Still looking for something to do this summer?
Imagine yourself hiking to the top of the Alps, and after having reached the pinnacle, contentedly surveying the snowy valleys below. Sounds pretty unrealistic, right? Well, that's exactly what Peter Bohler '03 is doing next term.
Having taken a summer job at a Swiss resort 7,000 feet above sea level, Bohler plans to hike the Alps in between his shifts cooking, cleaning and waiting tables.
"I think it will be a lot of fun," he said.
As the sophomores spend their summers on campus and most the graduating seniors prepare to enter their careers or professional schools, some '03s and '01s who spoke with The Dartmouth will be participating in an array of interesting activities.
In a ministry project sponsored in part by the Campus Crusade for Christ, Ann Chang '03 will be traveling to East Asia in an undercover missionary expedition.
"We'll be building relations with other [foreign] students and hopefully we'll be able to minister to them and teach them about religion," she said.
Chang said that she will find the strength to complete her project from above.
"The Lord has done such great things in our lives that we have been convicted to dedicate our summer to spreading the gospel," she said of herself and the other Campus Crusaders.
Collin O'Mara '01 is working on a crusade of another kind. He plans to advance Rudolph Giuliani's campaign against Hilary Rodham Clinton in the upcoming New York senatorial race.
"I've never worked on a senatorial race and I just wanted to get a different experience that I couldn't have gotten trying an internship," he said.
O'Mara feels that his exciting politically-oriented summer will most likely prove challenging.
"The greatest challenge is going to be the media scrutiny because it's going to be the biggest race in the country," he said.
As part of the First-Year Summer Research Program, Rob Karl '03, whose project is entitled "Green Antifascists: Dartmouth Men in the International Brigade," intends to study the histories of two former students who traveled to Spain in the early 1930s in order to fight against the impending dictatorship of Francisco Franco.
"I am hoping to do research at Rauner and look into what their motivations were," Karl said. He suspects that possible sources of information will include the diaries and correspondence of the men themselves as well as past issues of The Dartmouth.
Alex Monopolis '03 plans to use his own project to explore his cultural roots. Monopolis will travel to Corfu, Greece this summer to study different sectors of the population and "how they react to their natural environment." His project is called "The Geography of Human Relations in Corfu, Greece: A Photographic Essay."
After completing his work in Greece, Monopolis plans to backpack through Europe with friend Kevin Watkins '03.
Although the pair said that they have no pre-planned itinerary, Monopolis assured The Dartmouth that "we have a map."
Monopolis and Watkins are not going to be Dartmouth's only global nomads this summer, however.
Both James Macintosh '01 and Megan Anderson '01 are going to be traveling to Australia. The trip will be an especially important one for Macintosh because, although he is an Australian citizen, he has never visited.
Some students plan to spend their summer doing community-service.
Through the auspices of Orphanage Outreach's Touch the Future Summer Program, five Dartmouth students will be spending a portion of their summers teaching English and other academic subjects as well as leading recreational activities for orphans in the Dominican Republic.
Annie Gibson '03 said that she sees the program as a opportunity not only to share her own knowledge but to learn from the children.
"I'm really interested in Spanish and Latino culture," she said. "I love to travel and I love kids and I think it'll be a neat experience."
Taylor Jones '00 is also looking forward to her summer in the Dominican Republic.
"I enjoy teaching," she said. "And I wanted to do something different, fun and rewarding before I do something in the real world."
Other program participants will include Sarah Daoust '03. Laura Grip '03 and Rebecca Meyers '03.
Meredith Kessler '01 will also be working with children this summer. Her plans will take her to the Rocky Mountains, where she will work as a camp counselor and hiking leader for the same summer program that she attended for several years in her youth.
"I'll be responsible for 15 kids in 14,000-foot mountains," she explained.
Although Kessler feels that the counselorship is a "big responsibility," she is enthusiastic about sharing her love of hiking with other young women.
"I've been climbing mountains since I was 10 and it's obviously a very big part of who I am," she said.
