Welcome! My name is Serena and I'm a '28 from NYC. I'm so excited to be here at Dartmouth and share my experiences with you! On campus you can find me organizing events at Hillel, hosting socials for the women's club frisbee team, trying every single Dartmouth tradition, and yapping in the library. I also love to run, play volleyball, hike, knit, and read fantasy books! If you want to hear about a city kid's adventures in rural New Hampshire, follow along as I experience life in the woods!
In this dynamic class, Visiting Professor Vera Kallenberg taught us a survey of Jewish history and culture from the European enlightenment to the establishment of the State of Israel while also sharing her wealth of knowledge with us! Our small, seminar-style class lent itself to profound conversations around the difficult topics that arose during our discussions. From the Haskalah to discourse around the modern-day Israel-Palestine conflict, our class approached these topics with respect and care for one another. We read historical texts and fascinating personal narratives for homework, and then wove our knowledge about the past and present together in class discussions. What an incredible course!
I absolutely loved this Junior Colloquia English class taught by Professor Beckman. This small, discussion-based class is designed to prepare an English major for the type of work they will do in their Senior year. Professor Beckman is such a brilliant and kindhearted professor, and, especially as the only first-year student in that class, I really benefited from meeting with her in office hours. We read King Lear, The Alchemist, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and The Roaring Girl alongside various other academic papers. I left every class amazed, my brain filled to the brim with new and exciting knowledge about Renaissance literature. I loved engaging in fascinating topics and discussion in this challenging, high-level class!
In this class, we studied fascinating literature from the 18th and 19th centuries in order to explore what the novel as we know it today emerged from. We studied scandalous female libertines, rogue nuns, and other criminal female characters! We started off reading the surveillance chronicle Oroonoko by Aphra Behn, and we also read Anti-Pamela by Eliza Haywood, A Sentimental Journey by Laurence Sterne, and Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe. I loved how Professor Garrison brought every reading to life through a mix of lecture, discussion, and even a book arts workshop visit.
I really enjoyed my first comparative literature class, “Literature and Psychoanalysis.” It was evident that Professor Kritzman cared about each and every one of his students. This was my first exposure to psychoanalytic theory, and I loved exploring concepts such as repression, desire, fantasy, truth, what it means to be human, and more. Just some of the authors we read included Freud, Zizek, Woolf, Mann, Kafka, Kristeva, Fanon, Sophocles, and Shakespeare.
Professor Harner is one of the best professors I have had the privilege of taking a class with, and I thoroughly enjoyed Lit History II. She is such a great teacher; she truly cares about you as a student, offers a ton of feedback, and knows so much about the subject she teaches. We studied 17-19th century literature from Britain and America, studying a pivotal decade each week of the term. I would rate this class a 100000/10!
After taking Literary History II with Professor Harner last term, I knew I needed to take another class with her! Not only was I beyond excited to read my first Charles Dickens novel in this class, but I was also ecstatic to be in the presence of Professor Harner’s brilliance, knowledge, and kindness once again. This class was a Junior Colloquium, a high-level English class that culminates in a 12-15 page research paper. We spent the entire term reading only two books, David Copperfield by Charles Dickens and the adaptation Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, while simultaneously reading fascinating papers on literary theory to further our understanding of the texts.
During my 6-week-long winter break, or 'Winterim,' I had the amazing opportunity to visit Berlin and Poland on a Dartmouth study abroad program. This German-Jewish Studies program"Migration and Memory" was a fast-paced and academically rigorous 3-week program in the history of Jews in Berlin's vibrant intellectual, cultural, and political life from the late eighteenth century to the present. This intensive immersion program met daily, with tours of major relevant sites in Berlin and the surrounding areas, including museums, concentration camps, neighborhoods, memorials, and houses of worship. It also included a 5-day trip to Poland. Students stayed with host families all over Berlin. My homestay experience in Wilmersdorf offered me a taste of a very authentic German life.
Hello from Heidelberger Platz! Ana and I took the U-Bahn from this station to class every day.
Thanks to the unique D-Plan, I was able to go on this mini study abroad. I was able to study in a foreign country and earn a class credit, all while staying on campus for my fall, winter, and spring terms. This trip has changed my life for the better. I have made some lifelong friendships (shoutout Darci, Ana, and Kaleigh!!!!!), gained confidence by living in and exploring a foreign city semi-independently, and explored my heritage. I remember countless nights where Darci, Ana, Kaleigh, and I stayed up until 1 am to talk about religion and the differences in our faiths (Jewish and Christian). Aside from these interfaith conversations, we were constantly laughing, joking, and telling each other stories from our lives. I feel that we were able to understand each other on a very deep level.
Brandenburg Gate!
We celebrated Chankuah while in Poland and Berlin. To celebrate, I visited a Chabad in Berlin to pick up a free menorah. During this holiday, I lit the menorah and said the prayers in my homestay and explained to my German host mother about the tradition. It was a surreal, brave, slightly strange, and empowering experience.
I also went to a sufganiyot Hanukkah-themed rave in Berlin with Darci! This event was sponsored by the Berlin Hillel.
Smile!
Hillel at Dartmouth also supported me while abroad by funding the Shabbat dinner Darci and I went to after Friday night services.
In Poland, we visited the Ravensbrück concentration camp and the Warsaw Ghetto. Prior to this trip, I had never been to either of these types of memorial sites. I can't put into words how visceral, upsetting, and devastating these trips were. Although sobering, I believe these were important places to witness, and I feel a renewed commitment to my Jewish identity and a deep respect for my heritage and the perils my ancestors faced. The strength of the Jewish people truly is indomitable.
One of my favorite museums we visited as a class was the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw.
Curious about the requirements needed to complete your plan of study at Dartmouth? Come explore with me what each distributive requirement means at Dartmouth!
As my friends and I navigate complex feelings of nostalgia and excitement, we all have very different senior springs. Find out what I have been working on and what it has taught me!
