Will The Women Of Dartmouth Please Stand Up??

This Tuesday was the annual Women of Dartmouth panel, a highly anticipated event subtitled, “Will The Women of Dartmouth Please Stand Up”, where seven senior women share their stories. Every year I look forward to this panel because it is always deeply moving and tremendously inspiring. As a freshman and sophomore at Dartmouth I attended the panel and sat in awe listening to these strong women talk about their experiences here, their struggles, and ultimately their triumphs. The last two years have been even more special as I have watched and listened as friends and this, my closest friends, shared their stories.

This year, one of my best friends spoke. She was my trippee (i.e. she was one of the people in my group on my pre-frosh DOC trip) and one of the first people I met when I came to Dartmouth. It was incredibly moving to sit in the audience and listen to her share her Dartmouth experience – something I have been such an intimate part of and something I know so well. She spoke about her struggles with her sexuality; her search for self in a place where it is so easy to explore but also at times so hard to reflect; her academic path starting and completing the Geography major only to realize want she truly cares about is Engineering and changing her major her senior fall; her time away from Dartmouth and her experiences studying in France, taking classes chemistry and math at University of Wisconsin; and finally, her willingness to let herself fail if only to find her true self.

Having been so close to her these last four years, helping her through her hard times and celebrating her victories, it was a beautiful moment listening to her share her stories with the Dartmouth community. I know that somewhere in that audience was a freshmen or sophomore woman for whom my friend’s story was resonating profoundly. For her, it would be tremendous relief to know that it is ok to struggle, and moreover, it is this struggle that will make you stronger.

The other panelists shared stories about battling depression, the role of the woman-athlete, falling in love, understanding wealth and privilege, culturally jarring and enlightening experiences abroad, “The” Dartmouth experience, motherhood, and multi-racial identities. As I sat in the audience listening to these women share their diverse and inspiring experiences it was incredible to think that four years had passed since I first met these women in the Choates (a freshman housing cluster), in class, or through various social or extracurricular activities. I became at once nostalgic and awed by the ways this place can shape and change the lives of the people who are a part of it. Moreover, hearing the work these women have done at Dartmouth and the ways in which they have made this institution their own, I was reminded that while this institution does shape its community in many ways, more than that this institution is created and molded by its community.