While the Admissions office has trumpeted the academic accomplishments of this year's freshman class, the Class of 2000 also boasts a range of non-academic talents and experiences from students who have spent time in a Bosnian concentration camp to Olympic torchbearers.
Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Karl Furstenberg said throughout the admissions process, he was "struck by [the class's] talents outside of academics."
"Since the beginning of school, people have said the class is focused and energetic. It is really a terrific group," he said.
Before coming to Hanover, freshman Almin Hodzic survived the tortures of a Bosnian concentration camp and overcame stiff language barriers.
Hodzic said when he was 15 years old he spent 20 days in a concentration camp during the war in Bosnia with his mother and younger brothers. He spent three of those days without food or water, he said.
In a strange twist of fate his karate instructor, who was one of the Serbian captains, aided him in his escape to Croatia, Hodzic said. "I wondered why he helped me escape and killed others," he said.
Hodzic said he and his family moved to the United States in 1993, but he soon faced the challenges of adapting to another culture. He began his sophomore year at a Connecticut high school knowing only how to say "thank you" and "hi" in English.
Other members of this year's freshman class demonstrate their talents in the athletic arena.
Amy Pogoriler '00 deferred her matriculation at the College to pursue acrobatics.
Her decision paid off. Pogoriler won the national title at the U.S. Sports Acrobatics Federation championship on the Women's Pair Elite this year in Palm Springs.
But when her coach asked her to put Dartmouth off for another year to do an athletic tour, Pogoriler said she opted for college.
Pogoriler also participated in a televised exhibition at the Olympic trials in Boston in front of 16,000 people.
"They turned down the lights in the arena and the spotlights were on us. It was really fun, but scary," she said.
Pogoriler said she became involved in acrobatics after she quit gymnastics. She said she has been an acrobat for four years.
Freshman Courtney Banghart has already proven herself to be a strong athlete in not one, but three sports.
A native of Amherst, N.H., Banghart said she has won 12 championships in all for the state. As a member of the College's women's basketball team, Banghart said she is an equally accomplished soccer and tennis player.
She said she was an All-American on her high school soccer team and won a tennis state tournament.
Athletic events also impacted freshman Adam Horst's summer. He was selected as an Olympic torchbearer for his community in New Jersey last summer.
With community members watching, Horst said he rode a van to his starting point and ran about a quarter-mile through the streets of Secaucus, N.J., with his torch.
But his experience stemmed more from community involvement than physical skill. Horst said his father nominated him to be a torchbearer for his volunteer service and involvement in his community. Selections for community torchbearers are based on "what kind of community hero you are," Horst said.
Horst said he built homes for the needy in Habitat for Humanity for two years. He was also a counselor at a camp for underprivileged children and spent last summer volunteering at The Oratory, a center in Mexico for disadvantaged students.
Freshman Alok Pant's similar involvement in community service makes him another standout in the Class of 2000.
Pant said he served on the advisory committee to the local board of education on minority education in Rockville, Maryland and tutored inner-city children in Washington, D.C., for three years before coming to the College.
He said his job on the advisory committee included helping "draft legislation to help minorities get a fair shake in the school system."
Pant said one of the successes of the committee was enabling two Korean students to attend a French immersion school. The students were not initially allowed to attend the school because it would "upset the balance" in their former school.
But Pant's talents extend beyond public service. Pant said he was also a semi-finalist in a nationwide science competition. He created a protein which gave clinical symptoms of Alzheimer's Disease when phosphates were added to it.
