Han: Graduates of Pandemic
This column is featured in the 2020 Commencement special issue.
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This column is featured in the 2020 Commencement special issue.
This column is featured in the 2020 Commencement special issue.
This column is featured in the 2020 Commencement special issue.
This article is featured in the 2020 Commencement special issue.
This article is featured in the 2020 Commencement special issue.
This article is featured in the 2020 Commencement special issue.
This article is featured in the 2020 Commencement special issue.
This article is featured in the 2020 Commencement special issue.
This article is featured in the 2020 Commencement special issue.
This article is featured in the 2020 Commencement special issue.
This article is featured in the 2020 Commencement special issue.
This article is featured in the 2020 Commencement special issue.
This editors' note is featured in the 2020 Commencement special issue.
This article is featured in the 2020 Commencement special issue.
Last week, Dartmouth announced that it would suspend the standardized testing requirement for applicants to the Class of 2025, joining Columbia University, Cornell University and the University of Pennsylvania in eliminating the requirement for the upcoming college application cycle.
I first heard about Dartmouth as a high school sophomore. I was sitting in my honors English class when I overheard a junior say that Dartmouth was her dream school. At that point, I was still well over a year away from spending mental energy on college applications. I had always envisioned myself attending the University of Texas at Austin. Regardless, the idea of Dartmouth must have clattered around in my subconscious for a while because when it came time to apply to some dream schools, Dartmouth made the cut along with Harvard, Stanford and Yale.
One hallmark of the Dartmouth term is that it’s doled out in portion-controlled weeks, one after the next. Week one is for adjustment; week two is for “catching up” with once-per-term friends; week three begins the long and terrible blur of midterms that never end; week six is the termly weekend extravaganza; week eight is for formals; week nine is for wishing you were somewhere else.
The end of a term calls for relief. The end of a school year calls for reflection. The end of one’s time at Dartmouth calls for something harder to identify — for pride and gratitude, but also sorrow for all of the friends, places and traditions that graduating seniors must leave behind. This year, the end of spring brings a new kind of grief. Amid one of the most turbulent times our generation has ever seen, the Class of 2020 must seek a sense of closure for their college years, despite losing their last chance to be together on campus.
When I first came to Dartmouth, I was aware of several aspects of my identity. I was a lover of books. I wanted to study English and creative writing so that I could write stories that helped other people the way the stories I had read had helped me. I was white. I was a woman. I was middle-class. I was from Colorado, and I loved the mountains.