After a day and a half of wilderness expedition, the 190 sophomores participating in Sophomore Trips, or Strips, gathered at the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge on Sunday afternoon and commemorated the weekend with song and dance.
Wilderness yoga and road biking trips were new additions to the original list of trips, which included hiking, kayaking, horseback riding, nature photography and ropes course excursions, among others.
Three hundred and sixty-five students initially applied for Strips, and 210 participants were placed on the program. One hundred and fifty students attended as participants, and 40 as leaders. In 2013, 40 students dropped out, and 12 participants dropped out in 2012.
Last year, about 160 students participated, with a last-minute decrease that was largely attributed to a rainy forecast.
College President Phil Hanlon and his wife Gail Gentes visited the Lodge on Sunday, chatting with students about their experiences at Dartmouth and plans for the summer.
An unexpected event over the weekend was that one hiking group was dropped off at a wrong spot on the trail, but the group managed to find its way.
Wilderness yoga trip leader Francis Slaughter ’16 said that Strips constituted a very different experience from first-year trips because leaders and trippees are peers. Still, Strips allowed students to re-experience the excitement of the first-year trips, he said.
Eight students interviewed highlighted the experience of making new friends from their class as a chief appeal of Strips.
Olivia Samson ’16 said she did not previously know anyone on her trip.
“Even if you think you know a lot of people in your class, there are still those other people that you have never really come in contact with,” she said. “And you don’t want to miss out on those relationships that you can have with them.”
Matt Marcus ’16 said that Strips allows students to step aside from the busy campus routine and appreciate the natural beauty of the surrounding area.
Keshia Naurana Badalge ’16, who co-directed Strips with Anna Gabianelli ’16, said that a directorate was established for the first time this year to diminish the pressure on the co-directors. Eight students divided the responsibilities. Six positions held five functions: safety and emergency, coordinating food, logistics, trip leader training and gear management.
Badalge said the directorate could be improved if the roles of each position were more clearly defined and if the tasks were partitioned more efficiently.
Gabianelli said that organizing Strips proved challenging at times, as both she and Badalge had never been on campus for them before.
Approximately 85 percent of the Class of 2016 participated in first-year trips in 2012, while about 17 percent participated in Strips.
The article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction appended (July 1, 2014):
The eight-person directorate was split into five positions, not four. Two years ago, 12 students dropped from participating in Strips, not 40, as was originally reported. The story misreported this year's yield of participants; 60 students dropped out of the program after being placed on a Strip.The article has been changed to reflect the misreported information.
