The fact that Hanover, the town with the long six-month winter that students eagerly wish away for warmer temperatures, becomes unbearably hot during the summer months proves that God does in fact have a sense of humor. When the mercury reaches 90 degrees Fahrenheit, it becomes abundantly clear that too much of a good thing can exist. At the onset of the summer, we ask ourselves the question: what is it about sophomore summer that garners its mystique? The answer lies deeper than the stock responses of the beautiful weather or the overall more relaxed attitude on campus.
Sophomore summer demands the most school work from Dartmouth students over the summer months (hi Econ 26) since the mandatory summer reading lists back in elementary school. However, thinking about being chained to a windowless cubicle in the 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. summer internship I would have had in lieu of sophomore summer, I realize that "Camp Dartmouth" is more than simply an opportunity for "fun in the sun." It offers a fitting reminiscence at a turning point in our college careers.
With the specter of tomorrow and the "real world" just over the horizon, the enchanting lure of sophomore summer lies in the opportunity to recapture the summers of yore -- the classic "Wet Hot American Summer" filled with barbeques, long, cool evenings, watermelon and lounging along riverbanks in the fashion of Tom Sawyer (though without the murder, obviously). There is no better place than northern New England to rekindle such romanticism which permeates the atmosphere of sophomore summer and conjures scenes that could have come directly from the palette of Norman Rockwell.
In America, summertime is just not a season, but rather it is both the epitome and barometer of youth. As the distinction between the lifestyle of the summer and the rest of the year blurs, the reality of growing up sets in. Completing our second year in college, with the pressures of preparing for the future, most of us have not had a real "summer" in years that resembles the once leisurely summers of our childhoods. Initially reserved strictly for lazy afternoons while growing up, summer quickly becomes yet another opportunity to pad the resume with an internship or work extensive hours to earn money. Today, we find ourselves straddling the line between the leisure-filled summer of youth and the undistinguished daily work schedule that characterize the summer of adults.
Despite being in school and taking classes, the beauty behind sophomore summer is that it will be the most "summery" summer that we have had in years -- having friends around constantly, warm weather and relatively minimal daily time commitments. As opposed to having substantial Monday to Friday, 40-hour workweek obligations, with only a couple required hours of class each day, the summer term provides us with sorely missed flexibility to take full advantage of the summer.
Sophomore summer presents a unique chance to return to the spirit of more youthful summers at a time when the reality of how quickly time has passed becomes frighteningly apparent. It is a surreal thought that the time elapsed from my arrival on Robo lawn for DOC Trips to sophomore summer is the same amount of time until our departure from Dartmouth with Commencement on the Green. While my friends at semester schools are freaking out about being a "junior" in college, I naively try to reassure myself with the fact that I am still only a "sophomore." After losing to a clock in a dome, I realized that there is no way to slow the inevitable passage of time.
Conspicuous reminders of our impending entrance into the "real world" permeate even the utopian summer atmosphere. An appropriate juxtaposition to the "Camp Dartmouth" mentality is found in the corporate recruiting process that occurs each sophomore summer. Amid the youthfully slow-paced lifestyle of the summer, dozens of students seek internships that will hopefully land them competitive jobs and subsequently usher them away to a noisy and crowded metropolis in a couple years. Not too soon after finding our niche here at Dartmouth, the need to start thinking about life after Dartmouth arises, in the form of graduate school applications and an alphabet-soup of standardized tests (MCAT, GRE, KFC, etc.)
With the whole summer ahead of us, appreciating the special occasion at our feet will help ensure that the reality of the sophomore summer matches its mystique. And if you ever want to play a game of stickball this summer, blitz me.
