MIRROR 5.22.19
MIRROR ASKS: WORKAHOLICS 2
TECHNIGALA: TECH TALENT 4-5
TTLG: "LAST ONE—" 7 SAMI BURACK/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
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Editors’ Note
Q&A
DIVYA KOPALLE/THE DARTMOUTH SENIOR STAFF
After a fun Green Key filled with everything but work, we’re back to the grind as Week 9 sets into full swing and finals slowly creep up. Our break from routine was short-lived, and the conversations about our exciting and wild weekends are quickly turning into complaints about all the studying and catching-up we have to do. At a school where “hustle culture” is seen and felt on a routine basis, it’s easy for us to equate our productivity with our self-worth, and we wonder if there’s even such a thing as a true day off. Sunny afternoons on the Green or Sunday Foco brunches with friends are too often cut short to go back to the library and get work done because, as the saying goes, “the grind don’t stop.” In this week’s Mirror, we take a closer look at the differences in how high schools have prepared students for Dartmouth, the work behind the termly Technigala event and all of the emotions that characterize the craziness of senior spring. We gain a newfound appreciation for the hustle and celebrate the people who have what it takes to keep it going, even during the slump of the term. At the end of the day, though, we must remember that there is so much more to life than the number of events we have scheduled on our Google Calendars.
follow @thedmirror 5.22.19 VOL. CLXXVI NO. 43 MIRROR EDITORS NIKHITA HINGORANI KYLEE SIBILIA ASSOCIATE MIRROR SARAH ALPERT EDITORS NOVI ZHUKOVSKY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF DEBORA HYEMIN HAN PUBLISHER AIDAN SHEINBERG
EXECUTIVE EDITOR JULIAN NATHAN
By The Dartmouth Staff
Where do you think has the best coffee in Hanover? Maggie Doyle ’22: One Wheelock. Hands down. Sarah Alpert ’21: I really like Umpleby’s espresso drinks. Yuna Kim ’22: Morano Gelato. Claire Callahan ’22: One Wheelock (it’s free). Eliza Jane Schaeffer ’20: Dirt Cowboy. Novi Zhukovsky ’21: Dirt Cowboy’s french roast is my favorite. Christina Baris ’22: Dirt Cowboy. Kylee Sibilia ’20: Umpleby’s, partly for the vibes. Nikhita Hingorani ’21: Dirt. Bella Jacoby ’20: Dirt. What’s your favorite way of destressing during finals? MD: Going on frequent walks around Occom Pond and blasting Taylor Swift. SA: Going on runs and taking coffee breaks with friends. YK: Getting meals and hanging out with my friends. CC: Reading a middle school-level book like “Percy Jackson” or the “Hunger Games.” EJS: Studying off-campus and/or outside. NZ: Long showers and walks on the Green. CB: Good music. KS: My friends and I always spend a night making pasta for dinner and eating together, which is really fun near the end of the term. NH: I like taking walks around Occom. BJ: Yoga. The stacks: love them or hate them? MD: Hate. SA: Both, tbh. YK: Hate them. CC: I hate them when it’s dark, but the sixth floor in natural light is okay. EJS: I have neutral feelings towards the stacks. NZ: Literally never been in the stacks. They seem too depressing.
CB: Hate to love them. KS: I hate them a lot because it always gets too cold. NH: I like certain areas, like the East Asian Room, but I never study in the stacks near First Floor Berry, for example. BJ: Too cold. Do you like to study with friends or alone? MD: Alone. SA: Alone. People are so distracting. YK: Usually alone. CC: With friends if I don’t have to concentrate too hard. EJS: It depends on how urgent or thought-intensive my work is. NZ: Both. If I have a really big or important assignment, I’ll hole myself up in Sanborn. But if I just have busywork, or an easy reading assignment, I prefer to be around my friends. CB: Alone. KS: I like studying with friends because they keep me accountable. NH: If I’m studying for an exam I study alone, but if I’m doing light work I study with friends. BJ: Depends on the vibe ya know. Are you a big procrastinator? MD: I’m a super productive procrastinator. I’ll clean my room, call my family and catch up on the news all to avoid homework. SA: Not at all! If I have one thing going for me, it’s my self-discipline. YK: No, it gives me too much anxiety! CC: Yes, but I always know I can finish. I just prefer to work at a slow, steady pace with lots of breaks. EJS: No, procrastinating stresses me out. NZ: Not really. I don’t like having assignments looming over me, so I try to get everything done as soon as possible. CB: One hundred percent yes. KS: Not really because I like to be organized and get things done early. NH: Yes. I always have been. BJ: I can literally only work when a deadline is quickly approaching.
