The Dartmouth 10/23/2019

MIRROR 10.23.19

SLUMP OR SOAR 4-5

MAKE A HOUSE A HOME 6

(RE)KINDLING THE FIRE 7 CLARA PAKMAN /THE DARTMOUTH

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Editors’ Note

Sustainability To Go DRAWING

DIVYA KOPALLE/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF

Climate change has made sustainability an increasingly important topic in our daily lives. And with the 2020 election approaching, environmental issues have been at the forefront of many political debates, in addition to taking on a greater presence in Dartmouth students’ lives. Whether you’re using a to-go container from Foco, recyling paper in the library or participating in conversations about emissions and green living on campus, it has become impossible to ignore the ways in which the world is preparing to conserve resources and be more mindful of how our actions affect our planet.

This week, the Mirror profiles the sustainable living center and explores how youth education and mentoring groups at the Center for Social Impact facilitate sustainability in the Upper Valley. We also unpack sustainability as it relates to relationships, exploring how people sustain friendships at Dartmouth and beyond, and whether or not Dartmouth students experience the “sophomore slump.” Whether it refers to sustaining human contact or sustaining resources, we find that sustainability means not just creating change in the present but continuting to foster it in the future. The fate of your world — whether that be your social sphere or the planet you live on — depends on it.

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10.23.19 VOL. CLXXVI NO. 87 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF DEBORA HYEMIN HAN PUBLISHER AIDAN SHEINBERG MIRROR EDITORS KYLEE SIBILIA NOVI ZHUKOVSKY COPY EDITOR JULIAN NATHAN ISSUE LAYOUT GRANT PINKSTON

By Grace Qu

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Growing Change Outside of Dartmouth STORY

By Kate Yuan

Many students at Dartmouth are aware of the concept of the “Dartmouth bubble,” or the fact that Dartmouth is a relatively isolated college community that inhabits an area that is more affluent than many of the areas around it. However, there are programs at Dartmouth, like the Center for Social Impact, that work to break down barriers between Dartmouth and the area surrounding it. One way that the center does this is through the Youth Education and Mentoring programs.

Growing Change is one of six YEM programs offered by the Center for Social Impact. Of the groups, Growing Change is the youngest, founded in 2011. The organization was founded with a mission to educate children of the Upper Valley about food sytems and healthy living and has grown over its eight years of existence to do so, with roughly 30 members at present.

The program is directed by Ellie Wilson ’20, who said that she has been involved in Growing Change since her freshman fall. She said that she was initially drawn to the educational aspect of Growing Change because it gave her an opportunity to teach children, but has learned a lot about sustainability since joining the program.

Growing Change represents just one way of sustaining relationships with communities outside of Dartmouth.

Growing Change partners with Dothan Brook School in White River Junction and visits once a week to give lessons to students. According to Wilson, the classrooms are usually made up of students in early elementary grades, and Dartmouth students visit for six weeks a term.

“It allows Dartmouth students to see a bigger picture of the Upper Valley. I think it’s a great way to break out of the bubble,” Wilson said.

For Wilson, it is extremely important that the teachers and students are getting the most out of these visits. She said that Growing Change strives to focus on what the teachers want rather than making more work for the teachers by coming in and enforcing Growing Change’s own agenda.

Growing Change is a farm-to-school

program. To educate students about sustainability, it helps keep a garden at Dothan Brooks to keep in line with healthy eating and lifestyles. Wilson talked about the benefits of the garden for the children.

“It’s good for them to see that it is possible to grow these healthy vegetables in your own backyard and see how that works,” Wilson said.

In addition to helping in the classroom, Growing Change holds a fundraiser at the end of each term called Swipes for Hunger in collaboration with Dartmouth Dining Services and Willing Hands, a non-profit organization based in Norwich that distributes food and grocery items to food pantries in the Upper Valley. Swipes for Hunger allows students to donate their unused swipes and leftover DBA to Willing Hands, which then uses the money to deliver food that would otherwise go to waste

to those in need. According to Wilson, the goal of the fundraiser is to reduce food waste and improve health through better access to sustainable and nutritious food. She said that the fundraiser also allows members of Growing Change to engage directly with Willing Hands.

Cristina Carpentier, the program coordinator for educational access and equity at the Center for Soacial Impact, oversees the Youth Education and Mentoring Programs. Carpentier said that one of her main responsibilities is training mentors to work with the kids and to support the student leader who handles the logistics.

