Hopeful Trip leaders and Croo members are not evaluated on their dancing skills, but if accepted to volunteer for Dartmouth Outing Club First-Year Trips, those skills will most likely be used as they welcome freshmen and spend time in the outdoors this coming fall.
Applications for both Croo and leader positions for the Trips program were due last Wednesday. Although the Trips directorate did not count the number of applications submitted, assistant director Anna Gabianelli ’16 said she approximates the number of applicants to be similar to last year’s count of 575. She said this year’s directorate did not count the number of applications because they did not think the information would be valuable.
The number of students applying to lead Trips or be on Croos has continuously declined in the past three years. In 2013, 707 student submitted trip leader applications and 249 submitted Croo member applications; in 2014, there were 618 Trip leader applications and 200 Croo applications; in 2015, there were 575 trip leader applications and 154 Croo member applications submitted. Students are given the option to apply to both positions.
Last year, the program held information sessions for potential applicants to attend and learn more about volunteering, but the directorate decided to discontinue the sessions this year. For its second year, RWIT provided an outline with tips for writing the application.
Unlike in the past, almost everyone who started applications this year submitted one, Trips director Josh Cetron ’16 said. Cetron added that the directorate saw this strong desire to follow through with the applications as a promising indication for the future of Trips.
All of the questions in this year’s application except for one were entirely new and created by the current directorate. The directorate wanted applicants to reflect on their Dartmouth experience, as well as their personal lives and their roles within the community, Cetron said. The questions were intended to reflect the goals of the program, which include easing the transition to college for incoming students and connecting the Dartmouth community.
This year’s application was one question longer that last year’s. To compensate for the length of the application, the word limit for each question was reduced from 400 to 300 words.
Brad Hubsch ’19 applied to be a Trip leader because his interests as an Eagle Scout overlapped with role. The application was long, Hubsch said, but it gave him the opportunity to really think about the qualities that make up a good Trip leader.
“I really like the idea of being connected to the next generation of Dartmouth students and helping to shape what they get out of their Dartmouth experience,” he said.
Bhavin Vaid ’18 said the application was lengthy, but that his main reason for not applying was because he would be off for both the upcoming fall and winter terms. Vaid said he thought it was important for Trip leaders to be there for trippees throughout their first terms at school, and not just the five-day trip.
Diversity is a very important focus when working to improve the Trips program, Cetron said. This past year, the directorate started broadening their outreach efforts by contacting many more organizations and groups of people than they had in the past.
“We made a big effort during the outreach period before applications were due to meet with individuals on campus, particularly those that are underrepresented in the Trips program,” Cetron said. "We listened to them more closely on what the parts of the program are that have not necessarily been inclusive to them in the past or that we can improve upon.”
Brendan Schuetze ’18, who led a trip last year but decided not to apply again said that the program seems relatively diverse, particularly in terms of Trip leaders’ and Croo members’ extracurricular activities.
Cetron said that it is unlikely that the program will undergo any major changes, but there have a few submissions for potential new trips.
Last year, two new trips were added — adventure quest, an orienteering and map reading trip that leads a group through a problem solving scenario, and sailing. Both of the trips were popular last year, Cetron said.
“Rather than continue to make new things, I think we’re going to take some of the trips we’ve been working on last year and make them really good,” he said.
The Moosilauke Ravine Lodge — the 77-year-old structure where each trip ends — will undergo construction after this year’s programming ends. The Board of Trustees have approved the project, which is slated to finish before Trips in 2017.
