Class of 2013 meets class of 1969
Hi! My name is Dani Toth and I am one of the new writers of the Admissions Blog. I’m pretty excited to get started talking about Wellesley and what I do here, but first I’d like to introduce myself. I’m a junior, hailing from the great state of New Jersey (insert Jersey Shore jokes here) and I am the blonde on the left of Hillary Clinton in this photo. If you’re wondering why she’s looking so thin, it’s because that is a cardboard cut out of our prominent alum at one of my first year orientation events. The girls to the right of Hillary are two of my very best friends, Celine and Liz. We’ve all come a long way since this photo, and I’ve even had the chance to see Bill Clinton at the American Association for Justice convention as part of my internship this summer.
Although I’m back on campus and getting into the swing of school again, I’d love to tell you about my summer. After some grueling exams and procrastination to stay on campus with the seniors for as long as possible, I went back home to celebrate my brother’s graduation from Yale with some family.
My brother with my grandparents at Yale graduation
While the weather was typical New England spring (rain) up in New Haven, I did get to hear Tom Hanks speak and watch Martin Scorsese accept an honorary degree from Yale. Oh, and of course my brother also received his diploma.
As soon as we finished up graduation weekend, I dove into my summer beginning with an English immersion program in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine. I went as part of a national effort by the the Conference on Soviet Jewry to help forge connections between Jewish communities in America and those in the Former Soviet Union.
I stayed with a host family just outside Dnep (because really, who can pronounce Dnepropetrovsk?) for 3 1/2 weeks teaching English in a Jewish Day Camp and learning about the the thriving Jewish community. We also happened to have had a blast while we were at it. We celebrated Israeli independence day with an enormous all day carnival, we travelled to Yalta for a weekend getaway, we hiked through the Romanoff summer retreat, made some great Ukrainian friends and learned some key Russian phrases. My favorite was классно (pronounced Klahsnah), which basically translates to sweet or awesome.
My trip to Ukraine was only part one of my summer. Unfortunately, in true Wellesley student nature I am going to have to end here and get a head start on some homework for the weekend. The following is a picture of the river Dnepier on Israeli independence day. Enjoy!
классно