Whats your opinion on dancefloor PDA? MD: Not pleasant but I don’t judge. SA: Guilty of it myself, but gross if it’s anyone else. I’m aware that this makes me a hypocrite. YK: It’s ... fine? CC: If it’s consensual, hell yeah. EJS: I respect the hustle. NZ: Get a room! CB: If it’s your thing, go for it. KS: Everything’s fine in moderation. NH: Do it, but don’t do it in the middle of the dance floor. Like, go to a corner or something. BJ: Huge fan if it’s consensual. What time of the day are you most productive? MD: From 9 to 11 a.m. SA: After dark, but not too late. YK: In the early morning and late at night. CC: Early afternoon. EJS: Definitely the morning. NZ: Afternoon. Honestly, I can’t really be productive after 10 p.m. CB: Mid-afternoon. KS: Definitely mid-mornings and afternoons. NH: In the mornings before my 12. BJ: Morning Novack at like 8 a.m., unfortunately. Have you ever pulled an allnighter? MD: Never. SA: For fun, but never for work. YK: Not in college, no. And I firmly plan not to. CC: Nope. EJS: Never. NZ: Nope. When I get tired, my mind literally shuts down. If I pulled an allnighter, I wouldn’t be productive at all. CB: Yes. Many times, unfortunately. KS: Once last year when I saved seats for graduation, but it was not a fun experience, and I don’t plan to repeat it. NH: Yes, last Thursday actually. BJ: Yes, but mostly only for art classes.
Welcome Home: Adjusting to the Rigor STORY
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By Maggie Doyle
N ex t f a l l , D a r t m o u t h w i l l application. a 5:1 student to faculty ratio and to that end. However, different welcome members of the Class of “Kids in the U.S., if you explain many notable alumi, including students have varying attitudes on 2023 from all 50 states, the District things to them using a day-to-day George H.W., George W. and Jeb the effectiveness of these resources. of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam example, they’re like, ‘Oh, that’s Bush. Sevastopoulo describes it as Sevastopoulo said he has felt very and 69 other countries, making it the how that works,’” Pantelimon said. a “pretty prototypical prep school” comfortable using Dartmouth’s most geographically diverse class in “In Romania, for most subjects, and said that academic the College’s history. Accordingly, you’re just given a theoretical h e d o e s n ’ t resources when these students will also be graduates framework first and not always know exactly “At times, high school he has needed of all different types of high schools, shown how to apply that to the h o w m a n y was way harder. I took h e l p. H e i s ranging from elite preparatory real world.” graduates from way more classes, and I currently using schools in the northeast to small Maddie Doer r ’22 is from his school came a peer tutor for public schools C a n t o n , G A . to Dartmouth felt that my peers were an economics in the south. S h e a t t e n d e d h i s ye a r bu t really academically class. R e g a r d l e s s “In Romania, for most a public high guesses it was “I think motivated.” of t h e i r subjects, you’re just school with about around 10. t h e r e ’ s background, 460 students in “ T h a t sometimes a however, they given a theoretical her graduating was a pretty stigma against -MARC SEVASTOPOULO ’19 all experience framework first and class. Only six middle-of-theleveraging peer the same percent of her r o a d y e a r, ” tutoring or the not always shown how graduating class S eva s t o p o u l o phenomenon Academic Skills u p o n t h e i r to apply that to the left the state of said. “Someone told me that there Center,” Sevastopoulo said. “I arrival to the real world.” G e o r g i a f o r was something like 75 applicants didn’t want to think that I needed College: the college. Doerr two years after me.” it, but if you get over that hurdle grind. was the only He said his transition to college pretty quickly it opens up a lot of A n d r a d a -ANDRADA PANTELIMON student in her was relatively easy. Because he was opportunity.” Pantelimon ’22 is g r a d e t o g o used to the dorm living environment Upon the recommendation of ’22 from Bucharest, D a r t m o u t h and the independence of living on Romania. Her a n d o n e o f his own, Sevastopoulo said he felt graduating class t w o s t u d e n t s well prepared