Last Sunday while looking for a spot on the Connecticut River to start a three-day flatwater kayaking trip, Kimberly Son ’17, her three trippees and co-leader found themselves accidentally trespassing on a private farm.
Son, whose group did eventually find a starting point, said she left the trip with 25 mosquito bites and personal satisfaction from re-engaging with the outdoors.
Around 200 sophomores participated in this year’s Dartmouth Outing Club’s Sophomore Trips, making it the largest group to participate in the three-day outing trip since it began in 1999, Max Saccone ’17, one of the three Strips directors said. Around 120 students participated in last year’s Strips, he said.
This year marked the first time Strips ran during interim rather than during the summer term, Saccone said.
Strips co-director Victoria Nelsen ’17, who worked alongside co-directors Saccone and Cedar Farwell ’17, said that the dropout rate was lower than past years probably due to the change in timing. She noted that out of an initial 300 sign-ups the Strips directorate placed 250 sophomores on a trip, with 15 dropping out before last weekend.
More students dropped out than expected, however, with 40 students deciding not to attend last weekend with Strips starting on that Sunday, she said.
In past years, schoolwork and the start of midterms often leads students to decide not to participate, Nelsen said.
This year, the directorate expected higher turnout as schoolwork would be a non-issue and students had already made travel plans to return to campus early for their Strips.
The timing of this year’s Strips allowed the directorate to make two bigger changes, Nelsen said. She said the group could organize a leader overnight stay at the Class of 1966 Lodge, which she said created more opportunities for bonding than past years’ leader dinner.
“It was my favorite part because I was working hands-on with people,” Nelsen said.
Strips also included an expanded final day of programming at the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge, she said. Programming included contra dancing and two speakers, associate writing professor Jennifer Sargent and director of Religious and Spiritual Life at the Tucker Foundation Rev. Nancy Vogele.
Nelsen said the weekend went more smoothly than expected, with no medical calls and virtually no “hiccups.” The weather — although it rained lightly on Sunday and more heavily on Tuesday — was agreeable for the remainder of the program.
The program runs similarly to the Dartmouth Outing Club’s First-Year Trips, the program that inspired Strips, with small groups of students led by two student leaders, Saccone said. Students participated in 24 different trips including canoeing, climbing and hiking.
Son said that, like First-Year Trips and other DOC offerings, Strips is a great opportunity to enjoy the outdoors. She noted that sophomores are more comfortable than first-years. Son, who led a First-Year Trip and participated in one as a first-year, said that first-years are often scared and spend a lot of the trip asking advice.
“It’s a whole other dynamic,” Son said. “It’s not upperclassmen introducing incoming freshmen, but everyone’s on a more equal level. I’m just like another trippee, but one who had the gear.”
Saccone said that Strips aims to have minimal distinction between leaders and trippees. He noted, like Son, the different power dynamic on Strips compared to trips with upper-class leaders and a “bunch of starry eyed freshmen who are not sure of what’s going on.”
Son noted that Strips was an opportunity to reengage with the outdoors.
“I have been on six terms, after a while it gets to be a grind with so many classes, so fast that I stopped doing things I loved like being outdoors,” Son said. “It’s great to have another experience that reminds me of why I love Dartmouth so much.”
Doug Phipps ’17, who worked as a Strips outdoor logistics coordinator alongside Apoorva Dixit ’17, said that the large size of Strips gives sophomores a unique chance to meet new people.
Alex Lochoff ’17, outreach coordinator, said that in his position he reached out to various student groups to bring in students who do not necessarily engage regularly with the DOC. He noted that Strips personally offered him the chance to practice outfitting trips and working on logistics involved with the outdoors, a career path he is interested in pursuing.
He noted that Strips offers students an opportunity to connect with different people and to break out of established groups.
“Being with a random group of people for a handful of days hopefully sets you up to immerse yourself in different social groups over sophomore summer,” Lochoff said.
Saccone said that Strips, the largest gathering of the Class of 2017 between matriculation and graduation, offers sophomores the chance to reorient themselves at Dartmouth. Strips gives students the opportunity to “branch out and meet new people and to be a little bit uncomfortable in a situation you’re not normally in.”
He said that the day at the Lodge, many students found themselves looking around and not recognizing many of their peers in the crammed main room.
“Everyone thinks that they know everyone, but you end up in friend groups or with people from your major,” Saccone said. “It was really cool to see people interacting with people they probably would not have met otherwise.”
The eight-person directorate also included safety masters Emmanuel Hui ’17 and Joe Minichiello ’17.
Nelsen and Phipps are former members of The Dartmouth staff.
