LOBSTER

Tonight was the Lobster Dinner. The Alumni Association (now becoming one with the Alumni Council, thanks to a an in-depth update by an alum sitting at my table) holds the dinner every year to welcome the graduating class into the Alumni family. Although joining this family is not something current seniors are looking forward to at all, the dinner is a highly anticipated event.

The Lobster Dinner is the most highly attended event by a given class throughout its four years at Dartmouth - besides Graduation, of course. Tonight it was clear why this was the case; the Alumni Association went all-out! The event was held in the Leverone Fieldhouse, our indoor track, and the building was packed. Free drinks, free lobster, free presents, and the company of all your classmates was definitely a big enough draw to woo over 800 of the 1000 graduating seniors down to the field house.

At Dartmouth, jeans and a t-shirt are standard fare for men and women alike, but we were all informed in our online invite that slightly more dressy attire was required for this evening. The night was a bit overwhelming but still a lot of fun. Seeing all my classmates all in one place resulted in en masse interrogations of “where have you been since Sophomore summer?” and “Remember when we (insert miscellaneous adventure here)?”

I went to the dinner with my closest friends, and while we all sat together, it was also wonderful to meet and reconnect with the people we hadn’t seen since last term, Junior fall, or sometimes even freshman year.

At our table, we reminisced about where Dartmouth’s four years had taken us and how by June of your Senior year, you really do know everyone in your class. Perhaps not by name or personal interaction, but definitely by sight or anecdote. For this reason, it really does mean that Dartmouth is more than just your college, but has become instead what the alums have promised us: The Dartmouth Family.