Hi everyone! I'm Rika, a semi-international '28 from Japan, India, and Malaysia. I'm interested in studying women, gender, and sexuality studies, as well as public policy, global health, and biology while also being on the pre-health track! In my free time, I love to read books, cook and bake, play violin, spend time with animals, be sarcastic, and drink hot drinks (especially teas)! I'm so excited to share my exploration of Dartmouth with everyone :)
Academic Program
Intended WGSS on the Pre-Health track
Favorite Thing Right Now
Decorating my dorm to make it more homey! Also the FOCO ice cream bar :)
Sex, Gender, and Society is a class in the Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies (WGSS) department. It focuses on how gender and sexuality are represented in the media and explores different ways society shapes our perspectives. This discussion-based class features multiple group projects, which allowed me to meet and interact with many of my classmates, which was super helpful in my first term! Fun fact: this class taught me how to plan, film, and edit a podcast on campus!
In this class, we explored the different contemporary meanings of the 4 concepts; love, romance, intimacy and dating. What did they look like at Dartmouth? How were they represented or defined in scholarly research? Why are they important to the world and human interaction? Our classes consisted of thoughtful discussions, insightful lectures, and even primary research. The final project was a research paper that featured the data we collected as a class. It was a wonderful course that introduced me to the world of sociology and qualitative research!
There's a certain kind of buzz that starts to build on-campus asGreen Key approaches—a kind of electricity that makes even the most tired student perk up a little. This year, I got to experience my very first Green Key not just as a student but as a member of the Programming Board (PB), the student organization responsible for planning the entire weekend. Spoiler alert: it was one of the best days I've had at Dartmouth so far.
Green Key is Dartmouth's annual spring music festival, and it's a huge part of campus culture. The whole weekend is filled with energy, sunshine (well, usually), and performances that bring the community together—this year from Ferg and Jay Sean. Although it was just one night, the road to that stage was months in the making, and I got to be part of it from start to finish.
As a member of PB, I was involved in every step of the planning process. We spent weeks collecting survey responses from the student body to gauge interest in different artists, reaching out to agencies, managing contracts and logistics, and helping organize ticketing and wristband distribution. Throughout the year, our board also hosted the hilarious Mekki Leeper for a comedy show and brought inLaundry Day for a winter concert, but Green Key is on a whole different level in terms of scale.
The PB gang with Jay Sean!
Getting to see how much work goes into putting on a campus-wide concert was eye-opening and surprisingly fun. There's something so satisfying about the chaos of setup and the last-minute problem-solving it requires, like when we had to pivot due to what was arguably the worst weather of the term. Right when the concert was supposed to start, the skies opened up with heavy rain and even lightning, forcing us to delay for nearly an hour. At that moment, I wasn't sure how the rest of the night would unfold.
But after the storm, quite literally, came a rainbow. The clouds cleared, the lights turned on, and Gold Coast Lawn took on new life. Watching hundreds of students dance and sing along to Jay Sean's "Down" and Ferg's set under the stars was unforgettable. All of the emails, meetings, and rain delays faded into the background as I stood there soaking in the music, the crowd, and the joy of it all.
The rainbow! (Ft. Jay Sean's Trailer)
Green Key wasn't just a concert—it was a celebration of the end of a long term, of community, and of the power of students coming together to make something incredible happen. I feel so lucky that my first Green Key happened from both the lawn and backstage, and I already can't wait to do it all again next year.
Despite Dartmouth being on the periphery of the broader Northeast region, its access to major transportation hubs makes travel stress-free. But, how can students without a car see the rest of New England?
