Freshman Traditions
“The Camaraderie”
| A.D. Boston, MA Fall 1986 |
Informant Data:
A.D. was born in Brookline, MA in April of 1968. He attended high school in Sudbury, MA. At Dartmouth, he studied as studying government. A.D. is a member of the Class of 1990. Outside of work, A.D. enjoys hiking, skiing, and walks around Occom Pond whenever he visits campus.
Contextual Data:
Cultural Context:
Dartmouth College was founded in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock and is the ninth-oldest institution in the United States. Dartmouth currently has 4,310 undergraduates. It is located in Hanover, New Hampshire. Dartmouth is known to be a small, research university that emphasizes a liberal arts curriculum to its students.
Social Context:
As a college that is over two centuries old, Dartmouth offers a distinct series of events that provide every new student with an iconic freshman year experience. Freshmen go through first-year outdoor trips, a matriculation ceremony, and more. The College on the Hill has unique traditions and rites of passage that welcome freshman into the Big Green community.
Item:
Dartmouth was a great experience for A.D. It was the student organizations and Greek life that helped the incorporation into the student body and institution at large. Student groups help greater individualize a student’s time here instead of feeling like a lost face in a crowd of one thousand. The component of nostalgia is what drives him to visit every couple of years. It gave him his strongest connections and best friends. The ritual of when he felt he initiated into the community is something he relives every time he watches new Dartmouth students run or walk around the bonfire. Other activities within the rite of passage such as the singing of Dartmouth songs are the highlights of many of his visits back to campus. It fuels his school sprit and motivates him to want to help the next generation.
*(A.D. preferred not to be filmed or recorded)
Transcript:
“I think they’re important as they build a sort of general camaraderie among the entire student body despite how large it is. They make the environment feel more complete.”
“Really cool to watch the fire, its beautiful, its warm and very rural, new england-y”
“favorite part is singing the school songs”
My friends dragged me back to the bonfire, peer pressure isn’t always bad. My group of friends that is the most meaningful to me are the same group of guys from Dartmouth. They are from my Greek house as well
“the arms on the next person’s shoulder, camaraderie, school spirit…it reminds people of when they did it as undergrads…it’s warm and fuzzy of feeling connected to the institution”
Collectors Comments:
The most memorable experience of many Dartmouth students are the ones that successfully went through the three stages of a rites of passage: separation, transition, and incorporation. Social groups and organizations on campus also played a role in adjusting students to the community to where one still feels part of the community after their time at Dartmouth is complete. The aspect of nostalgia stems from the strong experience in the beginning of their Dartmouth career that helped them feel part of the history of the institution.
| Aneeq Chaudhry Dartmouth College Russian 13 Spring 2019 |