Hi! I'm Reece, and I am '28 from Northern California! I hope to study Government, Policy, and Religion in college but come winter, I'll just be hoping to survive the snow. Outside of classes, I love to read, crochet, and journal, and can't wait to expand on my interests this year. I love the outdoors—but hate hiking—and I can't wait for my first spring on the Green! I hope my blog can help answer your ungoogleable questions, and please follow along for chaos that is bound to ensue!
As a student interested in both government and religion, I was thrilled to take this course in the fall—concurrent with the presidential election. The Professor, Randall Balmer, was a really engaging speaker and a leading expert in the field—he even authored two of the course books! We spent our class time discussing many historical and modern elections and discussed in depth the religious influences on the various figures. Overall, this class was really interesting and a great introduction to the religion major!
There are so many artistic groups on campus; some are audition-based—a capella groups, theater shows, and some dance tropes—while so many others are open to all students (regardless of your major, you can audition for a group or join an art or theatre based club). This term, I participated in my first Callbacks show: a no-audition, no–cut based musical cabaret.
During the second week of term, The Callbacks—the student-based organization—sent out a sign-up sheet to the student body. At first, I didn't think I would perform, but then I saw that a duo needed a third person to play a small part in their song, so I signed up! Over the course of the term, we met up a few times to practice our song together, and then eventually, we met with our accompanist, who was organized and assigned by The Callbacks. Two days before the show, we had our tech rehearsal, where we went through every act and set the lighting cues. After we performed our act, we were able to sit and watch the rest of the performers, and everyone did an amazing job.
Mirror Selfie Post-Tech Rehearsal
On the day of our actual show, we all arrived around an hour and a half before it was set to begin. We all ran through warmups, bows, and our final group number. As the clock hit six pm, we started our show! I stayed in the greenroom—a back room behind the stage—doing homework for most of the show, but then went out into the wings just before it was our turn. I loved watching my friends from the wings and hearing their songs from backstage.
My Friends Waiting in the Wings!
While on stage, I kind of blacked out and don't remember what we did, but I know that we had a blast on stage. I loved performing with The Callbacks this term and will definitely sign up again in the spring!
While many people might associate cold, long, snowy winters with hardship, I've found that winter at Dartmouth is full of potential to be just as fun as other seasons.
In just a month, I went from a complete beginner to a proficient skier, smoothly making my way down the green and blue runs at Dartmouth Skiway. Read about my journey and how I made such rapid progress!