for the academic rigor was 20 students, with 10 on admitted to an Ivy League school. of Dartmouth. the science track. Out of all of She notes that it was difficult not “At times, high school was these students, she’s the only one knowing anyone way harder. I attending college in the United on campus when “It’s a little unnerving took way more States. she arrived. classes, and I In the Romanian educational “ B o t h when you first show felt that my system, students are able to choose [ a c a d e m i c a l l y up, just because peers were really general tracks, such as science, and socially], academically you’re in a really new but not subjects within those i t ’ s a l i t t l e motivated. I areas, according to Pantelimon. unnerving when place, experiencing did more work Consequently, she says she felt you first show things you’ve never at [my high well prepared in some broad areas, up, just because school] than I but not in others where more in- y o u ’ r e i n a experienced before do now on a daydepth instruction would have been really new place, and just trying to to-day basis,” helpful. experiencing Sevastopuolo adjust.” “For [biology], for instance, we t h i n g s said. “I just felt had some pretty basic exposure, but y o u ’v e n e v e r comparatively then coming here, I wasn’t even sure e x p e r i e n c e d -MADDIE DOERR ’22 well-prepared. what it was about,” Pantelimon said. before and just High school set “Coming into a class with people trying to adjust,” me up to expect who’d taken [Advanced Placement] Doerr said. “It did push me to be a really big grind and to know that classes, I was definitely not as well the person I wanted to be, not the it’s not going to be easy to perform prepared.” person people from high school well.” Pantelimon also had to adjust knew me as.” Obviously, Dartmouth can’t to the differences in learning M a rc S eva s t o p o u l o ’ 1 9 i s entirely make up for differences in styles between Romanian and originally from New York City but students’ high school educations, American classes. Overall, she has went to high school at a boarding but the College does offer a noticed more emphasis on practical school in Massachusetts that boasts plethora of academic resources
her professor, Pantelimon also started utilizing Dartmouth’s academic resources and joined a study group for biology, which she said she didn’t find particularly helpful. She also got matched with a tutor for physics, but didn’t end up studying with him at all. Now, she prefers going to office hours with questions or talking to teaching assistants. “I’m not afraid of looking foolish in front of them, and I feel like they can explain things better than someone my own age [could],” Pantelimon said. As Dartmouth continues its effort to maintain geographic diversity, each incoming class will continue to host a wide range of differences in regard to where students come from and what their high school experiences were like. At the end of the day, however, it is this diversity of backgrounds that makes Dartmouth a special place to be.
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Technigala: A Showcase of Dartmouth's Tech Talent STORY
By Christina Baris
“The grind never stops” — it’s a phrase that is all too familiar to Dartmouth students. It evokes memories of panic-driven all-nighters, seemingly never-ending to-do lists and calendars that just never seem to be empty. Sure, there are times when I find work unenjoyable — when I’ve spent hours on a problem set, and all I want to do is take a nap and maybe change my major. There are also times when work seems completely pointless — when I question if I’ll ever really use any of this information outside of class. Yet, for all of those times of panic, there are moments
of passion. There are moments when I’m reminded of what all this work leads to: change: Real, physical, future-altering change. Those are the moments that make “the grind” seem worthwhile. At Dartmouth, students can learn to embrace the grind by taking course material out of the classroom. Technigala, Dartmouth Applied Learning and Innovation Lab’s showcase of Dartmouth students’ latest innovations, aims to do just that. At Technigala, students get the chance to display their projects from various computer science classes and from DALI.
