It’s summer, so we asked a few classmates about their favorite memories of Sophomore Summer.
Meredith (Katz) Gantcher writes: “My memories of the summer are drenched with the trepidation and thrill that I felt each time I launched myself off the banks of the Connecticut River, gripping one of the many rope swings that lined the shore, my heart pounding with the fear I’d forget to release just at the right moment; the wonder I felt during languid late night walks in the pitch dark to the golf course or Ledyard dock looking up at the star-filled night sky, the small ripples of the river or the chirp of crickets breaking the silence; actually fulfilling what I felt was the quintessential Dartmouth student experience of being invited to my professors’ homes for a meal and conversation; and the innocent fun, certainly by today’s standards, of packing into cars and driving off campus to a nearby farm to go berry picking with my Tri-Delt sisters, gorging on strawberries as we picked them, and then heading back to the house for a daiquiri party.”
Erica Klein writes: “I loved everything about Sophomore Summer! Great weather, amazing friends, laidback classes, and the whole Green all to ourselves! To this day non-Dartmouth friends lament to me how awful it must have been to be at school all summer. I always vehemently disagree. I would’ve stayed at Dartmouth every summer if they would’ve let us all be there!”
Mike Pence writes: “The highlight for me was caravanning up to Reggaefest in Burlington, Vermont, with 20 buddies and Pete Harrison’s boat in tow.”
Sam Cook writes: “While Sophomore Summer was filled with fun times at the river and hanging with friends on the Green, I will always remember the time Liz O’Hara and I were almost arrested. We were lab partners in a plant biology class and needed to collect, press, and identify a variety of local flowers. Let’s just say I learned the hard way just how different the rules were in my home state of Georgia vs. Vermont. Who would’ve known that it is illegal in Vermont to pick wildflowers near the shoulder of the interstate? As we returned to my car with our arms chock-full of multiple floral species, our excitement quickly evaporated as two policemen stepped out of their car and immediately began lecturing us about the law we were breaking. Embarrassed, yes; defeated, never. We negotiated our way to freedom and were able to convince the cops to let us keep the loot so as to not let the flowers’ sacrifice be for naught. Even better, we got an A on the project!”
Shana Smith writes: “Favorite overall memory would be tubing with our class in the Connecticut. Maybe somewhat uniquely since I grew up in rural Georgia (where we’d speed-swim out of ponds, rivers, and lakes when a cottonmouth or water moccasin decided to join us), I appreciated hanging out in a natural body of water without keeping my eyes peeled for something venomous.”
—Munir Haddad, P.O. Box 1754, Vineyard Haven, MA 02568; munir.s.haddad.93@alum.dartmouth.org; Natalie Weidener Kupinsky, 1 Stanmore Court, Potomac, MD 20854; natalie.weidener.kupinsky. 93@dartmouth.edu