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The Dartmouth
July 11, 2025 | Latest Issue
The Dartmouth

Mr. Davis' Ring

Somewhere between losing my Dartmouth ID card for the second time in a week, blitzing an old internship boss for a letter of recommendation, meeting to discuss the Dartmouth Rude Mechanical's fall show and worrying that this term has become too crazy before classes even begun, I went to check my Hinman Box. After showing my license (lest we forget, my card is MIA), I received a significant package.

In the package was the class ring of Clark Davis '54. Mr. Davis, a dear friend of my family, is the reason I came to Dartmouth; if he hadn't passed along his Alumni magazines throughout my junior year of high school, I do not know if I would have thought to consider Dartmouth.

Mr. Davis was a true son of Dartmouth who was active in the alumni network, visited Hanover frequently, followed the football team and wore a green blazer to church any Sunday the gospel included the words "A Voice Crying Out in the Wilderness." Mr. Davis passed away this summer.

His wife sent me his class ring as a good luck talisman for my senior year and, standing in the Hop looking at the big piece of metal provided a needed pause in my busy day. Mr. Davis' death hit me harder than I had expected and I realized that I hadn't fully appreciated how lucky I had been to have him as part of my Dartmouth support system.

The more I considered the ring and its significance, I realized that I owe so much to those who have gotten me to this point in my Dartmouth career. The best part of the education we receive here is the opportunity to know the people that surround us and to be known by them. In fact, learning about and interacting with your peers may be the most exciting activity Hanover has to offer.

Regardless, it can be easy to shut out other people and bury ourselves under the pressure that can accumulate from challenging classes and multiple sports, clubs and performances. Sometimes, it is simpler to remain superficially engaged with others to go through the motions of what is required of us with the next meeting or class crowding our minds, but it is less fulfilling, too. When we face our whirlwind of a term with deliberateness of action and an interest and appreciation for the people in our lives, we deepen our understanding of what it means to be a member of this community and how life altering and enlightening those connections can be.

Perhaps this is obvious to many, but in the overwhelming time that Fall term can be, whether you're a senior trying to find a job or a freshman figuring out what activities you want to go out for, relationships can be pushed to the side not out of malice, but out of convenience. Yet I have found that when I take care of others, when I am there for them, I find myself taken care of, too, with much less effort than if I had kept my worries, troubles or insecurities to myself.

Sure, my family is still my first line of defense when I need a little encouragement to face the world with all I have to offer, but when I think about Dartmouth, the difficult classes and sleepless nights fade. Instead, I get a bit of a self-esteem boost when I think about all of those who have been there in my cheering section: the writing professor who meticulously went through every graduate school essay with me; my advisor who did not think wanting to live with and do independent research on nuns was entirely crazy; my friend who invited me over for dinner because I've lost my Dartmouth card; a '54 who believed that I could become a part of this amazing community.

My goal for my senior year, then, is a bit like the cheesy Girl Scout song to make new friends and keep the old because when the time comes, heavens forbid, that I must face the real world, my connections to this place, this time, and how it will continue to shape and challenge my worldview will be the people I knew and loved here.