With only sophomores on campus, the summer is billed as a time for "class bonding" and the solidifying of friendships. It is something to which many '97s have been looking forward to since freshman fall.
Taking "gut" classes, spending sunny afternoons at the docks, swimming in the river at night, Tubestockand Summer Carnival are all much-ballyhooed events of the season.
So, did it live up to the hype?
Some '97s, like Rob Roses, seem to think so.
"Sophomore summer is a beautiful experience," he said. "There's a certain spirit that pervades the air, the trees, everything."
He added, "Whenever I walk down Tuck Drive I'm constantly amazed by how many people say hello to me. It's disarming."
Ellen Wight '97 also expressed content with sophomore summer. She said the atmosphere this term has been less stressful, and the warm weather has allowed her to engage in more outdoor activities such as canoeing and ultimate frisbee.
"It's been a good term," she said. "Dartmouth is such a beautiful place in the summer. It's been one of the best terms I've had."
Yun Chung '97 was told by her upperclass friends that sophomore summer would involve "sleeping a lot in the afternoons because of the warm weather; seeing people you've never seen before; and spending a lot of time in Reserve because it's the only air-conditioned place on campus."
Chung said that she has indeed slept a lot and spent much time in the Reserve Corridor. Though she has not befriended many '97s she did not know before, she has been able to recognize more faces of people she routinely sees around campus. "During the year you see a person and then you never see him or her again," she said.
Bill Drehkoff'97 said he expected sophomore summer to be "a blast," a time for him to bond with his brothers in Theta Delta Chi fraternity and with '97s in general. He also hoped that his band, Mongoose Root, would play enough gigs so that he could quit his job at the Dirt Cowboy Cafe.
This term "has totally lived up to my expectations," he said.
Though Wight feels that she has met more '97s this term, she questioned whether the class has truly bonded as a whole. She used Tubestock as an example of limited class bonding: "It was a great time, but when you go it's easy to forget that not everyone is there.It appeals to only a certain group in the student population so it's not the 'big' experience of sophomore summer."
Chung expressed some dissatisfaction with sophomore summer because she associates summers with being in an urban environment, surrounded with old friends.
"Being at Dartmouth [this summer] has disrupted my 'time clock,'" she said. However, she added that she became closer to her friends at the College and that "the summer's most memorable moments have been a bizarre train of events that took place with my friends."
SeeSeeMany '97s said they thought summer academics would be more "laid back." Wight said that while her workload had been lighter in the beginning of the term, "I haven't seen the river in weeks because I spend most of my time in Reserve."
One common complaint about Sophomore Summer was the dining hall hours. "Dining hours bite," Oliver Schietinger '97.
"[Sophomore summer] gives the opportunity for people who have been dispersed during sophomore year to get back together and rebuild some ties that may have been severed," Dean of the College Lee Pelton told The Dartmouth in May.
However, most students believe the class bonding is more an outcome of a savvy business decision.
Chung said she thinks it is the College's way of "maximizing" the campus capacity without expanding the physical plant.
Some members of the faculty and administration have wondered whether sophomore summer has outlived its usefulness.
Provost Lee Bollinger told The Dartmouth last term that being enrolled in the summer eliminates sophomores' chances to "refresh and reflect on the academic year just passed."
Opinionsof the summer went from"hot" to "quick" to "bizarre." Despite its disadvantages, most would agree with Wight's comment on sophomore summer: "It's a special time."
