10%

February at Bates

“The weather was cold but the hearts at Bates were warm.”

By Bates College

March 5^th, 2026

As Benjamin Mays, Class of 1920, expressed in the above quote, the heart of Bates stays warm even amidst freezing temperatures. February on campus saw sports successes, several large snowfalls, and our annual Winter Carnival — a week of events celebrating the joys of the chilly season. Aside from February recess, campus was in full swing in the month of love.

An evening of music and poetry

Students gather in Le Ronj coffeeshop to hear student musicians and poets perform during Winter Carnival’s cozy Winter Jam, co-hosted by the Bates Musicians Union and the Outing Club.

Winter Carnival A Cappella Concert

Bates a cappella groups — including the Deansmen, the ManOps, the Merimanders, Take Note, and the Crosstones — perform before a packed Gomes Chapel. Is it just our imagination, or does an indoor musical performance sound even better when it is cold out?

A cappella group performs at the Winter Carnival concert. Ten singers in tuxedos stand on stage bathed in purple light in front of an organ.

Puddle Jump 2026

Students brave the icy waters of Lake Andrews during Bates’ annual and beloved Puddle Jump. Sporting colorful outfits, wigs, or even what they just happened to be wearing when they spontaneously decided to take the polar plunge, the participants always seem to find joy in the college’s coolest tradition. It’s 51 years old and counting.

Senior Night for men's and women's squash

During Senior Night for the Bates men’s and women’s squash teams, players and coaches gathered to celebrate their teammates before facing Bowdoin at the Bates Squash Center.

Studying 7,000 years of ancient climate history

In a laboratory in Carnegie Science Hall, Hadley Blodgett ’26 of Buckfield, Maine, and Associate Professor of Earth and Climate Sciences Nick Balascio study 7,000 years of history trapped in a tube. Balascio extracted these invaluable sediment cores from a lake in northern Greenland and brought them back to Bates. Blodgett is using the cores to complete her senior thesis in earth and climate sciences, analyzing every ancient inch to learn about millenia past.

A Bates professor and student analyze Arctic soil samples in a lab. The student measures the sample inside an orange tube with a yellow measuring tape. The professor observes. A chalkboard is in the background.

Arctic soil sample cores rest next to a yellow measuring tape. The cores are encased in yellow plastic and show layers of soil.

A student examines a soil core sample, using a small tool and measuring tape to analyze the layers. The sample is in a halved orange tube, with other samples nearby. The student wears glasses and a dark brown shirt.

A Bates student holds an orange, plastic-wrapped Arctic soil sample above her head in a classroom. A chalkboard with scientific notes is behind her.

Qualifying on Senior Day

Bates men’s basketball players face off against Tufts on Senior Day, celebrating their six senior players while qualifying for the NESCAC Tournament for the first time since the 2021–2022 season.

National Girls and Women in Sports Day

Players from Bates women’s sports teams welcome young athletes to Clifton Daggett Gray Athletic Building for National Girls and Women in Sports Day, an annual event that celebrates the ways the enactment of Title IX opened up sports to girls and women. The Bates athletes shared their love of sport, and some skills, with more than 100 local children during the event.

Girl in orange hijab and basketball t-shirt holds hands up, looking up in a gym, celebrating National Girls and Women in Sports Day.

Empty without you

During February Recess, a quiet, snow-dusted Bates awaits the return of students. Campus just isn’t the same without its Bobcats.

Overtime thriller in NESCAC quarterfinal

Bates women’s basketball defeats Hamilton 67–64 in overtime during the NESCAC quarterfinal in Alumni Gymnasium. The team would go on to win the 2026 NESCAC championship in a 61–56 win over Bowdoin on March 1.

Women's basketball players from Bates and Hamilton jump for a basketball near the net during a game at Bates College.

