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Heading off to college is exciting, but it can be nerve-wracking and intimidating too. If you head off to a college where you don’t know anyone, it can be hard to find your place. For redhead students at Dartmouth College, an Ivy League university in New Hampshire, there’s a solution.
Gingers of Dartmouth (GoD) is a group of redhead students who chat via a GroupMe group message. As of late October, there are almost 150 members that make up GoD. The Dartmouth, the school’s newspaper, wrote an article called Inside GoD: Dartmouth’s Ginger Community where they talked to a few of the members of GoD. Some members relay stories of being asked to join the group, a casual invite by fellow gingers, and others talk about how they grab selfies with fellow gingers they see on campus to share with the group.
Admission into GoD seems pretty simple — you must be a natural redhead, but for strawberry blondes or people with auburn hair, you might be discussed by the group chat if you’re welcome. Sadly, redheads ‘by choice’ aren’t welcome, and neither are redheads who choose alternative hair colors for themselves. But for those redheads who are embracing their natural red, it’s a welcoming environment. One member remarks that the group chat put her at ease when she first came to Dartmouth. She felt like she had an automatic “club” to join.
Other schools are following suit. University of Virginia has an Instagram called @gingersofuva. Watch their “Redheads on the Grounds” YouTube video below featuring the many redheads at UVA:
Although GoD lives mostly in their GroupMe chat and Gingers of UVA is solely on Instagram, both groups hope to set up some in-person events soon. Many colleges like Boston College, University of Dayton, Notre Dame, and Queen’s University hold a “Run of the Gingers” on St. Patrick’s Day, or perhaps some other sort of social event. Every year it goes viral on social outlets:
@barstoolsports St Patricks Day Tradition 🇮🇪@Barstool U (Via:@mia)
Social groups built on similar interests or backgrounds aren’t uncommon on college campuses, so we may see other schools start redhead clubs, especially as social media offers more ways for redheads to connect and keep in touch.
Rock it like a Redhead!
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