Ithad the makings of an average Saturday morning, greeting me with streaks of light suspending the dust in front of my window. Memories of the night before soothed my spirit, yet to the same degree, the thought of the reading still ahead of me was quite counteractive to my enjoyable sense of calm.
After groggily rolling over a few times, I ventured out to take a stroll, as it was in fact early afternoon, merely disguised as the morning since the light streaming into my room was so brilliant. I had no definite plan, save to check my Hinman Box for a package from Mom, yet greeting me as I crossed the green was a most pleasant sense of purpose. It was nothing I asked for and nothing I sought, yet it pervaded my entire being, and I proudly walked through Hanover as a Dartmouth student. Yes, that is something that I do on a daily basis, yet not with the same passion I displayed on that early afternoon. There was no place I would have rather been than on my way to the Hopkins Center on a lazy Saturday at Dartmouth College, for I was experiencing a world-class institution at its best.
Throughout high school, I strove to succeed for the primary purpose of having the chance to attend a school of the caliber of Dartmouth. The unspoken promise was always present that if I performed well in my classes, I would be accepted, and luckily for me, I was. Yet before matriculating, and even through a good part of last year, I had no plan for what I was going to do with my four years, aside from the obvious answer of leaving with a degree. I felt somewhat purposeless: I was accepted to Dartmouth, but what now? I might have even been part of Jim Rich's "Team Nothing," warming the bench of a team of members just like myself. While I did play my share of intramurals and join a few campus groups, I had not given my Dartmouth experience a great deal of thought.
Finding a reason to get involved might be the most difficult step in sculpting your four years at Dartmouth. For many of us, the promise we had in high school no longer holds true, as only the top students gain acceptance to prestigious law and medical schools, and for the rest of us, the job market somehow seems a bit less tangible than the prospects of acceptance to college once did.
Yet as I found, the simple reason why each of us needs to make the most of our experience is often one of the most overlooked -- for our present self. Not that our futures are not important, but we must enjoy and savor the small things at Dartmouth that make it so special. We party together one night and tool together the next; we play ultimate together one day and sell food to each other at Topside the next (or at least some of us do). It is this diversity teamed with dedication and recreation, which strangely enough add up to the unity of the Dartmouth experience.
We should savor the things we often overlook: The tolling of the bells on Baker tower; Dartmouth Row illuminated on a Friday evening, the Tuesday night Aires concert in your cluster; and Sunday brunch after a rough night. These joys alone might not make Dartmouth one of the top ten schools in the country according to US News and World Report, nor do they even show up in the criteria for the rankings. Yet for me, they are what makes this place home.
Take the time to consider what makes Dartmouth special for you as an individual, and you can be sure that someone else shares your sentiment. Living and studying together, we share many of the same experiences, and even though we are all very different, this institution acts as a bond to bring us together. Here we are allowed to learn and grow together despite any differences which would otherwise pull us apart. And as I just recently discovered on an otherwise lazy Saturday afternoon, there is no cause more worthy for my involvement than to take the time to experience these joys and blessings of Dartmouth actively, not as a passive member of "Team Nothing."