“It’s a lot of experiential learning and ideas that get back to that larger sustainability picture,” Carpentier said.

“It’s curriculum that they may not just see typically.”

Carpentier began her role as program coordinator last July, and she

said that it has been rewarding to witness the initiative students involved with YEM programs at the College take to help the community.

“I think it’s really neat that [student leaders] start each year excited about their role and have creative goals to reach,” Carpentier said. “While the programs have been around for a long time and their missions stay the same, it’s cool to see what each of the students decides to do with it.”

All of the YEM programs sustain Dartmouth’s relationship with the Upper Valley in unique ways, but what they all have in common is their focus on youth mentorship.

Grace Rubin ’22 is a member of DREAM, another YEM program that pairs Dartmouth students with youth living in low-income housing communities in Vermont. Rubin is currently co-chair for one of the

classrooms DREAM works with. Rubin discussed what she had gained from being a part of the DREAM program.

“It’s a mutual relationship,” Rubin said. “I think that it’s a nice opportunity to learn about this community that we benefit from, the Upper Valley, in a way that we really don’t get to on campus.”

Though Growing Change is younger compared to the other YEM programs, it has established a strong relationship with the Dothan Brook School and the Upper Valley, according to Wilson. She added that she has enjoyed being a part of the program because it has allowed her to interact so closely with communities outside of the Dartmouth community.

“I like being able to have the biggest impact that I possibly can,” Wilson said.

“This role allows me to sustain what’s already been built for Growing Change but also build it up in different ways. It is bigger than Dartmouth.”

FARMER’S MARKET

NAINA BHALLA/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

The Hanover Area Farmer’s Market brings fresh produce to the Dartmouth Green on Wednesdays during the summer and fall terms.

Slump or Soar: How Students Tackle Sophomore Year 4// MIRR OR

STORY

By Christina Baris

For all intents and purposes, the word “sophomore” refers to a second-year high school or college student. However, a quick google search reveals that the word has a more meaningful etymology.

“Sophomore” is a hybrid of the Greek words sophos (meaning wise) and moros (meaning foolish).

So, where exactly does that leave us sophomores? We are stuck somewhere between cleverness and senselessness. Misguided by the illusion of maturity, we are left to navigate our second year of college.

This confusion felt by many college sophomores leads to the dreaded “sophomore slump,” a phenomenon in which second-year college students cannot sustain the high levels of energy and excitement they had during freshman year. A 2012 study conducted by consulting firm Noel-Levitz found that 25 percent of college sophomores reported either feeling unenergized by classes or not feeling at home while on campus. Clearly, this phenomenon does exist on college campuses, and Dartmouth seems to be no exception.

The sophomore slump is emphasized by the stark differences between freshman and sophomore year. For me, freshman year was a time of excitement and change. It was filled with countless “firsts”: first time living away from home, first roommate, first college party, first homecoming, first Green Key, etc. In a way, coming to Dartmouth was like traveling to a new city, and I was an overenthusiastic tourist.

Images of Baker Tower flooded my camera roll in the same way the Eiffel Tower did when I went to Paris. However, with time, these sights no longer seem as impressive to me anymore; they have become ordinary.

Freshman year was also a time of confusion. Yet, that confusion felt not only normal, but encouraged.

Orientation Week was filled with assemblies that revealed that, contrary to my belief, not everyone enters college knowing exactly what

VIOLA GATTI ROAF/THE DARTMOUTH

they want to do. As freshmen, we were encouraged to explore, step out of our comfort zone and discover new interests. So, that’s exactly what I tried to do; I capitalized on my confusion. However, that confusion has yet to subside. One year later, and I still haven’t had an epiphanic moment that suddenly makes the future so clear. To be honest, I don’t think I’m any more certain about my future now than I was last year.

The only difference is that now my confusion doesn’t feel welcomed; it

feels scary.

Raaga Kannan ’21, an undergraduate advisor, agreed that sophomore year often comes with confusion and a lack of excitement.

“Sophomore year, you’re at this weird place where everything is no longer fresh and new. There’s so much that is in the future. There’s a lot of uncertainty,” Kannan said, adding that choosing a major and potential career prospects were possible sources of these uncertainties.

At Dartmouth, undergraduates declare their majors after the beginning of their fifth term in residence. This just so happens to be during sophomore year and is a major cause of stress and anxiety for sophomores.

Kate Brundage ’22 said that it is hard to stay motivated in classes without having a definite major. She said that she believes it helps to have an end goal to work toward. Moreover, she said that deciding on a major, along with

finding internships for off-terms and balancing a full course workload, can be very stressful.

