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Together Again

The Class of 2025 arrives for an in-person Orientation

By Bates College

September 9^th, 2021

Starting on Opening Day, Aug. 26, through to the first day of classes, Sept. 1, the Class of 2025 was able to settle in, meet classmates and fellow Bobcats, and get a taste of Bates academics and co-curricular life. After 2020’s virtual and physically distanced Orientation, seeing students out and about reminded us of the way Bates should be.

Let's start at the top

On Aug. 23, several days before Opening Day and the formal start of Orientation, these international students were thrilled to meet President Clayton Spencer as they got their first look around campus. All members of the Class of 2025, the students were led by Associate Dean for International Student Programs James Reese.

Together Again

They kicked it off

On Aug. 25, the men’s soccer team gathered at sunrise on Garcelon Field for the fall season’s first athletics practice.

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Hot, humid, and happy

A strong sun and high dew point accompanied those first-year and transfer students who arrived for the official start of Orientation, known as Opening Day, Aug. 26. Also mighty warm was the welcome from all the Bobcats who helped them move into their new residences.

Garrett Glasgow ’25 of Salt Lake City, Utah, offers a thumbs up to junior advisers Nissim Gurung ’24 of Pokhara, Nepal, and Lauren Farrell ’24 of Middletown, Conn.

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Glasgow also tested his new mattress as his mother Tiffany watched.

'It's a really exciting day'

All day, Junior Advisors and Residence Coordinators helped the new students move in. In this video, they talk about their work.

“It is scary at the beginning,” says Oliver Barrera ’22 of Waukegan Ill., an RC at historic Parker Hall, the college’s very first residence hall, opened in 1857.

“But if you put yourself out there, people will welcome you with open hands. And that’s the best part of the Bates community, as we see today: People are here to help you and people want to build a community with you.

“And that’s why I do this work as a senior, because that experience really inspired me as a first-year.”

Thrilled to meet them

Members of the Student Affairs team, students and professional staff alike, jumped (literally in some cases) upon meeting the new Bobcats and their families.

Shae Gwydir and Kim Trauceniek react as new students begin to arrive at Page Hall.

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Nathan Huynh ’23 of San Diego, Calif., holds up a welcome sign for those moving into Chu and Kalperis halls on Campus Avenue.

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More to come

Greta Shuster ’25 of Warwick, RI, arrives on Alumni Walk at Parker Hall with parents Stephanie and George, and sister Georgia.

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Matching masks for mother and daughter as they pose in front of Parker Hall during move-in day. Jenna Perry ’25 of Las Vegas with her mother Tricia Braxton Perry.

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Many hands make light work around campus, including here outside Parker Hall.

gathered from around the globe

Treated to a short inspirational talk from Associate Dean for International Student Programs James Reese, newly arrived international students gather on Cole Terrace, outside Commons, to get to know one another better.

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Marcos Pacheco Soto ’24 of Santiago, Chile, and Mohammed Shwani ’24 of Kirkuk, Iraq, greet international students not yet on campus.

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dotting the i's

Grounds and maintenance worker Jeremy Lavertu of Facility Services does a last-minute inspection of the Historic Quad, where seating has been set up for newly arrived students and their families.

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presidential welcome

At the traditional concluding event on Opening Day, Vice President for Enrollment and Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Leigh Weisenburger and President Clayton Spencer welcomed students and families gathered on the Historic Quad.

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short, sweet goodbyes

When the welcomes ended, the goodbyes began. An Opening Day tradition: Posing for family photographs on the Coram Library porch after the president’s welcome.

Julia Parham ‘25 of New York City receives a hug from her mother Betsy Gleick.

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Eden Coleman ’25 of Newton Center, Mass., poses for a photograph with her family: From left: sister Hammond, mother Catrice, Eden, father Kelvin, brother Gideon, and sister Farrah.

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AESOP begins with a splash

The Annual Entering Student Orientation Program is a long-running tradition that introduces new students to Lewiston-Auburn and to Maine.

To kick off AESOP, first-year students gather at the Florence Keigwin Amphitheater to meet their AESOP leaders and begin their weekend adventures.

And each year, the trip leaders, all costumed up, arrive on the scene en masse, happily dousing the coordinators — this year Erik Malm ’22, Jack Fruechte ’22, and Alix Zabin ’22 — with a delightful (!) mix of water and whatever.

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finding community

Headed up by trip leaders Aaliyah Moore ’24 of Phoenix, Ariz., and Modou Sissoho ’24 of the Bronx, N.Y., one AESOP excursion included a walking tour of downtown Lewiston, with stops along historic Lisbon Street, the Farmers Market, and the Veterans Memorial Park.

Another group, found inspiration for painting watercolors along the banks of the Androscoggin in Lewiston’s Sunnyside Park. Saskia Wong ’22 of Los Angeles, and Mia Brumsted ’24 of Shelburne, Vt., led the trip.

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Participants in the Exploring LA trip pose in front of the now-iconic illuminated aluminum sculpture designed by artist and Lewiston native Charlie Hewitt and placed on Bates Mill No. 5 on Main Street.

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first meeting for first-year seminar

Three days before the official start on classes, the Class of 2025 got a taste of academics by attending their First-Year Seminar on Aug. 30.

Professor of Sociology Francisco Duina held the first meeting of his First-Year Seminar, “Global Economy and Nation-State,” on the Historic Quad.

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traditional pomp and circumstance

Held in the fading warmth of a Maine summer day, Convocation marks a beginning, the newest class’s “formal induction into the Bates community of scholars,” said President Clayton Spencer at this year’s edition on Aug. 31, the day before the start of classes for the 2021–22 year.

Associate Professor of Mathematics Katharine Ott, chosen by the graduating Class of 2021 as their gift to the Class of 2025, spoke on the topic, “Where Do We Even Begin?”

Ott gave a few pieces of advice about Bates academics. One was encouragement to be “honest and forthcoming about where you are with your understanding” of their coursework. In other words, don’t wait to ask questions.

“It’s a heck of a lot easier to start asking questions from the get-go, when you’re in the midst of a problem, than waiting 20 minutes before asking. Don’t let questions or confusions get buried.”

After Convocation, the traditional Memorial Tree Planting on the Quad honored the memory of Bates faculty and staff members who died during the past year: Elaine Ardia, Robert Blais, James Boyles, Leigh Campbell ’64, Bob Chute, Roland Girouard, Gerda Schilde Haas, Joseph Lebrun, Roger Plante, and Chase Pray.

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let's eat!

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Chomba Kaluba ‘10, on campus to share lunch with his sister Mariana Kaluba ‘25, sports a t-shirt he designed.

She Begins Here

A day after offering the Convocation Address, Katy Ott taught the first class of her course “Real Analysis,” an introduction to the foundations of mathematical analysis.

Mindful of her advice to students from the day before— to ask questions as soon as they come up — Ott began with an exercise to help create a classroom where students could feel comfortable talking with one another and asking questions. After asking her students introduce themselves, she invited them to break into groups.

Then she posed a question: “Your group has emerged from a marathon study session to find campus suddenly deserted. In search of food you find all the kitchens are in full working order but the only fresh ingredients are potatoes. What do you do?”

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Footnotes

Produced by the Bates Communications Office, with text and visual storytelling by Phyllis Graber Jensen and Theophil Syslo

FootNotes

Produced by the Bates Communications Office, with text and visual storytelling by Phyllis Graber Jensen and Theophil Syslo

© 2026 Bates College

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