Students of Dartmouth,

We have a problem…err an issue… an opportunity to easily bring comfort to others within our community. We would like to talk money, or the lack thereof . . . and the impacts it has and had on students' lives.

Many students who attend this magnificent school come from backgrounds of financial hardship. This hardship will often spawn abnormal experiences that test and then contribute to an individual's beliefs, values, and approach on all aspects of life. SO WHAT! Of course a person's background changes what a person develops into; we have known this for a very long time. Why is this significant?

As you might perceive, many in our community come from backgrounds where financial restrictions played a smaller role in their daily aspirations and concerns; for this population, money is not as much of a constraint or fearful concern. This can sometimes lead to two groups of students, "the rich" and "the poor" to divide each other or place stigmas on each other. This "divide" may not be too obvious, or frequently brought up in conversation. The divide in socioeconomic levels is in fact existent though. Some students are more sensitive to this divide than others, and so for those who see this divide and believe we can help mitigate this social and cultural gap within our community we offer a suggestion.

Dartmouth QuestBridge Scholars*, would like to call together those members in our community interested in shrinking the socioeconomic divide within our community for a dinner and discussion. To keep it accessible, we decided that a rendezvous at FOCO (upstairs) at 6PM on Saturday, to make this meeting the most convenient.

If you are able to, please join us to help discuss how we can help our lower socioeconomic Dartmouth family feel a little more comfortable here at home (especially the '17s).

Thank-you for reading,

Kelsey C. Justis

Dartmouth College, 2016

*A group of students who came to Dartmouth through a program (QuestBridge) that seeks out financially disadvantaged, yet academically deserving students, and helps connect them to higher institutions so that they may learn and help "bring the bottom up".

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