What makes Technigala different from other types of science symposia is its interactive nature. Instead of presenting a poster that details the technical methodology, results and conclusions of a study, presenters at Technigala pitch their own product, making the event more consumer-focused. Jane Lee ’19 — who has presented at Technigala every term since her sophomore fall and has worked in DALI for nine terms — notes that people who attend Technigala get the chance to actually interact with the projects the presenters have built. “The interaction is the most special
thing about Technigala,” Lee said. “DALI always builds projects that are meant to impact actual people, so to be able to showcase that and debut it in front of a real audience is what makes Technigala stand out.” Moreover, Technigala yields an eclectic audience, ranging from students to professors to Hanover locals. Lee added that DALI also partners with outside companies. “We invite [the partners] to come if they’re able to make it, and they can actually see for the first time how the project interacts with a real audience,”
Lee said. According to Sonal Butala ’22 and Archita Harathi ’22, who are working at DALI through Dartmouth’s Women in Science Project, Technigala is also a useful experience for the presenters, who get the chance to see what other students are creating while also receiving helpful feedback on their own projects. They both said that presenting at Technigala in the winter term with other students allowed them to identify ways to improve their mobile application. “It was really inspiring to see projects that had been developed for a long time
TIFFANY ZHAI/THE DARTMOUTH STAFF
MIRR OR //5
people want to work at DALI and want “As a student, you can request to to work on these projects,” Lee said. have a package picked up for you, and “It’s not like regular classwork where it’s then another student will be matched to tedious. You’re working on something you and they’ll make some money for real, and I think that’s what makes it delivering that package to your dorm,” really worthwhile.” Butala said. The countless hours put into these These examples are only just a projects certainly pay off when students peek into the abundance of creativity get to see the end results of their and innovation on campus. Here at applications. So, what exactly are Dartmouth, we are in a constant state Dartmouth of creation, and students creating? Technigala allows L e e ’s m o s t "It's not like regular students to take the recent project was classwork where time to appreciate Line at KAF, a it's tedious. You're this creativity. mobile application They say that that alerts users of working on something if you love what the wait time at real, and I think that's you do you’ll King Arthur Flour. never work a what makes it really This term, Lee day in your life. will be presenting worthwhile. Frankly, I’d have to a project from her disagree. Even the COSC 98, “Senior most passionate D e s i g n a n d -JANE LEE '19 creators have Implementation times of doubt and Project" class: a stress. To create tool that leverages machine learning and something meaningful, you need to work wearable technology to help the visually hard — there’s really no way of getting impaired cross the streets more safely. around that. Yet, when you look back Butala and Harathi are working on a at what you’ve accomplished, you just project that facilitates a delivery process might realize that all the hard work you for students to have their packages put in was worth it. And if that’s what picked up and delivered from Hinman “the grind” really means, perhaps it isn’t Mail Center. such a bad thing after all. and see how much further we could go Harathi, who was uncertain about in our project,” Harathi said. whether or not she wanted to go into With all of the designing and live computer science, the process of creating demonstration taking place, Technigala an application allowed her to see where participants gain an increased the long journey of computer science understanding of courses could lead the applications of "It was really inspiring her. their knowledge. “Going through “ D A L I i s to see projects that this experience an experiential had been developed has shown me learning program, that I really like so you get to for a long time and [computer science] really apply what see how much further and the potential you learn in an of what I can do we could go in our academic setting in the future with to a real project,” project." it,” Harathi said. Lee said. “You’re As with any not really coding to extracurricular, reach an audience -ARCHITA HARATHI '22 creating a project in a [computer to present at science] class. In Technigala adds DALI, you’re actually interacting with to the already large workload of people.” Dartmouth students. However, when Unlike sitting in lecture, where it might the “big picture” behind all the work is be difficult to envision the relevance of easily visible, work suddenly becomes the material being taught, creating and less boring. presenting a project at Technigala focuses “The workload is definitely hefty, but entirely on real-world applications. For it’s fun. I think that’s what really makes
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TTLG: “Last One—” TTLG
By Ben Szuhaj
