First-Year Students Bond With Trips

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New students learn about Dartmouth, and themselves, in a highlight of orientation.

First-year trips are a central component of orientation, and new students this year had choices that ranged from overnight trips in the White Mountains to paddleboarding on the Connecticut River to hiking up Holt’s Ledge.

The trips offer the students new terrain, new skills, and a chance to make new, often lifelong, friends.

Photos
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Students lined up at the fence atop Holts Ledges
Participants in the Clipper first-year trip enjoy the view from Holt’s Ledge in Lyme, N.H. (Photo by Julia Levine ’23)
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Students dancing onstage with colorful costumes
Members of the first-year trips volunteer crew welcome new students at Alumni Hall. (Photo by Eli Burakian ’00)
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Students in hiking packs
Packs on, students leave for a hiking trip. (Photo by Eli Burakian ’00)
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Student with multiple backpacks on, smiling
Kira Hobson ’23 didn’t seem to mind that she had custody of multiple packs, at least temporarily, as the Outing Club launched new students on a mountain biking trip. (Photo by Eli Burakian ’00)
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Students filing down the dock with a paddleboard
Students on the paddleboarding trip head toward the Connecticut River. (Photo by Eli Burakian ’00)
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Two students in life vests with oars chat on the dock
Nathaniel Miller ’26 talks with Rebekah Kim ’23 at the dock on the paddleboarding trip. (Photo by Eli Burakian ’00)
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Student pushing off the dock in paddle board with assistance from staff
Bradley Geismar ’17 of the Outdoor Programs Office helps Eddi Aronson ’26 get acclimated to a paddleboard. (Photo by Eli Burakian ’00)
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Aerial of a group of paddlers out on the Connecticut
The paddleboarders enjoy a quiet stretch of the Connecticut River. (Photo by Eli Burakian ’00)
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Students sit at a picnic table by the river with morning mist
A picnic table by the river comes in handy for one hungry group of trippees. (Photo by Julia Levine ’23)
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Two students work to tie a knot
Kira Hobson ’23 and Damola Olorufemi ’26 on the mountain biking trip. (Photo by Eli Burakian ’00)
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Two mountain bikers going over obstacles
Kellen Seeley ’26, left, and Ellie Stevens ’26 tackle some obstacles on the mountain biking trip. (Photo by Eli Burakian ’00)