Dear Classmates-
Alumni Council update for Day 1.
I attended the Alumni Council Orientation session, which was helpful and a good opportunity to meet some other first year councilors. The emphasis was on communication with our constituent class, so I am again urging classmates to pass along their thoughts, questions and comments. If I can't answer your query, I will pass it along to someone at Dartmouth who can help me formulate a response. I know I owe a few of you responses, and will get back to you as soon as I can.
Following orientation, we enjoyed a reception at Hood Museum. Aside from the ambiance of the art gallery, it was nice to chat with some fellow councilors. I met two women from the class of 1987, one of whom played rugby, and was aware of my past experience as coach of the women's rugby team. Fun to make these types of acquaintances.
Then, we headed to dinner at Collis Center, with a presentation on the history of the Alumni Council. This is the 100th anniversary of the Council, so President Mark Davis '81 walked us through 100 years of Dartmouth history and influence from the Council, including notable eras such as WWII ROTC programs, the Orr Committee that recommended admission of women, and the Kilmarx Committee recommending the discontinuance of the Indian Symbol, to name a few.
Finally, we heard a mind-blowing panel of students who discussed their experiential learning opportunities in a variety of academic programs that pushed them out into the Upper Valley community. The students were impressive in their presentations (far above many of my business colleagues who have 20-30 more years of experience. We heard from:
Gavin Huang '14 who discussed his role in a film documentary on a Lyme resident who works with black bears;
Miriam Kilimo '14. an anthropology/journalism major who wrote about local Jehovah's Witnesses;
Alison Polton-Simon '14 who has worked on engineering policy issues;
Ayaan Roble '14 who worked on a forest ecology project involving Dartmouth's elm trees;
Brandon DeBot '14 from the Policy Research program who presented policy analysis results to the NH legislature.
This was an impressive group of students who demonstrate the power of the Dartmouth Experience and the value of Dartmouth's focus on undergraduate learning. A very enjoyable evening. More on the regular agenda tomorrow.
