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BATES BACCALAUREATE 2015

On the brink of graduation, seniors and their guests pause to reflect and celebrate

By Bates College

June 2^nd, 2015

saturday, May 30: BACCAlaureate

’While providing a space for reflection, this ceremony is also meant as a time of celebration — of your creativity, your passions, your joy in being yourselves, and most especially your joy in being yourselves together.’ — President Clayton Spencer

the archways

“May the hopes and longings on these cards be carried on the winds to all places the graduates of 2015 find themselves after Bates.” — Bates Baccalaureate Service program

anticipation

Families arrive for Baccalaureate 2015.

ready?

A time for last-minute tweaks and dealing with nerves, the minutes before 2 p.m. are minutes to preserve in pixels.

'Let’s Stay Together'

Graced with soulful vocals by Laura Franke and Fiona Robins, Al Green’s hit rings out as the Senior Band sets the mood for the Baccalaureate service.

Processional

Through the archways and into the seats: The seniors enter the Historic Quad in front of Coram Library.

'Pick Up the Pieces'

But it’s a funky Processional as the class is borne in on the infectious rhythms of the Average White Band tune.

persons emergent

“Most of you, I hope, also feel confidence in the person that has begun to emerge over these four years — a person who was unimaginable to you, let alone your parents, four autumns ago when they dropped you off.” — President Clayton Spencer

Infinite Possibilities

“It has been said that performance is a celebration of the fact that we contain within ourselves infinite possibilities. This day is about possibility. So I invite everyone here to lean back and reflect, to lean in and enjoy, the offerings that have been conceived and prepared entirely by your colleagues in the senior class.” — President Clayton Spencer

'Show the promise of this day'

Accompanied by College Choir director and Lecturer in Music John Corrie, the seniors sing the hymn “Come, Thy Fount of Every Blessing.”

a Poem for the Baccalaureate Service

“. . . all of us, in complicated
honest courtship
with a community we chose
for its very alluring promise
of transformation.”
— “The Liberal Arts,” B. VanDerburgh ’15,
Portland, Maine

an offering of dance

Isaiah Rice ’15 of Charlotte, N.C., choreographed this piece that he and nine classmates, in blue, pink, white and black, perform to Clean Bandit’s “Rather Be.”

vignettes from their years at bates

“Miss Irene* caused my final flight to Portland to be delayed four days. In short, Dean Reese took care of it. . . . I am encouraged every day to pay forward the warmth and kindness that I have received from each of you, and I’m grateful to belong to such a community that reverberates with kindness.” — Akachukwu Obi ’15 of Anambra, Nigeria (*referring to 2011’s Hurricane Irene)

'Chasing eggs and pancakes'

By invitation of the Class of 2015, Bradley McArthur, a second cook in Dining Services who specializes in breakfast service, gives the Baccalaureate Address. “Do I really make a difference? Is this just a job chasing eggs and pancakes across a flattop griddle? Yes, I do make a difference. I see it every day . . . when I talk to you and interact with you.”

'i'll love you long after you're gone'

The Senior A Cappella singers perform Phillip Phillips’ “Gone, Gone, Gone” — but not before making a jubilant announcement of the Bates women rowers’ NCAA championship win in Gold River, Calif.

Interfaith blessing

“You’re an eagle. Flight is your vocation. You have other skies stretching out before you. Elevate yourself so high that even God, before issuing every decree of destiny, should ask you: ‘Tell me, what is your intent?’” — Sir Muhammad Iqbal, poet of British India, quoted by Ghulam Awais Rana ’15 of Faisalabad, Pakistan

moving on up (and out)

They came in with funk and they’re going out with funk: The Senior Band plays Curtis Mayfield’s “Move On Up” as the Bates College Class of 2015 recesses through the archways, to the cheers and applause of families, staff, and faculty.