August 2017 Field Hockey Newsletter
A Look Back and A Look Ahead
What an exciting Short Term and Summer for our Bobcats. We are excited to share brief updates on what our amazing student-athletes have been up to over the last few months, while also preparing for the beginning of our 2017 season!
Introducing our 2017 Captains
Rising Senior Sydney “Bear” Beres
Bear traveled abroad to Florence, Italy, over the winter semester and Short Term. She kicked off the start of our traveling Bates flag and was able to visit with fellow junior Lauren Foster, while studying in Florence. The two met up for breakfast and toured the Duomo before Bear hit the books for her mid-terms. The two were able to meet back up for dinner before saying ciao!
Most of our rising seniors lived with a family during their time abroad. In Bear’s case, she lived with a family of four, half of whom did not speak much English, if any at all. Dinner time conversations were always interesting!
Bear had the opportunity to travel to Morocco, Amsterdam, Brussels, Interlaken, Rome, Arezz, Cortona, and Tuscany, just to name a few cities.
All of our current rising seniors had the time of their lives during their travel abroad experiences in Ecuador and regions of Spain.
Rising Junior Jessie Moriarty
Rising junior and captain, Jessie Moriarty had a busy summer interning in Boston for the organization Homes For Families. The organization is a nonprofit who’s goal is to end family homelessness in the Boston area. Jessie was tasked with working on public policy and using recent state data to determine reasons for family homelessness. The data will eventually be presented to the governor and help advocate for a budget raise for assistance shelters and homes.
Rising Junior Shelbie McCormack
Rising junior Shelbie McCormack had a busy academic year in 2016–17 as a junior advisor on campus, and this past June she headed off to Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design Career Discovery Program in architecture, where she took part in a six-week intensive summer program. Shelbie spent countless hours in the studio working on models. During her first two weeks her primary task was to explore different materials and themes. For her second project, she decided to explore extrusions and passages of different buildings and drew inspiration from the Seattle Public Library.
’Cats on Campus and Around the World
This past spring our rising sophomores and juniors continued to volunteer at local public schools, Tree Street Youth, and at other organizations. They also stayed involved in campus initiatives such as Green Dot and volunteering with the local Special Olympics groups that come to campus.
We saw rising sophomore Alyssa Souza perform in a steel pan concert and rising junior Emma Patterson perform with her theater class.
Here is a little note from rising sophomore Alyssa Souza on her opportunity to learn how to play the steel pan. (Souza is in the red Hawaiian shirt)
“One thing in the college search that interested me about Bates was the endless opportunities on and off campus. This past semester I took advantage of one of these opportunities and learned how to play the steel pan. Having played the saxophone and French horn in high school, I had a basic knowledge of music, but I knew it would be something challenging and exciting to do in the off-season. I joined steel pan orchestra because I love music and exploring new and different things. I couldn’t think of another time in my life when I would have this opportunity. I not only learned how to play a new instrument in a totally different context than I was used to, but also had the (fairly nerve-racking) chance to perform in a group in front of friends and teammates at our recent concert! The concert went pretty well and it was a good time for everyone — players and the audience. Something unique that the steel pan orchestra is taking part in this year is the New England Steel Pan Festival. It is hosted in Portland this year, and Bates will be one of the performers in it. I’m not sure what to expect, but I know it will be a lot of fun to play some cool tunes in a cool city!”
Here is a photo of our rising sophomores after completing their Green Dot training! What is Green Dot? Green Dot is an important initiative on campus that focuses on fostering a safe community on campus.
Pictured from Top Row, Left to Right: Abby Ford, Hannah McLane, Alexa Jurgeleit, Ally Leahy, Vic McGee. Bottom Row Left to Right: Micha Van der Lee, Isa Garcia-Moreno, Grace Fitzgerald, Allie Brinkhaus, Alyssa Souza.
Also on campus rising juniors Shelbie McCormack and Adelae Durand were junior advisors for the 2016–17 academic year and worked on fostering a sense of community within their first-year centers. As JAs, Shelbie and Adelae were an excellent resource for their first-year residents. They helped with adjusting to college life, figuring out class schedules, signing up for classes, giving advice on how to use the resources on campus, and any other issues that came up. It was a year of firsts for the duo, but they loved every minute of the experience.
