Hello! My name is Mario and I'm a Dartmouth '28. I am double majoring in government and economics with a concentration in international relations. I love to spend my free time swimming at the Connecticut River or skiing at the Dartmouth Skiway with friends!
German was absolutely one of my favorite courses Freshman Fall. German, like many other languages at Dartmouth, are taught in small, tight-knit classes that help students become comfortable practicing a language while receiving support from your fellow students. This course was incredibly interactive between students and the professor with activities ranging from role-playing buying a house to having improvised acted conversation mid-class. If you're looking for a class with a small group of people that's very interactive and fun, you should look no further than GERM 1!
ENGS 12 was an incredibly fun and fulfilling course during Freshman Winter. It consists on learning how the design process works when it's centered to address specific human needs. This course teaches you several new skills such as using photoshop, video editing, working with foamcore, sewing, and more. It's such a fun course to make new friends through group projects, learn new skills, and a adopt a new mindset for analyzing your ideas. Specially, it provides you with the tools to bring your craziest ideas to life!
Weapons of Mass Destruction was my favorite class during Spring Term. Throughout this class, I got a chance to learn the theories behind the use and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Specifically, I studied the origins and taboo surrounding nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. Ultimately, I applied my theoretical knowledge to a prospective scenario where I evaluated the likelihood of Saudi Arabia's obtaining nuclear weapons. Incredibly fun class with lots of discussions with between the professor and the students.
Growth and its Critics was my favorite class during sophomore Fall. In this course, I studied the theories and arguments behind population growth, economic growth, pollution, and technological innovation. The class was taught by Professor Henry Clark—a brilliant and incredibly dedicated professor. I enjoyed the course's center on current political-economic issues as well as the ability of students to discuss their various points of views with the professor and other students. Incredibly insightful and fun class!
The first class I took this term was a creative writing class focused on reading and writing fiction. Primarily, I was very excited to take this class because I had no prior experience in story writing and I was eager to learn more about writing my own stories.
However, how does this eagerness translate into the classroom, you might ask. Well, this translates into three different ways. First, my fellow students and I focused on reading various short story fictional pieces and then evaluating them as writers—we would judge the story's structure, language, pacing, imagery, etc. We used this analysis to see which strategies we would like to adopt to write our own stories.
Second, we wrote several short stories ranging from different topics such as a 'world-building' story, or a 'romance story with an unexpected twist,' or a short story from 'eavesdropping.' Prof. Katherine Crouch, a New York Times bestselling author, would encourage us to try different structures to push us out of our comfort zones to grow as writers.
Third, my classmates and I had to write a short story from beginning to end—approximately 5-8 pages. However, we would not write the story alone. Prof. Crouch prompted us to share a rough draft with the classroom every class towards the end of the term to get feedback from our peers on how they understood our story and how we could improve it.
Ultimately, I was able to write a short story using a third-close narrator about a soldier's experience going to war. While the story may not be New York Times bestselling quality, I am proud of myself for leaving my comfort zone and trying out a class to gain a new skill that has transformed into a hobby!!
Side note, this is Mickey—Prof. Crouch's mini poodle—who became our unofficial class mascot. He would be present at almost every one of our classes ready to cheer us up with his antics!
Another class I decided to take this term was ECON 22: Intermediate Macroeconomics. I was prompted to take this class because of a class I took during my sophomore fall term called 'Growth and its Critics' taught by Prof. Henry Clark. Growth and its Critics focused on the different theories of population growth, economic growth, and environmental sustainability. I found the aspect of economic growth so fascinating that I decided to take a class on intermediate macroeconomics to understand how the economy works in general as well as gain a practical understanding to the theories I learned about during Prof. Clark's class.
In this class I focused on learning various aspects about macroeconomics such as GDP, economic growth in the long run, how the economy runs in its various business cycles, how financial markets serve as intermediaries to distribute loanable funds, foreign currency exchange and more.
This amazing class, taught by the equally amazing Prof. James Feyrer, solidified my decision to become an economics major and pursue a sequence of economic classesfocused on open-ended macroeconomics—in other less technical words, how macroeconomics works in the world economy. Now, I am a student double majoring in Government and Economics!
This is Prof. Feyrer, who is also the chairman of the Economics Department, teaching us about short-run adjustments in various markets and aggregate output, which are also called business cycles.
Another class I decided to take this winter term was microeconomics—alongside macroeconomics—to work towards finishing my economics major requirements. In this class, I focused on learning individual consumer and producer theory. In other words, I focused on learning how individuals' choices are constrained by their monetary budgets and individual preferences while firms are constrained by various types of production costs.
I enjoyed this class because I learned about the production process, the origin of the supply and demand curves we use in macroeconomics, and the various types of industries in the market from monopolies, oligopolies, and perfectly competitive markets.
Prof. Petre teaching us about perfect complements and perfect substitutes in consumer theory!
Since 1911, Dartmouth has hosted the annual Winter Carnival. This year, we celebrated the 116th Winter Carnival, The Blizzard of Oz, filled with winter-themed activities and campus wide fun!
Ah, college—a new beginning. Read on to hear what the transition was like for me, from being a nervous but excited high school senior to slowly settling into college life.
Winters at Dartmouth are beautiful, but if you're coming from a warmer climate, winter can also feel a little intimidating. Know that you're not alone! This guide covers how to best prepare for the season.
