My Favorite Time of Year

It’s that time of year again. The leaves start dotting our campus with beautiful autumn colors, dorms and dining halls reopen their doors, and trippees and tripleaders (from the Outing Club’s ">first year trips, that is) roll back in to homey Hanover - ripe both with the smell of 4 days in the woods sans showers and with the excitement of a new school year. Nothing makes me happier: the wonderful sites, sounds and…smells… of autumn are most definitely upon us. “Fall is symbolic, for it completes the circle of another year,” our professor told my freshman expository writing class, in discussion of Dickinson. “Just as the spring brings us new birth, autumn closes the circle, bringing the inevitable death of the natural world around us.”

Now beginning my 3rd fall term at Dartmouth, I can say from experience that autumn at Dartmouth is hardly about death or misery or closed circles or the new Paris Hilton CD (shudder). Overall, in fact, it is about new beginnings. While shades of orange, yellow and red speckle the green foliage around the Upper Valley, waves of new faces color a campus where, all summer long, everyone in the Class of 2008 feared they had finally met everyone at Dartmouth.

Although I have only met a handful of these impressive new faces, one simply cannot knock the Class of 2010 – the smartest, most diverse, most incredibly talented and qualified Dartmouth class EVER (just like the ‘09s, ‘08s, and ‘07s were before them)…even if they do all wear the same short-sleeved, green “College” shirt. As an upperclassman, I forgive them for walking around in “shmobs” (groups of 7, 8, or 63 freshmen that travel from orientation event to orientation event together in legions of self-consciousness, so as to ease the social transition to college) because I remember what it was like to be the new kid, next to 1000 other new kids that seemed cooler, smarter, sexier, more artistically and athletically talented, kinder, braver, better spoken, more comfortable, more thoughtful, and less socially awkward than I was.

Yet, despite the fact that everyone was better than me at everything, my transition to college went – as I hope it is going for most ‘10s - remarkably smoothly. I think a big reason for this is that upperclassmen at Dartmouth make an incredible effort to make first-years feel at home from the moment they step onto the Green for the first time. DOC trips play a huge role in this sense, as over 500 upperclassmen apply every year for the 200-some coveted tripleader positions. On each trip, two upperclassmen leaders join 8-10 first-years for four days in the wilderness, hiking on the Appalachian Trail, kayaking or canoeing on the Connecticut River, rock climbing on cliffs near the Dartmouth Skiway, or even doing nature writing or photography (as they say, there’s something for everyone), topped off by an evening of fun and relaxation at the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge. These trips help freshmen form bonds with other freshmen as well as with upperclassmen even before pre-orientation and orientation begin and weeks before they will step foot inside a classroom. I can’t say much more about trips over the blog, since there are certain secrets that remain such until freshmen arrive. Suffice it to say, however, that there is a long-standing tradition of upperclassmen going ALL OUT to welcome first-years. Each year, the torch is passed - the traditions carry on and are spiced up a bit from year to year. One such tradition is the teaching of the alma mater. This year, however, I’ve noticed a complication. At one point during the song, students yell their class year at the top of their lungs (e.g., “OH EIGHT!!” or “OH NINE!!”). I’m unclear as to what the Class of 2010 will yell – those I’ve met don’t like being “Oh Ten’s,” but simply yelling “TEN” doesn’t mesh with the song. Quite the predicament. Maybe they could yell “We’re Ten’s!” or “Go Ten’s!” or something entirely unrelated, like “OK!!” Time will tell, I guess. But either way, here’s to another lovely Dartmouth fall and to the Class of 2010. Welcome home!