In a time where digital connectivity increasingly overshadows personal interaction, the value of shared spaces that foster authentic connection is more crucial than ever. For Guarini graduate students deeply engaged in learning, teaching, and research, finding and fostering a sense of community outside classrooms and labs can be challenging. For many, joining Dartmouth's unique House System is an ideal way to forge lasting connections with other graduate students, undergraduates, and faculty members associated with each of the six house communities.
In addition to a live-in program coordinator and a house professor who resides nearby, each community is led by a team of undergraduate advisors (UGAs) and four resident fellows (RFs), many of whom are enrolled in Guarini graduate programs. In exchange for free housing and a meal plan, the resident fellows plan and run social activities, organize intramural sports teams, and help guide undergraduates, all the while being part of a warm community and gathering skills for their future careers.
Luke Cargill '24, who is pursuing a masters degree in computer science, is a resident fellow in South House focused on enhancing programming through assessment and fostering connections as a welcoming host.
This term, as social media and communications coordinator, Cargill spread the word about house community events, such as a pumpkin carving contest, pre-election discussions about the future of democracy, a comedy show, a movie night, a graduate student mixer, and a field trip to a wolf dog sanctuary in New Hampshire.
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House community members brave the open waters during a whale watching cruise. Image: Instagram @south.house.dartmouth
For her sensory session, halfway through the term, Sasipha Hokeness GR, a second-year PhD student in molecular and cellular biology whose area of research is photobiology, served Thai food and gave away about 40 jars of bioluminescent plankton. "I called it 'Go With the Flow' because plankton is only bioluminescent when water is flowing," she said. "My midterm philosophy was to go with the flow."
"We make decisions collectively about how we're going to program events," says Sienna Craig, the Jane and Raphael Bernstein Professor in Asian Studies and South House professor. "And that puts the resident fellows in an excellent position to mentor and be mentored."
Craig says she enjoys opening her home on Sanborn Street as a welcoming, inclusive space for gatherings of all kinds.
On a balmy autumn evening, with her School House counterpart, Associate Professor of Geography Abigail Neely, Craig co-hosted an informal bluegrass concert and dinner. School House resident fellow Francois LeSage, who is pursuing a doctoral degree in molecular and cellular biology, showed up early to help with meal preparations. While setting out wine glasses in the kitchen, they talked about the benefits of their residency.
Among the many programs LeSage organizes are study breaks for undergraduates during finals and grad labs, "where we introduce undergraduate students to the work that graduate students do, in case they want to get some research experience."
"Being a graduate student is definitely very demanding," said LeSage, who serves on Guarini's Graduate Student Council. "Part of meeting the challenge is being able to have a good work-life balance. The resident fellowship actually really helps me because I'm an extrovert, and if I don't have that outlet, I'm not going to thrive emotionally. If I'm not thriving, I can't really do my best science."
At the front of Craig's living room, the bluegrass combo, The Lone Pines, began warming up as nearly 20 guests–a mix of faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates–settled into comfy chairs and sofas. Band leader Kyle Singh, Guarini '24, was a School House resident fellow last year while enrolled in the Masters of Liberal Studies program.
"My resident fellowship was really great and fulfilling in so many ways," he said. Now pursuing a PhD in philosophy at Harvard, he said he was glad to be back in Hanover to reconnect with graduate and undergraduate friends he made last year.
Charlotte Albright can be reached at charlotte.e.albright@dartmouth.edu