Touch the Fire!

I assume that every school has it's on initiation process, and Dartmouth has, in it's own unique way, incorporated a fire into it's initiation process. I remember hearing a lot about the bonfire-- which was to be built in the middle of the Green. Apparently, the tradition is for the incoming class to march around campus-- and eventually reach the Green, where the fire would be lit. Then the frenzy began.

I remember grabbing my floormate's hand and we began running around the fire-- tradition has it that you run round the fire as many times as your class year. We began running-- we wimped out at 13 laps, but I will never forget the frenzy and the intensity of that night.

It was raining and cold, but none of us really cared. The upperclassmen, also by tradition, stood around us-- pushing one of us 'touch the fire'. Of course, none of us were stupid enough to actually touch the fire, which is why we are now called 'the worst-class ever'.

As the fire lightly burnt our cheeks that night, I felt as though it left a permanent imprint in the minds of the '13s.