Welcome to my page, I am a '27 from central New Hampshire! I came to Dartmouth for the liberal arts curriculum, so I plan to explore the academic disciplines before deciding what to focus on. I am currently looking at environmental science and religion. In addition to blogging, I work as an Interfaith Trip Fellow with the Tucker Center for Spiritual and Ethical Life. I enjoy mountain biking, running, skiing, singing, and drawing.
Academic Program
Intended: pre-health, anthropology, environmental studies, and religion.
This discussion and reading-based class was incredible and relevant! Content ranged from the historical impact of the printing press to AI in the workforce and transhumanism, and all of the topics were grounded in religion and some of the frameworks religion provides. I pondered on ideas from this class all the time.
I was captivated by the first class meeting of the term reading Ovid's 'Metamorphoses' and eventually chose to focus on it for my research paper at the end of the term. All of the readings captivated my attention, however, Kafka, Han's 'The Vegetarian', and Kristeva were the authors that made the biggest impression on me. The class discussions resulted in wonderful insights relevant to humanity at a macro level. My favorite aspect was our professor instructing us to focus on the ideas before picking apart the writing style.
This class made me think about the bigger picture of health in a systems focus. Ultimately this class helped me realize that there are a lot of structural health system challenges in the U.S. and around the world. I particularly liked learning about the histories and anthropological side of things. Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) were my favorite topic in the class because the frameworks are very limited, so some do not receive enough focus and funding.
My Spanish language study abroad was wonderful. In addition to improving my Spanish proficiency, I learned a lot about the culture and history of Spain- especially in the autonomous community (region) of Cantabria where Santander is located. My favorite class on this trip was literature, every class had a different theme relevant to the history and culture of Spain and this was explored with movies, videos, and readings that resulted in some great insights during class discussion. The homestay aspect and excursions bolstered the conversational and cultural aspects of the LSA.
This class sits at the center of the two interests that I have chosen for my modified major, anthropology and environmental studies. There are a few reasons I love this class. First and foremost, there is a SIP fieldwork aspect to it (I wrote a post about this!) which means I can experience local communities and have a tangible impact. Next, my professor has a wonderful design for the content and structure of the class. Also, I am genuinely excited to learn about the content and perspective this course utilizes by considering the many dimensions of disaster. I particularly like exploring the historical factors that turn a scenario into a disaster, and how that can be prevented.
LLCs or, Living Learning Communities, are residential spaces and communities centered around a specific interest or identity. They are one of many spaces students can choose to live during their four years on campus. I'm part of the Interfaith and Great Issues Scholars (GIC) communities and this post dives into how my residential Interfaith LLC has evolved!
If you did not see my LLC post from the fall term, I recommend it as an introduction to our community on the fourth-floor of the Rauner dorm. Our group has continued to grow as a cohesive social unit and our 'adopted' members, friends who do not live on our floor, have gradually started spending even more time with us!
Frequently I find myself in conversations in the common room or going to a meal with friends from the floor. There have also been quite a few birthdays over the winter term, and we have been getting together with cake and other sweets at night to celebrate the birthdays. We went to the snowball fight on the Dartmouth Green as a group, and it was a blast, even though the snow was powder and terrible for snowballs.
We also decided to do an ice sculpture for Winter Carnival (read more about Winter Carnival here), which was a blast, and my woodworking and linoleum block carving experience was helpful for the craftsmanship. There were professional carvers who gave advice and carved some details. As you can see from our photo, the sun coming in from the left side had a huge impact on the sculpture. I am also adding photos I took of some of my other favorite sculptures.
Minion in front of Collis
Astronaut Ice Sculpture in front of McNutt
Lizard Ice Sculpture
Snoopy Ice Sculpture
Dartmouth College Marching Band Sculpture
Class Debate: CHEM 5 vs. PUBPOL 5
Chemistry 5 and Public Policy 5 are some of the most common courses for students in the fourth-floor community during the winter term (other than Writing 5 and first-year seminar). Over winterim (winter break) we were having a debate in our group chat trying to determine which course would be the best. Pubpol 5 has a lot of reading, whereas Chem 5 has lectures, problems, and labs, so each course has its respective challenges. Based on my observations, I would say that the two courses are about on par with each other in terms of rigor. Chem 5 is a fairly common prerequisite course (part of the general chemistry sequence, which is either 5-6 or 11(accelerated) and Pubpol 5 is important for governmental studies but also for people who are looking at the Rockefeller First-Year Fellows program in D.C. which happens in the summer after the first year.
A little chemical reaction in the lab...
Iron Reaction Before
Iron Reaction After
Overall, I'm really enjoying my winter term classes!
Lastly, our Interfaith community was fortunate enough to go on a Dartmouth-sponsored trip to Washington DC over springterim (spring break)! Read more about that trip here!
Most students have to go back to college after Thanksgiving to take their finals, but not at Dartmouth! We have a six-week winter break, known as "winterim!" Let me tell you how I spent my winterim!
Applying early to a university can be overwhelming and confusing. As someone who did not apply to Dartmouth through early decision, here are a couple tips that I could have used when thinking about applying early to a school!