Bates women's basketball coach gestures while talking to her team. Players wear white jerseys with

Bates basketball player shoots over Hamilton defender. The player wears a white jersey with

The Bates women's basketball team huddles around their coach on the court. Players in white and maroon uniforms stand attentively as the coach speaks. Bleachers filled with spectators are visible in the background.

Bates women's basketball player holds the ball above her head. She wears a maroon and white jersey. Another player is in the background.

Bates women's basketball team celebrates victory. Two smiling players in maroon and white uniforms embrace, arms around each other, on the court.

Our February Blizzard

“Back on campus after the February blizzard, Bates feels suspended between motion and stillness; cars crunch in half-melted tracks, boots drip by radiators, flights and plans still catching up somewhere in the clouds. Some of us are here, some are delayed, and the quiet holds space for both. It’s a strange return; rushed arrivals, late-night drives, weather maps open on our phones, yet the air itself feels calm, like the world pressed pause just long enough for us to notice it.

Snow does that. It softens edges, lowers voices, makes even a campus full of movement feel like it’s breathing slowly.”

(Words and images by Sammy Weidenthal ’27 for Bates College)

Three students walk on a snow-covered Bates campus during a blizzard. Bare trees and buildings are visible through the heavy snowfall.

College lobby with tall windows, wooden accents, and hanging lights. A person sits on a gray couch, working on a laptop. Tables and chairs are arranged in the foreground. The scene conveys a quiet, indoor space, relevant to

A student sits in a patterned armchair, looking at a phone while using a laptop in a campus building. A black coat and backpack rest beside her. A staircase is visible in the background.

Adirondack chairs sit in deep snow on the Bates campus. One green chair stands upright, while others are partially buried. Bare trees and a light post are visible in the background.

First-Gen Peer Mentoring

In the Student Center for Belonging and Community, first-generation student mentors advise their peers on everything from academics to social life to post-graduation plans. The SCBC is home to Bates’ first-gen student programs, Bobcat First and Kessler Scholars, and a suite of other student support services and community initiatives.

Sheila Robledo '26, a First-Generation Peer Mentor, smiles while leaning against a white column indoors. She wears glasses, a gray sweatshirt, and jeans.

Filmmaker Sandi DuBowski screens ‘Sabbath Queen’

Award-winning director Sandi DuBowski visits campus for a screening and discussion of his film Sabbath Queen, alongside his Bates host, Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies Stephanie Pridgeon. Sabbath Queen is a documentary filmed over a span of 21 years, following Rabbi Amichai Lau-Lavie as he attempts to choose between fulfilling familial and cultural expectations as the heir to a 38-generation-long line of Orthodox rabbis or following another, less traditional path.

Filmmaker Sandi DuBowski smiles while standing next to a student at Bates College. He wears a patterned zip-up sweater. A computer monitor displays the word

Audience members watch Sandi DuBowski's film 'Sabbath Queen'. A woman with short gray hair and glasses looks up intently, wearing a purple scarf. Dim lighting in the screening room.

Classroom view of Sandi DuBowski's film 'Sabbath Queen' showing a person draped in a white tallit with blue stripes. Silhouetted students watch the film in the dark lecture hall.

Sandi DuBowski stands with hands raised overhead during a presentation. He wears a patterned zip-up sweater. A projection screen is behind him.

Close-up of a blue water bottle with a sticker that reads

Sandi DuBowski smiles, hands clasped, wearing glasses and a blue turtleneck. She appears to be speaking in front of a dark background.

Sandi DuBowski speaks with a student in a campus building. DuBowski, bald, wears a patterned sweater. The student wears a navy sweatshirt. A

Footnotes

Produced by Bates Commnunications and Marketing with photography by Phyllis Graber Jensen, Theophil Syslo, Carly Philpott '27 and Sammy Weidenthal '27, and text by Aly DeMarco.

Button Label

FootNotes

Produced by Bates Commnunications and Marketing with photography by Phyllis Graber Jensen, Theophil Syslo, Carly Philpott '27 and Sammy Weidenthal '27, and text by Aly DeMarco.