“It feels like there’s a lot to tackle at once,” Brundage said.

One way the sophomore slump at Dartmouth differs from other colleges is through the D-Plan, which requires sophomores to be on campus during their sophomore summer, thus allowing them to take an off-term at some other point during their sophomore or junior year. This can impact sophomores in

two major ways: either they will be also influence the sophomore on campus for four (or more) terms slump. Brundage, who studied in in a row, or they will take an off or Germany during her freshman abroad term during their sophomore summer, noted that there was a big year. Both of these situations can lead difference in workload between her to the sophomore abroad term and slump. sophomore fall.

"Sophomore year, For Kannan, Brundage added you're at this the first scenario that studying held true. Due weird place where a b ro a d w a s a to her D-Plan, everything is no fun, exciting Kannan was and unique on campus for longer fresh and experience. five consecutive new. There's so much Courses were terms. She said not that difficult, that is in the future. that knowing that which she said there was no off- There's a lot of only made it term in the near uncertainty." harder to return future led to a lack to fast-paced of motivation. and challenging “Knowing my -RAAGA KANNAN '21 Dartmouth sophomore fall, courses. and especially “I definitely sophomore winter, that I had so don’t have as much motivation much more to go made it so much as I did in [my freshman] spring, harder to give it my all,” Kannan especially considering that this is said. my fifth term on,” Brundage said.

Going abroad either during “I haven’t had an off term, so I’m or before sophomore year can just really jaded, and that’s why I’m

scared for the winter.”

Carly Zelner ’22, who is studying abroad in Italy during her sophomore winter, shared similar worries.

Zelner noted that after an exciting term abroad, it might be harder to find the motivation to complete classwork back at Dartmouth.

Similarly, Kannan said that campus is not always the same upon returning from an abroad term.

Old friends have left for their own off or abroad terms, and new and unfamiliar faces are ubiquitous.

Another factor that plays a role in the sophomore slump is the changing of friend groups. This applies to Dartmouth in particular because many students go through the rush process during their sophomore fall. Regardless of the outcome, the rush process can be very stressful for sophomores.

Additionally, it can alter social dynamics.

“Rush adds an entire new dimension to everything,” Brundage said. She added that she did not expect all the social dynamic

MIRR OR //5

changes that have occurred recently. experience sustainable? After a “They always say that during freshman year filled with flair, energy sophomore year your friends switch and excitement, can we extend that up, and they do. But I didn’t realize excitement into sophomore year? Or that rush had such a big influence will stress and uncertainty cause us to on that [change],” Brundage said. succumb to the sophomore slump?

Lastly, with fewer emails from Only half a term into my sophomore undergraduate year, I’m not UGAs and quite qualified without weekly "They always say that to answer these floor meetings, during sophomore questions. resources that However, aid struggling year your friends let me end on an students aren’t as switch up, and they optimistic note: apparent during Confusion often do." sophomore year breeds discovery. a s t h ey w e r e In fact, almost freshman year. -KATE BRUNDAGE '22 every major Resources such as discovery started upperclassmen with confusion UGAs, the and curiosity. As D i c k ’s H o u s e sophomores we Counseling Center, the Student certainly have a lot of confusion, Wellness Center and undergraduate but maybe that means we also have deans are still there if you seek them a lot to discover: about Dartmouth, out, but they aren’t as advertised as about the world and about ourselves. they once were.

And while we may not be completely The sophomore slump yields a wise, we’re not completely foolish, few questions: Is the Dartmouth either.

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Most Likely to Make a House a Home STORY

By Elizabeth Whiting

A paper plate award hanging on the kitchen wall of Dartmouth’s Sustainable Living Center reads “SLC — Most Likely to … Make a House a Home!” The Sustainable Living Center, founded in 2008, is designed for students interested in learning about sustainability as it relates to social justice, innovation, and environmental stewardship. However, it is the sense of community fostered by the SLC that truly defines the experience of living there, according to Anna Matusewicz ’20, current house manager of the SLC, who described the kitchen as the “unwavering heart” of the SLC community.

“This place literally changed the course of my life at Dartmouth,” Matusewicz said. “It’s a place of high happiness and instant emotional support. Just really magical.”

The word “sustainability” often conjures images of metal sporks, mindset of the students living there.

