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.
At this point, you've probably heard me say this at least, like, 17 times, but it's still worth repeating again and again. Online schooling is hard. Part of it is the difficulty of teaching yourself at home, but in my case, some of the difficulty is teaching the other people at home.
Now, I have two younger siblings, ages 13 and 7. I've never thought that in writing a blog about my time at Dartmouth, I'd end up talking about them. But, alas, this has what the world has come to I suppose.
This isn't my first time talking about them, by the way. I'm somewhat responsible for their education now, with the whole homeschooling thing and all, so I've been trying to do whatever I can in that regard. A couple weeks back I wrote about performing chemistry experiments with my little sister. At the time, I figured that since Dartmouth was kind enough to send me a free chemistry experiment, I might as well share it with my family. For the past few weeks, this time I figured that if my computer science professor was kind enough to give me a free textbook, well, I might as well share this one with them too.
My CS assignment. Bonus points if you know where this is from!
So a bit of backstory first. I'm a biomedical engineering major, but before I can get into the major courses, I have to first knock out my prerequisites, one of those being Computer Science 1. I could honestly write a whole post about the class itself. The assignments are admittedly more fun than I expected, like building games or drawing images. It's all from a free textbook my professor wrote called https://www.projectpython.net. Check it out. It's actually pretty cool.
My sister has always been interested in code, which is now apparently in almost every elementary school curriculum. Of course, it's just kiddie stuff where it's more rearranging puzzle pieces than actual coding. But part of being a big brother is nurturing their passions, right? (Also, I'll admit that I'm a competitive big brother who wants his little sister to be smarter than other peoples' little sisters). So teaching her actual coding has always been on my list. But, I'm no teacher, so I'd need a lesson plan made for me. Well, why not the free Ivy League-caliber textbook?
My sister's code! It's mostly just print statements at the moment. All of it is Avatar the Last Airbender related. She's been watching it on Netflix and she is really loving it.
I'll be honest. We're still very much in the most basic of the basics. As much as I believe in my sister's abilities, it's still a college-level textbook. And my sister is smart, don't get me wrong, but if my seven year-old sister can master an introductory college course at Dartmouth's breakneck pace, well, I'd drop out of college and coast by as she becomes the next Bill Gates.
But the point is this. The fact that our professor gave us a free textbook of his own design is amazing. I've heard stories of professors at other colleges charging exorbitant prices for the textbooks they themselves write, constantly coming up with new editions for the same reason. And that never sat well with me. Maybe it's the Confucianism talking, but education to me is supposed to be egalitarian. You know, for everyone. And I'm just glad that Dartmouth is different. That the professors there aren't teaching to fill their pockets (though they are paid very handsomely). They're there because they want to teach. And if that means a free textbook for me and my little sister, well, I'm not complaining.
It's easy to forget how easy it is to access walking trails during the hustle of a Dartmouth term. As graduation nears, I am reminded of how special it is to step off campus and enjoy quiet moments in nature.
With a solar eclipse sweeping across North America for the first time in nearly seven years on April 8th came a road-trip with hundreds of other Dartmouth students to a zone of totality near campus: St. Johnsbury, Vermont!
After returning from an enriching study abroad program, I'm diving into a bustling spring semester here at Dartmouth. Here are my four courses I'm taking this term!
