A Journey Through 2006 Dartmouth: Reflections of a Dr. Seuss Scholar
During my undergraduate years at UC San Diego, I had the privilege of being named a Dr. Seuss scholar, an award from Theodore Geisel’s donations to both UCSD and Dartmouth, which afforded me a tuition-free year at Dartmouth which was so sweet.
I signed up for an American history course and soon realized I was the outlier; nearly every other student boasted a familial connection to a U.S. president within two or three generations and shared captivating stories about their lineage. As someone whose life was rooted in LA as a lifeguard, this was my first brush with such a distinctly well-connected circle.
At Dartmouth, I was fortunate to interact with an incredible group of peers, many of whom were valedictorians—37.1% of the Class of 2020, to be exact. Despite the competitive environment, there was a strong sense of camaraderie, and students were always ready to lend a hand. This supportive atmosphere enabled me to hit my desired grades and learn from some of the brightest minds I've ever encountered in a breathtaking setting.
As I was building my coding and consulting practice and seeing success, I noticed peers who, like me, were balancing academic pursuits with entrepreneurial endeavors, often starting businesses from the basements of fraternity buildings or dormitories, shaping my belief in the potential of students as optimal and promising founders.
I recently rediscovered a detailed campus walkthrough from 2006 while going through old Facebook posts. I often get asked at work what Hanover, NH is like so I thought it'd be fun to share this along with the amusing comments I made back then.
Door to my dorm, a pretty great location--close to the gym, both of my classes, and local fraternities.
Usually I would walk down this path to get to my classes in Carson Hall, just a 2 minute walk away. Gettin' up at 9:58 for my 10A class was the routine.
My desk, close to the window and with snacks nearby because while I like to multitask.
I have the bottom bunk. Although we have a lot of games my roommate, James, and I probably played 2 hours of video games during the whole term!
"The Green" or the large grass area in the middle of town/campus that people congregate in during the day to play soccer, Frisbee, or just lay back and enjoy the sunshine (when there is some).
This church, Rollins Chapel, has amazing acoustics. I had a chance to listen to some Norwegian gospel singers in here on a Saturday evening and it was very soothing. After the performance I was so relaxed I went back to bed and had the best daytime nap ever.
This is the Baker Library and the signature tower. Every hour during the day the bells sound all over campus and occasionally it plays bell renditions of various tunes. Pleasing to listen to, except when you're trying to sleep in after a rough night with the guys.
Webster library, an impressive freestanding building with endless unused tables for studying. The most quiet place on campus.
A view of Baker while standing on the Green.
This weekend they had the annual Dartmouth Native American Festival, the largest of its kind at any Ivy League school and certainly the largest of its kind in New England.
Various tribes sang songs for hours on end during the day, all of the performers were top notch, having won award at various competition spanning the region.
About 2000-4000 people would come out during the day to watch the Native American performances. They were pretty spectacular.
Collis is a good place to eat, shop at their mini-supermaket, and watch sports on their big screen tvs. When they had the Masters golf tournament I came in early to secure the large screen to watch and to my amazement me and a few others were the only ones who were watching on campus. Everyone else was watching hockey on other screens. There is ALWAYS hockey on and people watching in jerseys.
This is the Hanover Inn, a nice hotel, running about $210 per night. I was friends who someone who worked there so we would hang out during her breaks. Good times.
This is what's termed "the Hop" or the Hopkins Center for the Arts. An impressive structure that houses a movie theater (where I saw Blades of Glory), the best place to have breakfast on campus with a 3-person staff just making omelets and the like, a ticket counter, and a connection over to the Hood Museum.
The eastern entrance to the Hood Museum.
A building of South Fayerweather, a cluster of very nice buildings which serve as a shortcut from my dorm in Richardson to the gym.
The Shattuck Observatory, offering some nice views of the star and a place where people usually lay out when it's sunny to soak in some rays.
Sanborn House, a very quiet place to study with two stories of studying nooks.
Rockefeller Center (slightly smaller than in New York) This building was endowed by the Governor of New York, Presidential Hopeful, eventual Vice President, and Dartmouth Graduate. Barack Obama spoke outside of here. Good speaker.
Saw the CEO of Kayak.com and Head partner of Prism Venture Capital speak here. The Prism guy was the best speaker I have ever heard by a long shot. Amazing.
The Tuck school of business, an excellent school in a beautiful setting.
Nice architecture. The average MBA grad in 06' starts out (including bonuses) with a salary of $146,000.
There is a roundabout that includes Tuck and the Thayer School of Engineering, where I saw one of the earliest promoters of the internet as the head of the National Science Foundation's internet task force from 1990 - ~1998. Now he's on the ICANN board of directors. Interesting guy.
I met with the Dean of the Business School to pitch him the way I could deliver higher display ads customized to a website’s audience and had done so such success for a few dozen sites. He was impressed and referred me to a venture capitalist who funded such endeavors if I needed more capital to grow.
The Tuck admin offices are directly inside, most of the lectures take place in building to the left, not shown.
Behind me is Tuck and one must venture down a little ways to get back to Baker. An excellent place to do some light sprints, which I had occasion to do from time to time.
Some dorms in between Baker and Tuck. Pretty nice, house a lot of grad students and their spouses.
the Alumni Gym's tennis courts. Just behind them is the football/track fields which are awesome.
This is the Alpha Delta Phi house that served was the site of the 1978 movie "Animal House" -- the screenplay was written based on the experiences of Christopher Miller, a frat brother here.
The Alumni gym, awesome facilities (it's about 1/3 of the size of UC San Diego’s rather large RIMAC center, however). A fantastic indoor track with a cork-like material on the ground used for shock absorption which works very well.
It's not just about the locations you visit, but also the individuals you encounter, and Dartmouth was brimming with some of the most fascinating people I've ever crossed paths with, all within a backdrop that was undeniably stunning.