D-Plan
Sophomore Year
Pick a term, any term. With Dartmouth’s distinctive year-round system, you customize your own academic calendar. Dartmouth offers four 10-week terms per year; within some guidelines, you choose which 12 terms to enroll — and which to have incredible experiences elsewhere. The result: the ability to take full advantage of all Dartmouth, and the world, has to offer.
Sophomore Fall Before my Foreign Study Program in Edinburgh, Scotland, I had never traveled outside the United States. I realized it was time to spread my wings and take advantage of this opportunity to become a global citizen. While living in Scotland, I traveled to four other countries. However, the luscious lochs and breathtaking bens (lakes and mountains for my American friends) of bonnie Scotland will always be my favorite. At the University of Edinburgh, I studied religion and discovered my love for the subject. I was now a double major!
Freshman Year
Sophomore Winter In the world of academia, the importance and credibility of oral history as a valid resource is all too often questioned. In Indigenous communities, our stories, traditions, cultures, and histories are all tied to orality. NAS 34: Native American Oral Traditional Literatures was a refreshing course that allowed me to step away from colonial understandings of knowledge and relish Indigenous ways of knowing. As a Choctaw woman, I appreciated that my Native American Studies professor Vera Palmer created a safe space for Indigenous students’ perspectives. I also loved that the course, taught at this Western institution, was unapologetic in its emphasis on oral traditions and Indigenous communities.
Sophomore Spring After becoming affiliated with Greek life in the winter, Sophomore Spring felt like the time to bask in that newfound community. I spent much of my time volunteering through my sorority and mentoring students from the Upper Valley through the Dartmouth Center for Social Impact’s DREAM program. I took NAS 30.17: Trickster re: Mediations— Native America Exploration in Media and Representation, which not only fulfilled one of my distributive requirements, but also conveniently checked off another course for my Native American Studies major modification. We spent class at Dartmouth’s Hood Museum of Art learning about the many Native artworks and artifacts housed there.
Sophomore Summer After living for a term in Scotland, I found myself missing the wonderful historical, and almost mythic quality that my favorite country holds on to even today. In REL 34: Christianity and Conversion in the Northern World, while not exclusively focused on what is now Scotland, we spent the majority of our class period discussing the old religions and cultures of this area. When I wasn’t obsessing over readings like Beowulf, I could be found sunbathing on the banks of the Connecticut River or strolling through the farmers’ market with friends.
Junior Winter I’ll just say it: winter is not my favorite term to be on campus, but junior winter feels like the first term that I truly hit my stride with course choices. I loved all my classes! Maybe these classes added up because two of them were focused on what I want to study for the rest of my life (Indigenous religions), and the third one, ANTH 20: Primate Evolution and Ecology, was an amazing way to fulfill a distributive requirement, but...maybe I just had a lucky term.
Junior Spring My first term off after six terms on—I just let out a huge sigh of relief! I spent this term at home again in Oklahoma. I still worked remotely for the Admissions Office as a Reception Area Assistant, but during this period I also spent a lot of time reading and writing for pleasure— something I don’t always have time to do at Dartmouth.
Junior Summer Over junior summer, I lived with family in Tecumseh, Oklahoma and began my fulltime job for the Dartmouth Admissions Office as a Senior Fellow. Although the virtual world isn’t ideal for work or classes, it did give me the opportunity to work as the Mellon Foundation Curatorial Intern of Native American Art for the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma.
Freshman Fall My first term on campus—it feels like so long ago—I took HIST/NAS 14: The Invasion of America: American Indian History Pre-Contact to 1800. I absolutely fell in love with both the content of the course and the professor, Colin Calloway (now my major advisor). The other Indigenous students who struggled through the papers and exams alongside me would become some of my best friends. Freshman Winter I’m not so certain that this Oklahoma girl knew exactly what she had gotten herself into with Hanover winters (pro tip: to avoid landing face first on snow or ice, make sure you have a good pair of snow boots). On my off days, I could be found sipping hot chocolate at my favorite off-campus diner, Lou’s. During the week, I was fully immersed in 12th-century European history, which wasn’t taught at my small public high school. After taking HIST 4.01: The Crusades that first winter, I was sold on becoming a History major.
1 | admissions.dartmouth.edu
Hometown: Wright City, OK Majors: Religion and History modified with Native American Studies
PHOTOGRAPHY BY RICHARD HILL
Freshman Summer After my thoroughly exhausting and exhilarating first year, I spent the summer term at home in southeastern Oklahoma. It was a great opportunity for me to reconnect with family and friends. While home, I worked for my tribal work program at a local nonprofit, enjoyed time with my family, and basked in the Oklahoma sunshine.
Claire Young ’21
ILLUSTRATION BY STUART BRADFORD
Freshman Spring My First-Year Seminar was my favorite class in the spring. Taught by the same professor as The Crusades, HIST 7: Joan of Arc was the clear historical follow-up course. These two Medieval history courses were enough to make me briefly consider becoming a Medievalist. Learning about an inspiring and interesting historical woman was awesome, and so was helping to plan the annual Native Americans at Dartmouth Spring Powwow!
Junior Year Junior Fall My second term abroad! By now you’ve probably figured out how much I love studying in other countries. The great thing about the History FSP was that I wasn’t just taking classes in London—I was also utilizing archival resources in the British Library to complete a Native American Studies independent research project!