Sleeping in Leverone

General Information about Item:

  • Genre (Subgenre): Customary Folklore (Traditions and Customs)
  • Language: English
  • Country/State: United States/New Hampshire

Informant Data:

  • Senior (Class of 2018) from Texas
  • First participated in trips his freshman year (Fall 2014)
  • Led Hiking 3 trip during Fall 2017 term

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: Many first-year students are often nervous about meeting their peers and upperclassmen trip leaders. There is often still an atmosphere of forced friendliness after the initial dinner on the green and journey to Leverone.
  • Cultural Context: First-year trips is a tradition-rich practice that is conducted every year for incoming freshman students. The program is run primarily by upperclass students (both trip leaders and Croo members), who utilize lore in the form of traditional songs, dances, and customs to welcome new students to campus and create a sense of community.

Item:

  • On the first night of trips, all first-year students from a single trip section camp together in Leverone Fieldhouse with their trip leaders. They depart early the following morning for their trip-specific destinations.

Transcript of Associated File:

  • “By the time you get to Leverone with your trip, it’s not quite as awkward anymore, because you’ve already done the icebreakers on the green. So now people are more familiar with the other kids on their trip and with their trip leaders, and a lot of times you’ll see them making friends with kids on other trips at Leverone when the entire section is together. My freshman year, we also got read a story by Dr. Suess, which I remember thinking was childish at the time, but now as a trip leader, it kind of makes me reflect on the importance of the traditions that we do on trips and how that’s similar to the way that Dartmouth in general holds its traditions so near and dear, even if some of them are kind of silly.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • The informant mentioned camping in Leverone as an important tradition that the trips program has continued for several years. According to him, the shared group bonding activities conducted at and directly before heading to Leverone – along with the uncertainty shared by first years about what the following day will look like – help create a shared bond among tripees and between trip leaders and their trippees.

Collector’s Comments:

  • The first night at Leverone is a way for first year students to meet other first years and trip leaders in their section that are not on their trip, and as such, is an important part of most students’ initial impression of life at Dartmouth.

Collector’s Name: Abhishek Bhargava

Tags/Keywords:

  • Customary Folklore, Traditions & Customs, Leverone

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