Although Sophomore Summer is technically a requirement for all College students, some members of the Class of 1999 have left Hanover behind this term to pursue a variety of special internships, vacations or jobs.
Registrar Thomas Bickel said approximately 30 members of the Class of 1999 are not on campus this summer, close to the 35-person limit of students who can be excused from the Summer term requirement each year.
But that limit is not set in stone -- Bickel added he is often "hard put to deny the thirty-sixth person" if he or she has a good excuse for a Sophomore Summer exemption.
Varsity athletes who actually compete, not just train, for 12 terms are not required to enroll for any Summer term, he said. Because most sports do not compete year-round, usually only members of the cross-country track team are granted waivers, Bickel said.
Athletes that do meet the exemption criteria have to fill out a special form that must be signed by their coach, he said. If an athlete drops a sport, then he or she must report to the Registrar and register for a Summer term.
Another exception to the rule are the students who participate in the Beijing and Tokyo summer Foreign Study Programs. Those students are exempt from being in residence their Sophomore Summer even if they participated in the program the summer before.
Exemption from summer term is decided "pretty much on an ad hoc basis beyond that," Bickel said.
"We try to be reasonable if people have a special chance to do something academic or non-academic that summer," Bickel said. Normally students excused from Sophomore Summer must be on campus another Summer term instead.
Bickel said good excuses for exemption from Summer term include having a sick family member, having a serious illness, obtaining a special job or internship for the summer or wanting to come to the College for a different summer term.
One sophomore who is not on campus this summer is Arthur Desrosiers '99. Desrosiers' girlfriend, Jennifer Blair '99 said Desrosiers is doing biodiversity research in the Amazon with a researcher he met through a high school project he did in Belize.
Desrosiers is living at the research site in Iquitos, Peru and spends his days "climbing around on walkways 100 feet above the ground" gathering insects and vegetation in the tropical forest tree canopy, Blair said, according to letters and e-mail she has received from him.
Desrosiers received two grants for his current research this term and may follow it up with independent study in the fall, Blair said. Desrosiers' research is not affiliated with the College.
Rex Morey '99 said he received a Summer term waiver because he runs his own business cleaning condominium swimming pools in the summer.
"I've run this business for five years and I had to make money for my financial aid package," Morey said.
Morey said he works in Nashua, N.H. seven days a week cleaning pools and five days a week working as an intern for a Health Management Organization. However, Morey said he has found time to come up to the College "every weekend so far."
"It's the best of both worlds because I get to do everything everyone else does but without the homework," Morey said.
Willy Wong '99 said he is exempt from the Summer term requirement because of his participation in the Beijing FSP last summer. This year, Wong is taking advantage of the opportunity to work in New York City.
Wong said he is working with the Private Client Group internship, which involves working for J.P. Morgan. His internship includes learning presentation, computer and communication skills and various aspects of banking, he said.
The internship is "really good for future jobs and for abilities to network with people, and to figure out what and where I want to be when I graduate," Wong said.
Another new experience for Wong is living in the middle of New York City. "You can hear taxis honking all night," Wong said.
Wong said his employers took him and his fellow interns to a Broadway show and a dinner cruise around New York this summer. The internship also pays very well, he said.
"I've visited Dartmouth twice this summer and I'm getting e-mail," Wong said. "I do miss being there with everyone."
Jeffrey Fine '99 said he received a waiver for his Sophomore Summer because he had the opportunity to teach probability to high school students at the Exploration Summer Programs at Wellesley College.
Fine said it was important that he take Summer term off because, although he is interested in education and takes classes in the subject, Dartmouth does not offer a major in education.
"My argument to the Registrar was that this was the only time when I could be teaching," Fine said.
Fine said he is having a great summer and that, although he regretted his decision at the end of Spring term, he now has "no regrets."
Although his D-plan indicates that he will be enrolled next summer, Fine said his "understanding is that if I'm asked back to the [Wellesley Program] next summer, the Registrar would give me a waiver."
