Dartmouth students are quick to discover that Big Green athletes have more to offer than their prowess on the field, court, ice or whatever surface on which they might play. The members of the ski team add more to Dartmouth than a national championship; the swimmers add more to Dartmouth than their dedication to two-a-day practices; and the football players add more to Dartmouth than their annual win over Columbia.
The Class of 2007 has assumed a leadership role in giving athletes at the College a reputation for being passionate in areas outside of athletics.
Nick Bonacci '07 led the Dartmouth lacrosse team's offense during his tenure as the team's star attackman and senior co-captain. Bonacci scored 78 goals in his four years, and also made a habit of breaking down opposing defenses by drawing a slide and then feeding the ball to an open teammate -- the All-American assisted 80 goals in his Dartmouth career. Bonacci set the Big Green record for assists in a season with his tally of 34 during his junior year.
Off the field, Bonacci has a 3.89 grade point average, volunteers as a Special Olympics Coach and mentors developmentally challenged children through the Tucker Foundation's Big Brother/Big Sister program. In April, Bonacci was named to the first team of the Lowe's Senior CLASS award in recognition of his commitment to his off-field endeavors.
Dan Shribman '07 is Dartmouth hockey's two-time Smoyer Unsung Hero award, but contributes as much off the ice as he does when he is on skates. Shribman, an Academic All-Ivy selection, boasts a grade point average of 3.71, but has also made significant contributions outside the classroom.
In the spring of 2006, Shribman took his off term in South Africa, where he volunteered as a teacher and a soccer coach for African children. Shribman took a heavier course load during the time-strenuous hockey season to free up time in his schedule for the trip while keeping pace to graduate in four years. In May, he was named the Derek Hines Unsung Hero award, a national award given in the honor of Derek Hines, a former Army hockey player who was killed in combat in Iraq in 2006.
Brent Butler '07 served as co-captain of Dartmouth's swim team, a struggling program that has made significant progress over the past four years. Butler balanced the monotony of a life filled with laps of freestyle and breaststroke with a dedication to entertainment and art. Last fall, Butler sported a multicolored mohawk and donned pieces of "flair" as he served as chief to Dartmouth's renowned H-Croo -- an integral part of Dartmouth's freshman-welcoming team.
The senior from Wisconsin is a member of Casual Thursday, one of Dartmouth's improvisational comedy troupes. Butler also employed his artistic talents as the prose editor of Dartmouth's Stonefence Literary Journal. He has volunteered with the Big Green Readers tutoring program, and will spend the coming summer touring the country in the Big Green Bus, a school bus that was converted to run on biofuels instead of diesel gas in hopes of raising awareness of emerging biotechnologies.
