Wearing spotless Dartmouth caps and smelling of home-laundered clothes, members of the Class of 1999 may look very similar as they arrive for their freshmen trips, but this seeming uniformity is just a thin disguise, covering up a wild array of pre-college experiences.
According to information compiled by Senior Associate Director of Admissions Maria Laskaris, incoming students have accomplished many extraordinary feats.
People who are worried about how incoming students will make it around the bonfire 99 times for the annual Homecoming tradition can breathe a sigh of relief when they learn of the exceptional athletic accomplishments of some students.
One freshman was a discus thrower in the first Junior Olympics, while another won a gold medal for skiing in the 1994 Parolympics for the handicapped.
Another member of the Class of 1999 participated on the Junior Olympic volleyball team, while someone else showed a talent for freestyle skiing by receiving a national rank.
A gold medal graced the neck of a student who competed in the biathlon event of the Empire State Games and someone flexed his or her muscles the right way to become a state champion for power-lifting.
A student has also been a national team captain for soccer.
The rhythmic talents of the class also stand out, as students can perform Galician dance, Greek dance, Indian dance and Irish dance. One freshman has even been a member of the Boston Ballet company.
Campus a capella groups searching for new talent will not be disappointed in the Class of 1999.
Students have been members of barbershop quartets, performers in the New York City All-City Chorus and street musicians.
Other musical talents range from knowing how to play the accordion, bagpipes, jazz and blues harmonica to being an all-state concert master.
Some incoming students may already have an edge in the professional field. There are freshmen who have worked as Emergency Medical Technicians and Rescue workers, in computer business, one who has served as a U.S. House of Representatives page, one who has been a dog trainer and another who has been a show rabbit raiser.
Students have also contributed to the nation's defense by working as an Army medic, in a Marine work camp and in the National Guard.
Among their numerous accomplishments they have built canoes, computers, robots and obtained a private pilot's license.
A member of the Class of 1999 even worked as an interpreter, which is not surprising, since incoming students seem to be rich in diverse language backgrounds.
Some of the languages spoken in their homes include Arabic, Cantonese, Creole, Egyptian, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Polish, Romanian, Simala, Sinhalese, Spanish, Tongan, Urdu and Yoruba.
