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Q:

Which religious services are offered at Dartmouth? Is there a church or chapel or any other social group to feel connected to your faith?

A: Student smiling holding Dartmouth banner

Students can choose to partake in school-organized services, events, or gatherings as well as external ministeries and Upper Valley communities.

The Tucker Center for Spiritual Life is where you can find virtually anything related to spirituality. The center itself offers pastoral counseling, programming, and other on-campus experiential learning opportunities for you to explore and question the role of faith in your life. I've gone to a bunch of events myself and always enjoy my time there! I've even written a post about the Tucker Center before, which you can check out here. The website itself is also a fantastic resource to see what and how various religions are represented at Dartmouth—each of the 5 major spiritual traditions (Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Judaism) has a page for student/ school-connected groups and external places/events of worship. For example, looking through the Judaism page will give you links to Dartmouth College Hillel and Chabad at Dartmouth, as well as three external communities that co-exist with the Upper Valley. Going to the Islamic student page will direct you to the site for Dartmouth College's Muslim Student Association (Al-Nur), where you can find when Jummah takes place and how to get involved with the Dartmouth community. Another page can give you resources on how to find UV places of worship.

 Since I'm a Christian, I've done a lot of digging on churches and know that there are a number of Christian churches in the area that students can attend on top of student groups and even intercollege ministries like Christian Union, Intervarsity, or Alabaster Group. In my freshman year, I've gone to a lot of Agape and Christian Union events and have made a ton of friends in the Christian community here at Dartmouth. Additionally, I've made so many friends and met so many people at the Tucker Center who have different religious worldviews and who willingly engage in humble, thoughtful, and even vulnerable conversation with me, a newcomer freshman! All in all, I've found great support groups, both in and outside of my religious network, that keep me accountable, help further me in my faith, and give me the space and time to think about spirituality in a busy lifestyle that doesn't necessarily seem conducive for spiritual inquiry. 

So for all my '24s and future prospective students who are wondering how religion can fit into their life at Dartmouth, my advice is to not worry! There will be many opportunities during orientation week and beyond for you to get plugged in and to learn about everything. And if you find that there is something that isn't represented, you can also start that initative! Our religious landscape is always changing and there are funds and spaces for our campus to continually grow with our future classes. College is a great time for you to branch out and discover what you truly value in life, and there are definitely ways for you to explore that here at Dartmouth.
 

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