Nalgenes and emails reminding you Matusewicz explained how SLC to “BYOB” (Bring Your Own Bowl). residents make personal sustainability Although the SLC is healthily stocked goals each term in addition to helping with reusable containers, sustainability with house chores including cooking, there reaches far beyond material cleaning and shopping, which she said images most commonly associated teaches the residents about the nuances with the idea. While the elements of of consumer choices regarding food and sustainability such as “Reduce, Reuse, sustainability.

Recycle” remain important values “People feel responsible with chores for the residents of the SLC, the and want to take care of them,” space cultivates a mindset of personal Matusewicz said. sustainability, or how one can reduce Kellen Appleton ’20, a sustainability their individual impact. intern who has lived in the SLC since Matusewicz and other SLC his sophomore residents detailed year, explained the SLC’s history. “The SLC is a place how SLC residents They explained also maintain a where I can keep how, prior to the house garden, early 2000s, the sustainability in which provides building the SLC my life without the some homegrown is in was one of vegetables. He the oldest, least commitment of a job.” also emphasized efficient and least that residents popular housing are committed -ANNA MATUSEWICZ ‘20 facilities on to purchasing campus. With the local, organic, SLC’s founding seasonal foods and in 2008, emissions from North Hall ingredients, though he joked that there decreased by approximately 40 percent may be a few mangoes in the kitchen at in the first term of the SLC’s existence. the moment.

Matusewicz attributed this decrease Appleton also explained how at the in emissions mainly to the change in SLC, sustainability does not necessarily

SAM HYSA/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

mean living on the cutting edge of least-impact lifestyles — which would be unaffordable and difficult for most students — but rather, means working toward an ethos of sustainability.

“It’s more of this communitybuilding aspect of having this different balance of people, and it’s more varied and less focused on living really hard core and more on living as sustainably as we possibly can,” Appleton said. “It’s more like, ‘Let’s bring people together who are interested in this issue, and let’s have a conversation about it and focus on how me can make individual changes, but also how we can make bigger changes by forming a community around this one subject.’”

Appleton and Matusewicz both talked about how SLC community Sunday night dinner conversations often center around issues of sustainability, and both say this has enriched their experience.

“The SLC is a place where I can keep sustainability in my life without the time commitment of a job,” Matusewicz said.

Lucas Rathgeb ’22, another SLC resident, described some of the ways the community practices sustanability, including eating most meals on campus, contributing to more sustainable waste and food-purchasing habits,

reducing electricity and water use, and minimizing single-use goods. Rathgeb also noted that these practices do not tend toward the extreme.

“For example, it’s not ‘shameful’ to eat meat, people at the SLC just recognize it’s not the most sustainable thing,” Rathgeb said.

Like Appleton and Matusewicz, Rathgeb emphasized the fact that the SLC is a home. All three SLC residents spoke to the fact that not everyone living there has a significant knowledge base regarding environment consciousness, but Appleton said that having a house full of people who care about sustainability creates a continuous conversation.

“Rather than trying to get people who are already super involved in sustainability, the SLC is focused on building each other,” Appleton said.

“It’s centered on learning and meeting people where they’re at.”

Both Appleton and Matusewicz mentioned that some students have suggested renaming the “Sustainable Living Center” to the “Sustainable Learning Center.”

Abigail Bresler ’21, another SLC resident, said that she learned how to cook and bake from her peers at the

SLC and described having parts of everyone’s home incorporated into the home that now exists at the SLC. Bresler also described the SLC as her home at Dartmouth and the place she thinks of when she is away from Dartmouth.

“Honestly, the SLC has been the best part of my Dartmouth experience,” Bresler said.

Bresler attributed the sense of community at the SLC to the culture of vulnerability created by upperclassmen there. Bresler said creating spaces where people are comfortable leads to empathy for others.

“The SLC creates this space of vulnerability that allows people to kind of open up and explore parts of themselves that are often closed off in other spaces at Dartmouth,” Bresler said. “I see people really try to make sure the way they’re living their lives is sustainable for the future, resisting that burn-out culture and really doing what they need to do to take care of themselves and take care of others at the SLC.” Bresleralsosaidthatbeingsustainable, even if one does not live in the SLC, is something everyone is capable of.

“Most people in the world have the capacity for this sort of special deep empathy, but it’s the culture the space at the SLC creates,” Bresler said.

