'Parkhursted' find time away from school helpful
A three-term forced vacation isn't exactly what most prospective Dartmouth students envision when they first arrive in Hanover. Yet each year, a small fraction of students leave the College against their will due to poor academic performance or conduct in violation of Dartmouth regulations. College suspension, commonly referred to in the student vernacular as being "Parkhursted," technically results from academic penalty or from certain forms of misconduct, according to the College Student Handbook. But while being "Parkhursted" prohibits students from even setting foot on the Dartmouth campus, some who went through the ordeal said it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. A reality check After David Belden '97 was "given time off" for academic reasons following his sophomore fall, he embarked on a three-month National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) course "hiking, biking, rock climbing, white water rafting and canoeing." Citing the "Semester in the Rockies" course as the "coolest part" of his time away, Belden said he also thought the cooperative experience he gained while living in the wilderness with 11 other people on the 95-day trip helped him gain his current position as president of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. "You have a lot of time to think in the woods," he said. Wanting to get back into academia, Belden took classes at Stanford University for the summer, where he received a 4.0 GPA for his work.