I’m 65 years old. I’ve been out of college for 44 years, having graduated in 1981. I went to Dartmouth College, in Hanover, New Hampshire. It’s a great school, one of the best in the world, academically. It’s also a wonderful place to spend four years, and I would do it all again if I could, and would take even better advantage of all it has to offer. Dartmouth’s campus is what a college ought to look like – as if right out of a storybook about going to college.
I keep in touch with some of my college buddies – I played soccer with some of them, drank beer in the basement of our fraternity and committed a variety of silly acts back then. After graduation I got immersed in career and then family and kept in touch with college classmates only sporadically. After my kids grew up and moved out I reconnected with a number of them and that has been very rewarding. My college friends are my friends for life, that is clear now. Dartmouth binds us.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to go our 45th reunion this past weekend. I am happy being connected with my close Dartmouth friends and that is good enough for me. I didn’t see the point of going, especially as most of my buddies were not going to be there. I went, after some prodding from my wife and from Abner, one of my buddies. Most of our close knit circle of friends did not attend, so I was unsure it was the best use of my time, especially since I had to miss an important board meeting for one of the non-profits I participate in.
I am glad I went. Just driving onto campus reignites memories and feelings that only Dartmouth can inspire. It is as beautiful as ever and while many things have changed in 45 years, it still looks like Dartmouth. Dartmouth’s alumni are the most loyal and committed in the world. People who go to Dartmouth love it. If you visit and don’t fall in love with it you just don’t go there. There are plenty of reasons to go elsewhere – city life, a more bustling location that being set in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, and many more of course. The kids who do go to Dartmouth just love it – I have never (NEVER) met someone who went to Dartmouth and didn’t love it. It’s just that kind of a place. The academics are top notch of course, but you can probably do just as well at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stamford or a few others….but they are not Dartmouth.
I saw people I hadn’t seen in over 40 years and I enjoyed it. I talked to people I remember from my undergraduate days but wasn’t close to but somehow it was different now and we had a good time together.
My wife and I slept in a dorm room. It was uncomfortable but it’s Dartmouth and I loved it. The school did a great job welcoming back alumni and I am glad I went. I was filled with nostalgia.
If you didn’t get to go to Dartmouth College you won’t understand this level of loyalty. That’s okay – there are hundreds of wonderful places to get a great education. There is only one Dartmouth, though.
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