College welcomes Class of 2009

Class of 2009 at a Glance

Total Students 1,078

Male 50.2%
Female 49.8%
Students of color 30.4%

Geographical Distribution

New England 19.8%
Mid-Atlantic 30.1%
Midwest 9.2%
South 16%
West 18.9%
Non-U.S. address 6%
International (non-U.S. citizen) 5.6%

Academic Interest

Humanities 15.3%
Social sciences 33.4%
Sciences 40.4%
Interdisciplinary 6.5%
Undecided 4%
Scholarship recipients 46.8%

The Class of 2009, a diverse group of 1,081 students from all over the United States and around the world, has arrived on campus. More than 30 percent are students of color and the class is made up of 543 men and 538 women.

Two students are already alumni. Damaris Walker and Mark Wilson, both from Philadelphia, are the first Summer Enrichment at Dartmouth (SEAD) program graduates to attend Dartmouth. A joint project of the Tucker Foundation and Dartmouth's Department of Education, SEAD brings promising students from urban and rural high schools to campus for a summer academic program complemented by year-round mentoring.

Also in the Class of '09 is Taylor Haunschild, who was recently honored by U.S. Representative John Culberson (R-TX) as the winner of the 2005 Congressional Art Competition. Her work, "My Brother," will be on display at the U.S. Capitol for one year.

Dean of First Year Students Gail Zimmerman said, "It would be hard to stand out in a crowd as distinguished as this. These first-years are incredibly accomplished." She cited students who are published authors, world-class athletes and some who have persevered through almost unimaginable hardship.

As soon as the '09s arrived, they became the first generation of students at Dartmouth to experience a campus environment that offers Internet, television and phone service all courtesy of the Dartmouth computer network. Known as "convergence," this total digital integration was achieved in spring 2005 when Dartmouth launched DarTV, a cable and satellite television system supplied by the network.

But their first actual Dartmouth experience was, in most cases, their Dartmouth Outing Club First-Year Trip, a tradition that celebrates its 70th anniversary this year.

Convocation this year featured speaker Sarah Billmeier '99, who dominated disabled skiing for 10 years, winning 13 medals in four Paralympics. She is currently in her fourth year at Harvard Medical School.

By GENEVIEVE HAAS

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