Beginning with first moments on campus, new Dartmouth students are immediately embraced as members of the community, enabling them to truly feel that Dartmouth is their new home. Whether it is within a new student's freshman floor, through membership in the Dartmouth Outing Club or even by spending hours in the library, countless Dartmouth students come to Hanover and find a new home.
This idea of "home" has different meanings among students, however. For many, Dartmouth does not replace their hometown, but rather becomes more of a second home.
"I still consider New York as home, but since I spend most of my time at Dartmouth and since I'm most engaged there with my friends and clubs, I feel like Dartmouth is more my home," Mason Cole '13 said.
With others, Dartmouth becomes home because it influences their values and beliefs and less because of the physical location.
"What I appreciate most about coming home is going back to a certain set of core values that I was raised with that are very much a part of me," Michelle Shankar '12 said. "When I first came to Dartmouth, it was a culture shock, because I lot of people had very different values than I did. I've certainly grown and changed at Dartmouth, but I haven't lost those core values so the person I am is a product of both."
Others discover home at Dartmouth simply because of the relationships they form while here. Annie Munger '13 said once she found her best friends at school, she felt a lot more habituated.
"I was still adjusting my freshman year because my truest and longest friends were still at home," she said. "I think I really felt like [Dartmouth] was home at the end of my freshman spring, when I felt like I had a great group of close friends that I could count on."
Ryan West '14 expressed similar sentiments, attributing the long lasting connections students build between Dartmouth and home to the College's strong sense of community.
"The students and faculty are all very personable," he said. "It's also such a small, inward-looking community it's like living in a small town with a tight-knit neighborhood."
Shankar also pointed out that figuring out the community where you best fit in at Dartmouth further helps to make Hanover feel like your home.
"Once you find your niche, that becomes your home within Dartmouth, rather than Dartmouth as a whole feeling like home," Michelle said.
Cristy Altomariano '15, found this type of niche on her freshman floor.
"No matter how late I was out at rehearsal, I knew I could always count on them to be there and could talk to them," Altomariano said. "That's how it was at home with my mom, and so now it's like I have 25 moms."
Sahil Joshi '13 said that the unique environment in Hanover has a lot to do with why students call Dartmouth their home.
"In schools in cities, you have the ability to go out and not be so invested in the school," he said. "At Dartmouth, people are so invested because there's not much to be involved in outside, and for the most part, Dartmouth is the primary thing that people do."
Among those students who view Dartmouth as their home, many try to find ways to take Dartmouth with them when they return to their hometown or take an off-term.
"More and more, I'm hanging around Dartmouth people back home and when I'm doing internships in other places," Cole said. "I feel like I'm almost running to Dartmouth people to share the Dartmouth community."
Altomariano, who has tried bringing some school traditions home with her, said that her desire to mix her two homes is the result of the unique qualities of the Dartmouth experience.
"I'm just so happy with my experience and I want everyone to know how great it is," she said. "I'm trying to bring Dartmouth home and teach my friends things, like how they actually play Beirut at their colleges and not beer pong."
Although not every student regards Dartmouth as a type of home, for a large part of our community, this school becomes a part of us and feels like home in a unique and important way.
"I think that Dartmouth definitely defines people more than at other schools," Munger said. "Even if you're having a unique experience, I don't think people are as changed by their school."
