park and West House. What we saw when we walked in was beyond expectations. The North Park executive council truly went all out in their decorations, thoroughly decking out the entire place in various Harry Potter paraphernalia. (There was even a Moaning Myrtle in the bathrooms, as we came to discover.) It truly felt like I was teleported to Hogwarts.
They served all sorts of elaborately decorated Harry Potter-inspired finger foods, cupcakes, and cake pops, as well as butterbeer. I’ve personally never gone to Harry Potter World in Florida, but I can’t imagine that the butterbeer I drank could be improved. And what's Hogwarts without a little entertainment? The Dartmouth Association of Magicians
All the treats looked too good to eat!
performed a show, and there were various activities set up all around the Onion, most notably a wand-making station. Not quite as fancy as Ollivander’s, but you would be amazed at what you can make from a wooden stick, glue gun, and paint. I completely forgot how relaxing arts and crafts can be, but evidently, the students and staff who organized this event had not. The event was attended not only by undergraduates, but also graduate students, and the Housing Community events are typically great opportunities to get to know them.
Who knew North Park socks could be so useful?
The first week back can definitely be an adjustment for some, but this was the perfect event to lift my spirits. As we reluctantly ate the adorable snitch cake pops, I could hear lively Harry Potter music playing, people “ooh” and “aah” ing at the magicians, and laughter erupting as the trivia game continued. As an extremely late but now avid fan of the world of Harry Potter, I sincerely appreciate all of the effort put into making this event so much fun and bringing the North Park community together. Harry Potter is, at its core, about an incredible community of students and staff banding together, and in that sense, Dartmouth isn’t very different. Now if only we had time turners…
In a world where proper social distancing is so important, Novack Café has fulfilled a unique desire for current on-campus students; it's a place to study, hang out with friends, and grab a snack—all while staying COVID safe.
The last week of October was especially ~spooky~ as I was able to find more time than usual to enjoy my weekend with friends and the small-town-charm of Hanover.
While the student body at the College may be relatively small, students here recognize that their vote can hold a lot of weight in New Hampshire, a classic swing state.
After walking around campus all day in eye-catching attire, we headed to a Murder Mystery night hosted by Phi Tau (a fraternity) in one of the tents scattered around campus.
My personal visit to Dartmouth was a huge factor in my decision to apply, so in honor of Week 7, I hope this blog post can virtually illustrate some of what Dartmouth has to offer in seven images – worth 7,000 words!
As a member of multiple performance groups on campus, I thought I'd give you a bit of background info on the opportunities here and discuss what we've been up to!
In honor of Veterans Day, I was able to interview student veteran Eugene Lovejoy '22 to hear about his experiences in the United States military and as a Dartmouth student. Read on to learn more!
Each incoming student was assigned to one of the six houses: School House, South House, East Wheelock House, North Park House, Allen House, or the best house (West House).
All the treats looked too good to eat! 
Who knew North Park socks could be so useful? 
