Between Class Council, dancing, a job and classes, Pam Saunders '97 could barely make time for an interview.
Saunders, who has been 1997 Class Council president for over two years, finds herself performing an amazing juggling act as she tries to balance the varied elements of her life at Dartmouth.
Committed to her activities
Saunders' commitments, including singing with the Rockapellas, dancing in Sheba, managing the men's varsity hockey team, planning for the Programming Board and participating in Tuesday Night Fellowship, lead many of her friends to describe her as "doing everything."
Paige Kambas '97, who has been Saunders' friend since they met on their freshman trip, said she thinks Saunders is great at managing her time.
"She does a lot. I'm sure she gets stressed and busy like all of us," Kambas said. "But she manages her life really well. I don't think she's in over her head."
But Saunders' friend, Brent Retter '97, said he thinks Saunders overcommits herself.
"She tries to do too much," Retter said. "She doesn't leave enough time to have a good time socially."
Even Saunders said sometimes her activities can be a little overwhelming.
"I think that was my goal freshman year. I wanted to keep up with my extracurricular activities, meet people and meet administrators," she said. "I just kept adding things and stretching myself too far. My mom isn't too pleased with that."
In high school
Taking part in many activities is not just a Dartmouth phenomenon for Saunders. She was almost as active when she attended Brooklyn Technical High School in New York.
At Brooklyn Tech, Saunders was vice president of her class, sang in the school gospel choir and performed many community service activities.
One of these activities was the Archbishop's leadership project, which sought out academically qualified African-American students and took them on weekend retreats to teach them about African-American culture.
Now a women's studies and history major, Saunders said she majored in chemistry in high school.
"I'll probably never do science again," Saunders added. "My teachers really turned me off to science."
Growing up in Brooklyn Heights with three sisters and a brother, Saunders said she often took on extra responsibilities.
"My mom works a lot, so I became sort of a surrogate mother to my two younger sisters," Saunders said. "I was mature so I had more responsibility put on to me."
A genuine friend
According to her friends, Saunders still displays some of those maternal qualities in her friendships as well.
"She's awesome," Kambas said. "When you see her, she makes you feel like you're the most important person there. She gives you all her attention."
Retter related one of his first encounters with Saunders.
"She was on my DOC section, so I had just met her and I got back to campus and set up my computer," he said. "I happened to run into her right after, and she just started yelling at me for not getting in touch with her. I realized I had better start keeping up."
Retter also stressed the importance Saunders places on her friendships.
"She's outgoing with her friends," he said. "She's great to her friends. They're really important to her."
Ben Weinberg '97, who has been friends with Saunders since their prospective weekend, said Saunders' sense of responsibility extends to her friendships.
"She's always there for people," he said.
As Class Council President
That same sense of responsibility brought Saunders to the 1997 Class Council, which she has lead since her freshman fall.
She said she was interested in Class Council from the beginning. She said she sought out Dan Garodnick '94, who was president of the 1994 Class Council for four years, and asked him for advice.
Saunders said at first she thought she would just run for secretary of Class Council because she was a little intimidated by all the other '97s who had been leaders in their high schools and seemed interested in running for president.
But she said Garodnick talked her into running for president.
That fall, Saunders said, Class Council was disorganized.
"It was rocky, rocky," she said. "Rocky until that spring. There were so many of us."
She said throughout the winter the uncommitted people weeded themselves out.
"Freshman year, no one really knew who their class officers were," she said.
But she said the lack of name recognition did not affect her ability to lead. She said the performance of the Council as a whole is what is important.
"I don't think people need to know who their class president is," Saunderse said. "I'm the one who can put 'president' on my resume, but I don't do anything for the class that we don't all do."
