This year, 786 undergraduate students remained on campus for at least some of winterim, the six-week period between the fall and winter terms, according to Office of Pluralism and Leadership director and winterim committee coordinator Rachele Hall. According to previous reporting by The Dartmouth, between only 300 and 550 students remained on campus for at least some of winterim in 2023.
Of the almost 800 students, 360 reported staying for the entirety of winterim this year, around 100 of whom are international, Hall added.
International Student Experience Office director Seun Olamosu said “stricter immigration policies” have made students “careful” about leaving the country, although she noted it’s “hard to say” if those policies were the reason more international students stayed on campus over the break than past years.
“Thankfully, so far, students have been able to go out of the country and come back in, so we’re very grateful for that,” Olamosu said. “But I think most people are still trying to just be very cautious because of these policies.”
Several students who stayed on campus told The Dartmouth that food security was a concern over winterim. According to student body president Sabik Jawad ’26, Dartmouth Student Government distributed 100 $75 Co-Op Food Stores gift cards to undergraduates on campus to support access to food during winterim.
“Access to food during winterim is particularly difficult because [Class of 1953 Commons] is open for limited hours,” Jawad, who stayed on campus over the break, said.
Rithwan Aden ’29 said she used her Co-Op gift card to buy ingredients to cook in her dorm over winterim.
“I couldn’t take it, [’53 Commons] was so bad,” Aden said. “It wasn’t good. I used [the gift card] to learn how to cook.”
The Fresh Zone vending machines “stopped accepting [student] IDs” during the break, according to Fernanda Vittorya Pimentel Tavares ’29.
“They were only taking real money,” Pimentel Tavares said. “It was an awful time for the Fresh Zone machines to do that, when we were already limited.”
Many students who remained on campus participated in events and programs coordinated by College organizations. According to Hall, the College hosted approximately 50 events during winterim, adding that “one of the main priorities” of the College was that “all of the events had food.”
“We tried to provide … food options at the events, so that [students weren’t] limited to just dining services during that time,” Hall said.
College President Sian Leah Beilock hosted “a pizza and cookie decorating [event] at her house,” Hall said. “We’ve not had a senior administrator able to do that for us in previous years.”
On Dec. 17, the Student Wellness Center hosted a Winterim Community Mindful Meal, where attendees “shared a guided mindful practice to help deepen our connection to our food, ourselves and one another,” SWC wellbeing program coordinator Alleah Schweitzer wrote in a statement to The Dartmouth.
According to Olamosu, the International Student Experience Office also hosted student events throughout the break.
“And before winter, by October 2025, we started doing workshops with students about preparing for winter, because well-being is also important,” Olamosu added.
Olamosu said the house communities “went all out” this winterim.
Between Dec. 5 and Dec. 25, the house communities planned eight events, including a graduate student-only trip to Northern Stage, a professional theater company located in White River Junction, according to an All-House Winterim Newsletter sent out on Dec. 5.
Hall noted that Winterim Bingo with Allen House was the “biggest event” of the season, with 86 attendees.
Pimentel Tavares added that ice skating at Thompson Arena was among her favorite winterim activities.
“Every Tuesday and Thursday, we could go ice skating from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., and it was just a great time,” she said. “A lot of people were there — undergrad, grad students and Ph.D. students — and I made a lot of friends there.”
Aden added that she had the chance to visit Boston through a one-day ISEO trip. She also participated in a career guidance event hosted by the First-Generation Office.
Winterim is “the best time you can get time for yourself and for your professional world,” Aden said.
Pimentel Tavares said the College offered more events to students than she expected.
“They had a lot of events for such a small group of people,” she noted.
