Babes in the Woods

Douglas T. Brown, the senior who was responsible for this year's version of the annual Dartmouth Freshman Trip, filled us in on what it took to get 781 freshmen (out of a class of 1,050) through three days of hiking, bicycling, or canoeing, a hoe-down at Mt. Moosilauke's Ravine Lodge, and back to Hanover before classes began.

Brown started organizing in early May; worked full-time all summer ("I got paid for eight hours a day, but for the last month I worked 70 hours a week"); assigned groups of six freshmen to 132 different sections; supervised a staff of 134 leaders, two lodge managers, a kitchen crew of ten, plus 15 students helping in Hanover; arranged for 10,000 miles of transportation by bus and van; bought enough food to keep everyone happy; and managed a $35,000 budget. There was a two-to-one ratio of men to women on the trips, Brown said, and in addition to upperclassmen, 20 professors and administrators volunteered as leaders, including the wife-and-husband team of Dean Marilyn and Professor David Baldwin.

Brown said that a big part of his job was "remembering lots of little things." We tested his memory in the food department, and he recounted purchases of 500 chickens, 2,000 ears of corn, 260 dozen eggs, 250 pounds of macaroni, 250 bags of rolls, makings for 2,000 sack lunches, and undetermined quantities of salad, soup, ice cream, gingerbread, sausage, and cereal.

The trips were staggered so that every day for eight days a new wave of anywhere from 85 to 124 freshman and leaders arrived at the Ravine Lodge, where Greg Hogan '80 was in charge. Hogan said his job was to check people in, collect their group gear, assign them bunks and work details, and explain general lodge layout and procedures. Dinner was served in two sittings, followed by a 9:00 evening program which consisted of a speech by Hogan about Mt. Moosilauke, a speech by Brown about the history and purpose of freshman trips, a speech by the dean of freshmen, Karen Blank, and a speech by the dean of students, John Hanson '59. Hogan assured us the speeches were short and to the point.

After the talking, Hogan said, 12 lodge crew members assembled on the mantle of the fireplace, the trip leaders and D.O.C. officials stood on the hearth, and the Rev. Robert MacArthur '64, Outward Bound director, led the "White Mountain Tabernacle Choir" in a performance before inviting the freshmen to join in the singing. Square dancing, led by Everett Blake or Bernie Waugh '74, went from 9:00 to 11:00. "After that," Hogan told us, "we'd pack up Everett and send him home." Movies were scheduled until midnight, when someone would stand in front of the dying fire and tell the Doc Benton ghost story. "We put people to bed at 1:30 in the morning," Hogan reported, "then woke them at 7:00 and served them a breakfast of green eggs, green milk, green orange juice, green everything."

Kristina Olin '80 leading one of the 132 groups on this year's Freshman Trip.