A greenhouse full of bright green plants.

Matthew Monroe

Class of 2027
A selfie of a young man smiling. He has brown hair, a red beard, and is wearing a blue hoodie.
Bio 

Hey everybody! My name is Matthew, and I'm a '27 from Florida interested in majoring in Chemistry or Biology (not quite sure yet!). Outside of the classroom, I plan on being involved in Dartmouth's theatre scene and outdoor programs! In the future, I'm hoping to merge my passions for scientific discovery and teaching others by becoming a professor. I can't wait to be a part of everything Dartmouth has to offer, and I hope you enjoy coming along for the ride!

Academic Program 

Biology

Favorite Thing Right Now 

Sherman Library Vault Room

Hometown 

Ormond Beach, Florida

Pronouns 

He/Him

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Matthew's D-Plan

What's a D-Plan?

    • FallHanover, NH

      Favorite Class: CHIN 01: First Year Courses in Chinese

      During my first term, I wanted to try something completely new—and start working on fulfilling some of the distributive requirements. Two birds with one stone, right? To accomplish this, I enrolled in the first of three introductory Chinese language courses. Taking a fun and informative class with an interesting subject matter—and a stellar professor—has made this term fantastic! I can't wait to see what's in store over the next two terms. I also have a full blog post about my first-year language experience if you're interested in learning more!

    • Winter Hanover, NH

      Favorite Class: ENGL 07.16: Investigative Memoir

      As a STEM major, I never really saw myself taking English classes while in college. However, at Dartmouth, you must take a first-year writing sequence, which can include a writing and seminar class from any department. I ended up taking the English department offering, and it was an amazing experience. I learned so much more about how storytelling works and how we can alter the presentation of a story to completely change the way it is received by an audience. I also loved the practical aspects of this class, like writing a mini-memoir story every few weeks based on a theme and getting critical feedback from my classmates. I learned a lot more about the process of storytelling, but also about myself and the way I perceive my own experiences.

    • SpringHanover, NH

      Favorite Class:  BIOL 026: Global Change Biology

      This term, I ended up taking two biology classes, which is definitely a pretty big workload, but I had a great time and felt like I really lucked out with the classes I ended up in. Global Change Biology gave me the chance to learn about climate change from a biological viewpoint. We talked about a number of different climate change-related topics, and we learned about one new large climate change topic each week. This was also an R-focused class, so we spent one day a week learning new skills in the programming language and then had a fun coding assignment each week that used data we discussed in class. I felt like I learned a lot more about climate change, but I also developed a lot of R skills that are very helpful for research and other Bio classes. In combination with the ecology class I took this term, I’d say that this class helped me decide on my major once and for all!

    • SummerHanover, NH

      I spent the summer after my first year living in an off-campus apartment in Hanover and doing full-time research in the Biology department. I also continued my work in the admissions office as a tour guide and a leader for Dartmouth Bound! It was a great summer, and if you want to learn more about my research internship, I have a blog post about it.

Extra Extracurriculars

This term, I'm ramping up my extracurricular involvement by checking out as many clubs as possible.

  1. No. 1

    Irish Dance

    Having a tap-dancing background, Irish Dance has always been something I’ve wanted to try. Well, now I can say that I have, and it’s a lot of fun. Irish Dance meets once a week in the Alumni Gym to learn new steps, practice routines, and put together fun group dances. It’s a great workout (my calves were on fire the following day) and a delightful way to improve your balance, learn fun routines, and get to know other people with similar interests.

     

  2. No. 2

    Club Nordic Ski

    A picture of a vast snow covered landscape beyond a wooden fence.

    Before coming to Dartmouth, I had never really skied. Although I’ve yet to hit the Dartmouth Skiway, this past week, I made the trek into Pine Park to Headcorders, the meeting spot for Dartmouth Club Nordic. Nordic (or cross-country) skiing is very different from what a Floridian such as myself would typically imagine skiing to be. After suiting up, hitting the (moderately uphill) slope, and falling down about a dozen times, I finally started to get the hang of it. It’s tough, and I’m really bad at it, yet it’s so fun that I’m determined to improve. I’ve even started using some of the Nordic ski-geared workout equipment in the student fitness center! Hopefully, next time, I can make it around the loop with a few fewer scrapes.

     

  3. No. 3

    Timber Team

    After I was accepted to Dartmouth, I went through a very long waiting phase where I got really excited about all of the minutiae of college. I remember walking around campus on Google Earth, hunting through the Wikipedia pages for new facts about the school, and spending who knows how many hours reading through blog posts (very full circle). On this search, I came across the Dartmouth Timber Sports Team and knew I had to try it. Timber Team is both a chill extracurricular club and an actual team that competes at regional Timber Sports events. At practices, club members learn to saw logs, split wood (my favorite activity), build fires, and even throw axes. Then, once a term, they head to a competition with other New England schools. Although my hands were freezing and I ended up very, very sweaty, I had a fantastic time. Despite being very exerting, chopping wood is somehow quite calming. Every time I’ve felt stressed the past few days, I’ve found myself wishing there was a log nearby I could turn into firewood. I’m taking this newfound appreciation for cellulose a bit further and getting certified to use Dartmouth’s woodshop next week, so if anything exciting comes of that, I’ll be sure to post about it! 

     

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