“Last one, best one.” died down, seat-swapping became I was given this hopeful command less frequent and we slipped slightly before my last track race for through the night into Vermont. Dartmouth. I came into the race When we arrived back on undertrained thanks to an injury I campus, it was past 1 a.m. My legs picked up running indoor track that ached as I got off the bus. I looked kept me out for six weeks. I wasn’t in up. It was a partly cloudy night. A great shape and didn’t expect much. few stars glittered at the edges of Still, there was some small hope that dark clouds. I inhaled the familiar because it was my last race, maybe, cool, crisp pine air — nothing like just maybe, I could summon some the air of New Jersey. indomitable spirit from deep within Every time I’ve returned to and run like a man possessed across Dartmouth, I’ve had the uncanny the finish line of my final race. That sense of being far away. Far away didn’t happen. from family, old The race went “Dartmouth is as friends; cityexactly as the living, pollution; facts suggested it much an idea as it is people of all ages; would: I was able a physical location, disease; visible to run as fast as ov e r t y ; r e a l institution and brand.” ppolicing, the training I had politics, done up to that responsibilities; point allowed. I regular working did not run my hours and the fastest time or place my highest quotidian tide of people flowing in place. I finished. I did my cool down and out at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. jog. I got dinner with my mom. As a freshman, I was excited and The next day, the second and then saddened by this sense of being final day of the competition, I was far away. When I was a sophomore, a spectator. I didn’t think much of it. As a junior, It rained all day — cold rain that it unnerved and captivated me. Now, gets into your bones and makes you in my final weeks in Hanover, it want nothing more than to curl up interests and comforts me. with a book and read. In between Dartmouth — secure in its marquis events, I went for my standing and financial stability scheduled shake-out jog to clear — will continue to exist in my my legs of the lactic acid from the absence. In fact, the institution night before. My shoes filled up will likely outlast me, all those who with water within the first minute came before me and all who follow. of my run and made it difficult to Dartmouth is as much an idea as it lift my knees. I came back soaked- is a physical location, institution and through, shivering, and descended brand. As a soon-to-be-alumnus, five flights of stairs to shower in the this makes parting with Dartmouth visiting locker room at Princeton in a few weeks a lot less scary. It will University. As the not-quite-hot be here. We can come back. water washed over my shoulders, Truth be told, I’ve thought about I thought, wistfully, “This is an endings this senior spring a whole lot ending.” less than I thought I would. I’ve been After the meet, we loaded up the busy — and as I write this article, bus and departed for Hanover. We my last one for The Dartmouth, left just past 5 p.m. and took slightly I’m surprised that I have much less less than an eternity to come home. to say on the topic of endings than In the meantime, we ate boxed I thought. This, I believe, is one of Panera sandwiches and missed the the biggest lessons I’ve gotten from “Game of Thrones” premiere. As a Dartmouth: My expectations have new day began at midnight, chatter constantly been subverted. I’ve
suffered disappointment during the When I explained this interaction times I pictured myself most happy. recently to another friend of mine I’ve stumbled into moments of joy who is graduating, she said, “Right. during snowstorms and sub-zero Everyone wants their ending to be temperatures. a superlative, but it doesn’t have to Now, approaching graduation, be. It just is.” there are many things I can’t predict I cogitated on this while she (including when sipped her coffee. construction Then I wrote it will be finished “This, I believe, is down in a note on in front of the one of the biggest my phone called H o p ) . ( M y lessons I’ve gotten “Last Dartmouth guess would be A r t i c l e. ” T h e before generous from Dartmouth: header read: alumni return My expectations “How do you for Reunions.) write a senior have constantly Another is: piece that isn’t What would a been subverted. totally cliché?” I proper ending to I’ve suffered thought that this college look like? was something My best guess disapointment during to work with, on that one came the times I pictured something to f ro m a c l o s e myself most happy.” bring to Dirt friend whom I Cowboy and sit had told about with and really the “Last one, mull over the way best one” comment. I had done 33 times before over “That’s just it,” she said, shaking the past four years writing for this her head. “It’s not ‘Last one, best publication. So that was the start, one.’ It’s just ‘Last one.’” that was this article, number 34,
but how to end it? What was my big pronouncement? My grand take-away? I thought about this for a while, and as I thought, my gaze drifted to the window. It was one of the first sunny days of the spring, and the Green, robust and grassy after such heavy and sustained rains, was blanketed with students stretched out under the sun. Some wore bathing suits, others widebrimmed hats and sunglasses. It wasn’t anywhere close to hot, and yet, from where I was sitting, the collective excitement of pretending like it was — of being able to lounge outside with friends — was visible. Something about this struck me. It wasn’t Green Key or the run-up to Commencement. It was just a 60-degree day that felt like heaven after a winter of snow and a spring of rain; a regular beautiful far-away day in Hanover, New Hampshire. I smiled. “This is enough,” I thought. “This is an ending.” Szuhaj is a member of The Dartmouth staff.
COURTESY OF BEN SZUHAJ
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Working It Out PHOTO
By Elsa Ericksen