Sophomore Year. Sophomore Fall Finally, no longer a first-year! But with great power comes great responsibility. Not only was I taking trickier classes (say, organic chemistry?), but I also dove into my extracurriculars with enthusiasm after a summer away. I began research at the Geisel School of Medicine as a Sophomore Scholar, became a mentor for the Great Issues Scholars Living Learning Community, and joined a sorority. Sophomore Winter In addition to my weekly beginner skiing lessons at the Dartmouth Skiway, I poked around in the programming language R as I took a class on applied multivariate data analysis. The class was in both the government and QSS departments, so we looked at demographic factors that have an impact on voting. Though the class was challenging, programming was so satisfying and rewarding that I decided to add a second major in Quantitative Social Science and haven’t looked back since.
Sophomore Spring Approaching the end of sophomore year, I thought I had finished introductory classes. Yet, I found myself in an Introduction to Programming course. My professor awarded candy bars to students who answered her toughest questions. We designed ping pong games, simulated the solar system, and generated a map revealing the shortest route between two points on campus— very practical! Sophomore Summer Ah, sophomore summer. I can still close my eyes and feel the sunlight, smell the Farmer’s Market popcorn, and hear the splashes of the Connecticut River. It was nothing less than a magical term. Ledyard Canoe Club became a favorite spot to sunbathe, swim, kayak, canoe, and paddleboard with friends and family. I also took my first class in the Women’s Gender, Sex, and Sexuality department, which I loved.
Junior Year
ILLUSTRATION BY STUART BRADFORD
Junior Fall To complete my majors, I enrolled in a four-course term (meaning an additional class). One was Italian 1, with language drill held three times a week. I had no familiarity with Italian and hadn’t taken a language at Dartmouth, but by the end of the course, I could make small talk and speak about Maria Montessori for five minutes. I also took a class on sports analytics, which was co-taught by Dartmouth President Phil Hanlon. Junior Winter Eager to apply everything I had learned in my QSS classes to global health, I interned at the Fogarty International Center (FIC) in the National Institutes of Health in my hometown of Bethesda, MD. There, I explored mathematical epidemiology and transmission dynamics. I had previously shadowed the deputy director (an ’83!) for a winterim externship.
Junior Spring I was supposed to attend the Art History Foreign Study Program in Rome, but because of COVID-19, it was unfortunately cancelled. Instead of taking classes, I decided to continue my internship at FIC. I was able to publish an article in The Lancet on the early epidemiology of COVID-19 due to physician crowd-sourced data, as well as a second article on excess mortality estimates, which reveal the true burden of the disease. Junior Summer While I’d originally planned on working at the National Eye Institute for my final off-term, I decided to continue my internship at FIC for another term (thankfully, the flexibility of the D-Plan allowed me to do so)! We had a few more interns working with us, and I was able to help them with the basics of the programming language R. I also worked as a Learning Fellow for BIOL13 (genetics) again and stayed involved with a campus group called Health Access for All.