Julianna Thomson

During my sophomore fall, I was taking an introduction to neuroscience class as well as a religion class. While the neuroscience class was incredibly interesting, I found myself excited to go to my religion class. This class on the Protestant Reformation, opened my eyes to the incredibly diverse and inter-connected would of religious academia. I discovered an intersection of art, history, government, and politics, to name a few, and I was hooked. After that term, I dropped my neuroscience major and decided to pursue a study of Religion. Let’s just say I haven’t looked back! As a religion major, I have learned how, and the importance of, communicating with people who come from different background than myself, and who have different beliefs than myself.

While I’m still involved with varsity athletics, sophomore fall was a changing point in my experience as an athlete. I had just decided to step away from the basketball team – a sport that I had played almost my whole life! At the time this blog post was published, I was preparing to try-out for the track and field team. September of my sophomore year was a steep learning curve as I adjusted to a new sport, new team, and new practice schedule. It’s over two years later and I am still learning new things about track and field every day, and looking back, I was so nervous and anxious about starting something new. I would love to tell myself sophomore year self to embrace the learning process (whether that’s inside or outside of the classroom) and enjoy every moment of doing something you love!

When my first blog post was published, I was preparing to enter the rush process and join Greek life here at Dartmouth. Entering the some-what intimidating rush process, I had no idea that through my sorority I would come to meet some of my classmates, roommates, teammates, and life-long friends. My sorority has been a constant place of joy and encouragement since I joined my sophomore fall!