First, I'll explain who I am. I'm Nicholas Sugiarto, a '23 from San Diego, California. Second, a quick disclaimer. I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing. Prior to Dartmouth, I've never hiked, skied, or seen snow. So yeah, you could say that Dartmouth is quite a bit different from what I'm used to. You'll probably find me on campus lost. I have no sense of direction. Please help.
A class studying how Christian language has permeated into how we as a society talk about economics. I have virtually no interest in either field as a major, nor am I really religious, but the class is super fun! It challenges you to think in ways that aren't outstandingly obvious, but get more and more interesting if you're willing to put the time in to thinking about them. It's by no means your traditional class. At least in the high school I came from, the idea of dedicating an entire term to a topic as niche as this is unheard of. But honestly? That just makes it so much more fulfilling. Like most Dartmouth classes, there's a ton of freedom to explore topics that interest you. For my final term paper, since I'm a huge hip hop fan, I wrote about the religious and economic underpinnings of Kendrick Lamar's "How Much a Dollar Cost." Without diving too deep into the jargon, I argued that money according to Kendrick Lamar, is defined by Western capitalism heavily intertwined with American Prosperity Gospel; its true nature, on the other hand, is a form of spiritual exchange. I loved this class so much that I was able to take my professor out to breakfast (on Dartmouth's dime, of course. Quick college lesson, never, ever pay for food. Live life Aladdin style.).
For those that don't know, Writing 5 is a class that's mandated for all Freshman. It helps you adjust to college writing, research, all that good stuff. There's a ton of topics to choose from, ranging from the criminal justice system to how food affects your mind. I personally chose "Pursuit of Happiness" because, well, who doesn't want to be happy? This class was my first intro to what the Dartmouth academic experience is really about. It was a small class of only 16 strong where classes were discussion-based and the professor's door is always open. It goes without saying that the course was immensely interesting (is there really a way to make happiness boring?), and we studied a vast majority of topics from Aristotle to Voltaire to Biochemical research studies. I tell incoming students all the time that if you want to make the most of your Dartmouth experience, take classes that interest you and make what you do with those classes interesting too. There's nothing more painful than having to write a paper on a topic you find absolutely mind-numbingly dull. Given my fascination with stand up comedy, I focused on viewing comedy as a form of happiness, starting from comedy in relation to Camus's absurd, the higher prevalence of mental illness in comedians, and what kind of comedians deserve happiness. Honestly? Even though this class was technically "mandatory," I would have taken it regardless.
This is the class I'm currently taking, and it's by far my favorite. You couldn't tell by my posts, or my favorite classes I listed earlier, but I'm actually a huge STEM guy. I'm a biomedical engineering major for a reason, and Dartmouth classes really make STEM fun. They're also so easy a child could follow them. Literally. I'm using the computer science 1 curriculum to teach my little sister coding. At a slower pace of course. She's not THAT smart (yet). I've never tried coding before, but the task-based approach of the CS department really makes things interesting. So far, we've drawn a children's book/ logo, a chalkboard drawing (I drew the Kanye bear), and a retro pong game. There's something fun about solving puzzles for a grade, and even though the course is admittedly pretty challenging at times, it's so worth it.
Let me make one thing clear. I am, through and through, a STEM major. I'm majoring in biomedical engineering with plans to hopefully pursue an MD/Ph.D, and I am absolutely loving it so far. I'm heavily involved in STEM on campus, and really see myself one day making a career out of it. But that doesn't mean that I'm any less passionate about the humanities, either. This term, I'm taking my first English/Women and Gender Studies course called Gender and Sexuality in Asian American Literature with Professor Eng-Beng Lim. It's the first time I'm taking a course anything like this, and I'm really, really having fun. The most fun part of it? Probably my midterm.
Sounds weird, doesn't it? But that wasn't a joke. Throughout the term, my professor invited various speakers to come into the class and discuss various topics related to Asian America and gender and sexuality, such as poet Megan Fernandes, Professor Ikyo Day, and author Zack Linmark. I've never meant as diverse a group of brilliant people as I have in that class.
A poster from the event!
But that brings us to our midterm. It wasn't a test, or even a term paper. It was actually to organize our own person to bring in, and as a class create an open-to-campus event talking and learning about a topic related to the scope of the class. I was part of the main group spearheading the event, and after 6 weeks of work we organized a Zoom webinar class interview with Slam Poetry Champion, Stanford professor, and just amazing human being Paul Tran.
Now, I know nothing about poetry. In fact, I don't even particularly like poetry. But I had an amazing time talking with them. We as a class probed them on so many interesting facets: what it means to have "generational trauma," the philosophy of "creation," and even just artistic survival. So many nuanced topics unique to poetry, but still applicable to life. It made the stress of organizing the event absolutely worth it.
All this to say that I'm glad that I was wrong, and this is by far the most fulfilling midterm I've ever had. And that's what I love so much about Dartmouth, and the liberal arts experience in the first place. When you think STEM midterm season, the furthest thing from your mind is an informal interview with a slam poetry champion. But this kind of academic freedom is so gratifying to have, and is only possible because of how passionate this school is.
The first year of college comes with its challenges, but it is also an incredibly rewarding and fun period. Here is some advice I wish I knew my first year at Dartmouth.
During my term-long hiatus from blogging, I spent my summer abroad in the Baltic countries. Here's what it was like from a first-gen, low-income perspective.
Linguistics is definitely a bit of a niche field, and most high schools don't offer linguistics classes, so I thought I'd write a post about what the field of linguistics entails and what studying it at Dartmouth is like!
