Ask Ajay Chahar '12 where he is from, and he'll say, "Colgate."
That's partly because he is so excited about being a first-year student, and partly because he's lived in so many cities in his native India that he doesn't know which to call home. His father is an army colonel, and Chahar moved with him from post to post.
While he has traveled throughout India, learning five languages from Bengali to Punjabi in the process, he never had the opportunity to travel beyond the region.
That meant he was not able to visit the U.S. universities he was interested in attending. Instead, he turned to the web: reading student blogs, poring over photos, and watching videos offered by Colgate and other schools. He wanted to get a sense of what it really would be like to attend a certain school.
Now, after choosing Colgate, he's ready to share his experiences in a real-time way so high school students and others can get a sense of what it is like to be a student here, a place he said offers the "complete college experience."
Chahar is using a service called Twitter to provide brief regular updates on what he is doing. Pretty much anything and everything is worth a new "tweet," and anyone can read these slices of college life here.
Chahar's life already has been pretty busy since his arrival at Colgate. He went on a wilderness adventure trip for first-years run by the Outdoor Education Program. He went caving at sites near Albany,N.Y., and in the Adirondacks.
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Ajay Chahar '12 (center) jams into a tent with other first-years who went on an Outdoor Education Program pre-orientation trip in August. The group went caving at two New York sites.
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"It was my first time caving," said Chahar, "and it was amazing." He crept through incredibly tight passageways, some running 40 feet, and came across bugs that are completely white from lack of sunlight.
He is excited about his involvement in the newly created Benton Scholars Program, which focuses on leadership in a global context.
"For me, it's about learning how to be a leader at a global level and how to connect with issues from around the world," said Chahar.
He wants to study physics at Colgate, and he already has a lot of assignments from his first physics and mathematics courses. He is looking into becoming a staff member for the Outdoor Education Program and perhaps a volunteer at the village fire department.
He has used Twitter for some time and is now ready to share his experiences with anyone and everyone interested in Colgate -- in real time. See what he's talking about right now.