Founders Day: Students Receive House Affiliations

There was no magically intelligent sorting hat, but on Friday night students gathered at Baker-Berry Library to receive personalized letters (albeit delivered by hand, not owl) indicating their membership in one of the six new house communities: Allen, East Wheelock, North Park, School, South, or West.

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Two students celebrate becoming new members of the East Wheelock house community. (Photo by Joshua Renaud ’17)

Then each house—the house professors and other affiliated students, faculty, and staff—met as a community for the first time. They donned swag—scarves and T-shirts adorned with house insignia—signed a founding-member ledger for posterity, and shared possibilities for a new era in Dartmouth’s residential life.

“You are the first members of Dartmouth’s new houses,” Dean of the College Rebecca Biron and Senior Assistant Dean of Residential Life Mike Wooten wrote in an invitation that went out to students last week. “This is your chance to get in on the ground floor, mingle as house members, and imagine together how these communities can enrich everyone’s Dartmouth experience.”

After the ceremonies, students enjoyed a late-night breakfast in the Class of 1953 Commons, which was festooned with banners representing each house.

The house residential life model is a cornerstone of the Moving Dartmouth Forward plan—designed to transform the undergraduate living experience by bringing more continuity to students’ on-campus living experiences and greater opportunities for faculty-student interaction beyond the classroom.

See more photos from Founders Day.