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(Re)kindling the Fire STORY

By Lucas Joshi

From the first meeting on Trips relationship despite their physical to the Commencement ceremony seperation required putting significant many terms later, Dartmouth holds a effort into their communication. myriad of opportunities for creating “When Callie studied abroad in relationships with peers. Within the Costa Rica, I remember the difficulty individual pathways at the College in staying in contact. We would lies the shared student experience of send messages in our group chat — navigating the beginning of adult life. knowing she couldn’t answer — but Dartmouth students work to fulfill hoped for her to come back to campus their academic requirements but also as soon as she could,” Lewin said. to maintain the fire that sparked their Both a trial for the real world and relationships with others on campus. a struggle for communication, the Now in their final year at College’s D-Plan forced Lewin and Dartmouth, Laura Lewin ’20 and Page to put extra effort into their Callie Page ’20 reflected on their relationship, according to the pair.

Dartmouth friendship. Brought Lewin and Page both remain together through a close mutual optimistic for the continuation of their friend, Lewin recalled the initial group individual and group friendships after setting of their relationship. departing the College.

“It took us a while to understand “Laura is so witty and honest. I and fully appreciate each other inside can truly say there has never been a our own friendship. Callie and I have dull moment in our friendship, and I had the chance to grow as friends, in do not think there ever will be,” Page addition to remaining very close with said. our original group,” Lewin said.

Lewin said she believes that their Page said that she believes a key friendship will continue to flourish component of their early relationship even as they begin their lives as adults was their ability post college. to sustain it in

“A f t e r “I think that because b o t h a g r o u p Dartmouth, I and one-on-one of the Dartmouth can very well setting. Learning family — that sense of see each of to grow as friends u s p u r s u i n g without becoming closeness that we all different career dependent on each have with each other paths and still other propelled f i n d i n g t h e in the alumni body their friendship time to take the into the coming — more Dartmouth weekend off and terms and years at relationships flourish.” see and enjoy Dartmouth. The each other’s College’s unique c o m p a n y , ” D-Plan of required -JENNIFER AVELLINO ’89 Lewin said. time on campus and varying options for T he Alumni off-terms presented Relations Office the challenge of staying connected may also play a role in sustaining while being miles apart. student friendships. Following life at “We talked a lot during our off- Dartmouth, the Alumni Relations terms, my time studying abroad and Office works to keep alumni connected sophomore summer, and so in that to one another and the Dartmouth way, the D-Plan was a good test run community itself. From returning for the real world,” Lewin said. to the College on Homecoming to Through the differences in their traveling across the world with fellow D-Plans, Lewin and Page were tested alumni on Dartmouth Alumni Travel, by an obstacle that many real-world relationships, past and present, hold relationships face. Sustaining their the steadfast ability to grow after their

LILA HOVEY/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF

time on campus.

Former president of the Dartmouth Alumni Council Jennifer Avellino ’89 said that the Dartmouth community continues to play a role in her life following her departure from the College.

“I think that because of the Dartmouth family — that sense of closeness that we all have with each other in the alumni body — more Dartmouth relationships flourish,” Avellino said.

Avellino said her relationship with fellow classmate and now husband Zachary Levine ’89 enriches the connectivity of their own Dartmouth family.

Married three years following Commencement, Levine said that he and Avellino continue to remain in close contact with many Dartmouth alumni. He said that their relationship

with the College and its community has grown through the journey of their daughter, Julia Levine, who is a member of the Class of 2023.

“For me, it is amazing to see how well Julia has fit into Dartmouth. It is truly her place and as a parent of a student, I am rediscovering a place I love and thought I knew so well.

She is having her own Dartmouth experience, which is what makes the College so special,” Levine said.

Seeing Dartmouth through a new lens, Avellino and Levine share a new experience in reliving their love of the College. In addition to being connected to Dartmouth through their time as students, they now relate to Dartmouth as alumni and parents as well.

Engaging in similar courses of study, sharing on and off-campus living, and participating in student

organizations provide Dartmouth students with the opportunity to construct sincere relationships. The College’s D-Plan tests the strength of students’ friendships and forces them to face the challenges of adult relationships. While Lewin and Page were able to sustain, and even strengthen, their relationship in spite of the Dartmouth D-Plan, not all friendships can overcome the obstacle of seperation. However, through shared experiences and the strength of the Dartmouth community, students at the College can remain linked for life.

“Overall, I see our time here at Dartmouth as true preparation for adulthood. Sadly, not all relationships and friendships continue after college, but there will always be a shared memory of experience at Dartmouth,” Page said.

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As One Season Leaves...

PHOTO

By Kyle Spencer