Welcome! You'll be here before you know it and you're already developing a sense of the place; you feel the energy and vibrancy around you; you'll met people like you and some unlike you, and over-all you'll like what you see. Now, how do you adjust? In a word, be open, be willing to change, embrace the truth and realize that ultimately the only thing that you own is yourself.
Consider this five-step program. Take the time to walk through it, for it may, at the very least, steer you in the right direction.
Know Thyself: Imagine yourself layered with crusts from the day your were born. Visualize those crusts encasing your positive and negative beliefs or prejudices. Now's the time to deal with as many as possible. Track their source from the start.
The first crust envelops what we hear and see from our family and close relatives. Generally, we form our ideas on politics, religion and our general outlook from them. These are things that we cherish and yet there are others that need to be examined. A racial slur, an ethnic joke settles into the crust, festers and then becomes cancerous and colors our outlook in depressing hues.
The second crust may be the most dangerous of the lot, for it is formed by peer pressure and sometimes determines behavior for a life-time. This crust, dear friends, is shaping up here and now. Think! People tend to absorb all they can from their friends principally to belong -- and they dress like them, walk like them, talk like them and even smell like them ... and often lose their identity.
Unless you rid yourself of the negative input acquired in the first two crusts, the third crust is the one you will live with for the remainder of your life. You will by then have lost your identity and live a life borrowed from others.
Connect: Connect in all ways and in all manners: the surroundings, the culture and the unparalleled resources at Dartmouth; connect with your fellow students, your teachers, your advisors and the Upper Valley.
Exploit the myriad benefits available to you. You will not want to regret in the years ahead, what you could have done today! Now is the time. Use it. Make it work for you.
Direction: Fashion your aspirations, mull over your dreams; focus on the challenges before you, the risks you have to take and the path you will eventually strike for yourself. Though your ulterior goal cannot be defined now, move in the direction to which you are most inclined. Do not stand and wait. The 17th-century French thinker Ren Descartes would have us move in any direction rather than keep walking in circles.
Senses and the Emotions: We cannot forget the world in which we live, and it is our duty to contribute to it on a large or small scale. It is through the senses and the emotions that we seize the world within and around us. The brain alone doesn't do it. Hone your senses, and go as far as you can to make them come alive. Try to forge them into a dynamic, creative force; to exploit each sense as a way of knowing beauty, of understanding the world and becoming a part of it. In this way, the senses lead us to an epistemology, an aesthetics, a philosophy and an existential engagement of life. Look and really see who you are and be aware of the meaning and presence of others; listen and hear beyond the ear, for often the best communication occurs in silence; smell, and touch so that you too may be touched by acts of kindness.
The emotions have to be engaged at all times. The Emotional Quotient is a powerful tool in learning. Know your emotions: learn from them and through them. We remember best those things that touch us. The emotions fuel the imagination, sustain its effort, exploit the potentialities of thought. Passion is a powerful source for good. Strap its power and ride it headlong to your goal.
Stage Presence: The stage presence which I visualize is your presence on the stage of the world, and how your sensitivity and intelligence, your industry and integrity and your commitment to humanity will make a difference.
You are here not only to educate yourself, but to have an impact on others.
