D-LAB 2025: First-Year Leaders Turning Values into Action at Dartmouth

For 7 weeks at Dartmouth Leadership Attitudes and Behaviors (D-LAB), on Monday and Tuesday evenings, a cohort of 28s guided by upper-level facilitators and led by our Student Assistants engaged in meaningful discussion and started to put their values into action as some of Dartmouth's newest undergraduate leaders. Across 12 groups, 94 students finished the program this year.

This year, participants submitted a Community Engagement Project idea and presented it to one another at the final session. The students addressed issues or areas at Dartmouth that they want to work toward changing and, using the tools learned each week in D-LAB, reflected on how they might (or in many cases, already did!) accomplish it. A few ideas that have come from this are:

• Working with Black student organizations to celebrate and amplify Black culture through increased programming held throughout the year
• Combatting cyberbullying on Fizz
• Generating more awareness of opportunities to engage with film at Dartmouth, specifically introducing folks to the Film Society
• Expanding the reach of student notes takers for the "Class Notes Ally" program through Student Accessibility Services 
• Creating noise sensitivity stations on campus
• Creating better access to contraceptives in residence halls
• … and so much more!

The Rockefeller Center wishes to say a special thanks to our student facilitators and student assistants who make these sessions a wonderful experience for the First-Year students. Each week, they dedicated their time to ensuring the 28s created a community that allowed each of them to grow in their understanding of themselves.