Student Snapshot: Louis Poirot ’22
For his first job, Louis Poirot ’22 worked as a wrangler at a dude ranch in Arizona. He’s also had several internships, including one in France. Below, he discusses these experiences as well as the thing he appreciates most about his majors and the chance to study at a small liberal-arts college.
Hometown:
Potomac, Maryland.
Majors:
Clubs and organizations:
The Octals and Delta Sigma Phi.
Best thing about my major:
I love the community in the physics department, especially among majors. We work together to solve difficult problems, and most of us know each other pretty well. We’re a small group, but that only brings us closer.
On choosing Dickinson:
I attended a French-international School in Dallas, Texas, until the end of middle school. My eighth-grade class had 23 students. My high-school class graduated with 69 students. I’ve always attended schools where everybody knew each other, and where teachers can give a lot more of their attention to individual students than they would be able to at larger schools. Naturally, this was a huge part of my college decision process. The student body, the campus and the professors are wonderful, and those were my main priorities, so when I found Dickinson and toured the campus, I decided this was the school for me.
Favorite place on campus:
There’s no place like Tome.
Favorite Dining Hall food:
Parmesan rice.
On studying abroad:
Before coming to Dickinson, I took a gap year and went abroad to Bolivia and Peru for the fall semester and Japan for my spring semester. The first experience was focused on travel and community service, while my time in Japan was focused on learning Japanese at a school. The highlights of the experiences were the people that I met and the cultural differences that I experienced. Living abroad in a different country is massively different from simply learning about it in a classroom, and the memories I made abroad will be with me forever.
As a kid, I wanted to be …
… a lot of things, but the longest dream was becoming a marine biologist. Something about marine animals really fascinated me as a kid, and I’ve always loved whales and sea turtles.
About my internships:
I’ve interned in a few different fields during the past few years, but the most interesting was probably last summer. I worked in facilities at a chemical engineering company and got to work with people from all the departments. Since the company is based in France, I got to connect with a lot of French co-workers and learn about what they were doing. My main takeaway from my internships is to actively search for more things to do, as you may meet people and experience things that you wouldn’t have otherwise.
Most important thing I’ve learned so far:
I’d say that if there’s one big thing I’ve learned, it’s to approach every new experience with an open mind. Coming into freshman year, I had certain ideas in mind of what I expected my college experience to be like. My first year was a blast. I joined two great organizations on campus. But now, because of the pandemic, we’re taking classes online this semester, and any semblance of student life has been restricted to hopping on Zoom calls with members of said organizations. At the end of the day, there’s only so many things that we can control, so it’s always important to take a step back and try to gain some perspective on the situation.
Little-known hobby/talent:
My first job was working as a wrangler for a summer on a dude ranch in Tucson, Arizona. Taking care of horses, going out on rides into the Sonoran Desert, interacting with guests staying from all over the world—it was definitely a great first-job experience.
Best thing about my Dickinson experience so far:
In my experience so far at Dickinson, the highlights are usually associated with the organizations that I am a part of on campus. First is the Octals, the only all-male-identifying a cappella group on campus. The last two years of practicing, singing and bonding with this group have created so many iconic memories. The second is Delta Sigma Phi. The connections I’ve made through this fraternity have proven priceless over my time so far at Dickinson, and I can’t wait to see what else the future brings. A lot of my closest friendships at Dickinson have come from these two groups, and I wouldn’t be the same person now if it weren’t for them.
Read more Student Snapshots.
TAKE THE NEXT STEPS
Published October 13, 2020