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A selection of favorite images from life on campus throughout 2023.
Photographers for Dartmouth News try to capture not just what’s newsworthy, but also the mood and depth of events on campus.
In this annual feature, College photographer Katie Lenhart, who photographs hundreds of events and people in a year and also oversees the interns and freelance photographers for the Office of Communications, selects her favorite photos from each month and, in the captions, explains why.
Enjoy the chronological look back at 2023 in photos around campus.
Photos
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(Photos by Katie Lenhart, Julia Levine ’23, Sophia Scull ’25, and Robert Gill)
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In winter, the libraries and study rooms are packed around the clock. There’s a great camaraderie of everyone working together in their academics, and it’s wonderful to see older spaces such as Sanborn filled with new technologies. I loved the play of the keyboard with the radiator in this photo from January, and without seeing the face of the student, let the hands and artifacts hint at personality. (Photo by Katie Lenhart)
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One of the benefits of being in Hanover is that environmental studies and sciences classes can easily access resources that might be harder to find in metropolitan areas. Here, students in the Quaternary Paleoclimatology class extract core samples at Occom Pond in early February. The shadows became characters in the photo along with the students. (Photo by Katie Lenhart)
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Winter has also brought a show of lights in the BEMA in the last few years. Conceived during the pandemic as a place for students to explore and have some fun outside, BEMA Lights has become a new tradition, and its interactive activities dazzle with light in this photo of a late winter evening in March. Photo intern Julia Levine ’23 captured the falling snow as if it’s almost reflections from the disco ball. (Photo by Julia Levine ’23)
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With the ongoing expansion and renovation of the Hopkins Center for the Arts, student theater productions found new homes in various buildings around campus. Here, a classroom in Wilson Hall was turned into a black box theater for student-led productions and offered a more intimate theatrical experience. Stage lighting offers a veritable playground for photos, and John Chibuike Ejiogu ’23 really knew how to find his spotlight. (Photo by Katie Lenhart)
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In March, I had the exciting opportunity to document the Magnuson Center and Dartmouth Wind Ensemble trips to Mexico City. It was a week of intense travel and new adventures, culminating in a Wind Ensemble performance which the Magnuson students were able to attend. This is the trumpet section warming up before the concert. I wanted a new perspective, so got on the ground under the musicians and looked up. (Photo by Katie Lenhart)
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This photo in April is looking across Dartmouth Hall into a classroom where Professor Annabel Martin was teaching her Times Of Crisis class. Normally, when we go into classes for photos, it becomes obvious that the students are aware that we are there. This was a rare moment to see a class without being seen. (Photo by Katie Lenhart)
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The hub of our campus is the Green, which hosts Commencement, flag lowerings, vigils, protests, and celebrations of every kind. It’s a great representation of the diversity that makes up Dartmouth. This May photo shows the pure joy and fun at Holi celebrations, the festival of colors, as well as a sense of action. (Photo by Julia Levine ’23)
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Interns are a big part of many offices at Dartmouth, and I had to sadly say goodbye to one of mine this year. Julia Levine ’23 graduated and is pursuing photography in the greater world, but not before photographing Powwow in May, and capturing its power, one final time. (Photo by Julia Levine ’23)
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You can find Dean of the College Scott Brown at pretty much every student activity on campus. He’s always participating with a smile on his face, as in this snapshot from Lūʻau. (Photo by Katie Lenhart)
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Research and academics are always flourishing at Dartmouth. I was caught by the concentric boxes framing Lauren Goyette ’23 as she threads a 3D printer in the DALI lab in May. (Photo by Katie Lenhart)
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June’s Commencement is of course one of the biggest events of the year, as members of the Dartmouth community graduate into the working world. I liked this shot of students filing into their seats before the ceremony, and especially how the hand-beaded robes of one student pairs with the gowns of the others. (Photo by Katie Lenhart)
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This year intern Sophia Scull ’25 began photographing for us and showed students in July returning from “The 50”—a Dartmouth tradition where groups of hikers trek the 50 miles from Moosilauke Ravine Lodge to campus over a single weekend. (Photo by Sophia Scull ’25)
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Another benefit of student photographers is their ability to capture campus after faculty and staff have left for the day. I was especially struck by this perspective Sophia captured of the former golf course at night in July, and how it challenges our understanding of nighttime colors. (Photo by Sophia Scull ’25)
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With a new president came a new tradition. In late August, President Sian Leah Beilock and other leaders offered a “Dartmouth welcome” to incoming undergraduates and their families on move-in day, and I found myself lying on my back on the track at Memorial Field, trying to get the angle of the flag just so. (Photo by Katie Lenhart)
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Seeing students with their families is a yearly highlight of move-in day. I was set up to take a photo of David Walker ’27, and when his brother Dash, aka Spiderman, decided he wanted to join the fun, it quickly became not only one of my favorite photos of the morning, but of the year as well. (Photo by Katie Lenhart)
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September brought the Inauguration of Dartmouth’s first female president, Sian Leah Beilock. I love the literal and figurative passing of the torch, or in this case the Wentworth Bowl, from former presidents Jim Yong Kim, center, and Philip J. Hanlon ’77. (Photo by Katie Lenhart)
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It was a memorable moment, to be Dartmouth’s first female College photographer photographing Dartmouth’s first female president. (Photo by Katie Lenhart)
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In late September, Dartmouth welcomed the current and former U.S. surgeons general on campus for a conversation about mental health. Freelancer Robert Gill caught this perfect moment as the packed hall applauded Joycelyn Elders’ entrance. (Photo by Robert Gill)
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CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta moderated the surgeons general forum and then reported live from the Green on the event. The screen framed his head perfectly, and the warm, late September light spilled over the scene. (Photo by Katie Lenhart)
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October brings Homecoming to campus, and with it the building and burning of the bonfire. I had seen photos in the past of sparks flying around Baker Tower from the fire, and having not been successful at capturing them last year, I was really happy to get a shot of them this time. (Photo by Katie Lenhart)
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Students and community members celebrate Diwali , the Hindu festival of lights, in November, one of the many celebrations on the Green. Sophia really captured the beauty of light and smoke against a deep blue sky. (Photo by Sophia Scull ’25)
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Then, in December, all of a sudden the year is coming to a close, and the Green yet again becomes a place of gathering and celebration as the Christmas tree and later the menorah are lit. I’ve often seen Baker Tower through the branches of the tree, and was excited this year to get a photo of Dartmouth Hall beyond the bulbs. (Photo by Katie Lenhart)