The 1945 Microcosm presented Dickinson's "Varga Girls" in its features section. A photograph of Varga himself, signed "Best Wishes to Microcosm," indicates that the artist selected Dickinson's "Varga Girls." These women included: Ann Gates, Barbara Mulford, Dorothy Nagle, Alma Anderson, and Marion Clowes.
In the 1944 Microcosm, the Dickinsonian is staffed mostly by female students with Kathleen Briner as the editor-in-chief. The 1943 Microcosm reveals that the Dickinsonian had mostly male students on its staff as well as a male editor-in-chief. In 1944, the description for the Dickinsonian cites the difficulties the staff faced due to wartime shortages and their efforts to send copies of the newspaper to Dickinson's servicemen.
Dorothy F. Nagle (Class of 1946) reports in an interview that the departure of male students during World War II had an immense impact on the campus community. After they left, there were no football or basketball games and only a few "intramural attempts." Many of the female students who had boyfriends in the service waited to receive mail, and female students kept track of friends and followed war campaigns.
Dorothy F. Nagle (Class of 1946) describes the night before the servicemen left and the subsequent changes at Dickinson in an interview. In 1943, Dickinson hosted a large dance the night before "the fellows were going to be leaving" from the Carlisle Railroad Station. Students were permitted to remain out an hour later than normal curfew (twelve o' clock instead of eleven o' clock) and to rise early the next morning to see the men off.
Dorothy F. Nagle (Class of 1946) recalls in an interview how she joined the Nurse's Aide program at the Carlisle Hospital during her freshman year at Dickinson. Twelve female students signed up for the program and received training at the hospital. The hospital needed help at the Carlisle Barracks because their nurses were overseas. Nagle believes she learned more in the program than she did during her four years of college and comments that the army "treated us like queens, but did they work us!" Working for the Nurse's Aide program gave Nagle the sense of contributing to the cause.