Smart ’Cats
Once again the Bates field hockey team received the 2016 NFHCA Division IIII National Academic Team Award. This award recognizes those institutions that achieve a minimum GPA of 3.0 during the first semester of the 2016–17 academic year.
Along with the team award, 13 individuals were named to the 2016 ZAG Field Hockey/NFHCA National Academic Squad.
The National Academic Squad includes student-athletes who have achieved a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.30 through the first semester of the 2016–17 academic year.
Winning the award for a third time in their respective careers were juniors Alyssa Alexander, Sydney Beres, Delaney Nalen, and Samantha Reiss. Winning it for a second time were sophomores Taylor Lough, Shelbie McCormack, and Jessie Moriarty.
Sophomore Caroline Barnes, first-year Abigail Ford, first-year Isa Garcia-Moreno, first-year Alexa Jurgeleit, first-year Hannah McLane, and first-year Alyssa Souza round out the Bobcats’ list of awardees.
Spring and Summer Travels
We try not to brag, but we think that we have some pretty cool ‘Cats on campus. Many of our student-athletes traveled throughout the spring and summer.
Rising Seniors are Back from Abroad
In case you missed their epic social media take-overs, our rising seniors returned home this summer from their amazing study-abroad trips. In addition to Sydney Beres featured above, Caroline “LC” O’Reilly spent the semester in Alicante, Spain; Lauren Foster “Lo” traveled to Perugia Italy; Alyssa Alexander lived in Seville, Spain; and Sam Reiss adventured through Quito, Ecuador, and the Amazon! In addition to calling a new place home, these amazing women adventured across most of Europe and Spain while abroad, LC even took part in a 100km pilgrimage across Northern Spain!
Rising Junior Carley Barnes
Carley spent June and July attending the Summer Academy at the European Cultural Centre at Delphi. Carley is a double major in Anthropology and Classical Studies major at Bates and says nothing beats getting to study in Greece. Her course consisted of seminars that addressed various aspects of the humanitarian, geopolitical, economic, and migration crises that are going on in Europe. Not only did she take home an incredible experience, but she was also able to put her knowledge of the Ancient Greek language in action.
Rising Junior Emma Patterson
Emma spent a month this past summer in Cape Town, South Africa, with Student-Athletes Abroad. While in South Africa, Emma was able to explore Table Mountain, one of the world’s seven natural wonders, went on a safari, attended a rugby match, and much more. However, Emma would say that her favorite part of the trip was the work that she did with Boxgirls, an organization that combines boxing with education to empower young girls and women in disadvantaged communities. The relationships that she made throughout the experience is something that Emma will cherish for a lifetime and is excited for all the new members that are now a part of her family.
Alumnae Spotlight — Hannah Beinecke ’16
We recently caught up with alumna Hannah Beinecke ’16, who is currently in graduate school at Yale, after double majoring in international development and French, with a minor in Spanish. We were thrilled to learn how she continues to excel and put her Bates degree to work.
What path are you currently on?
I am currently at the School of Management at Yale pursuing my MBA. I’ve loved my time at Yale so far and have taken on leadership roles in student government, in the Responsible Investing Club and in our Impact Investing Network Program. I’m excited to be learning more and to have the opportunity to pursue what makes me passionate. I’ve met some great people in my program and recently went on a trip with a few of them to Cuba this past winter. I also traveled to Tokyo in March to take a class on clean energy, and visited a few companies there that are focused on sustainability. This summer I will be working in New York at an impact investing firm called Encourage Capital. I love my program so far, but definitely miss Bates and the field hockey team!!
How has your Bates education prepare you for the path you are on?
Bates helped prepare me for this path by creating the space for me to really pursue my interests and help me develop a broad base of skills. While at Bates, I designed my own major in international development, which allowed me to take classes across many disciplines and gave me experience in addressing complex issues from many different vantage points.
What do you hope to do after grad school?
After grad school I am planning on pursuing a career in impact investing. Most of my internships before grad school were focused on international development through quasi-governmental organizations; I am now looking to continue pursuing that mission through the private sector. Impact investing can be described as investing in projects and companies that have an intentional social focus, and which yield both financial and social returns. I am also pursuing entrepreneurial endeavors of my own, particularly focused around clean energy.
Mark Your Calendars – Fall Events
Reasons to Visit Bates!
We are extremely excited to announce the 50th Anniversary Celebration of Bates Field Hockey. It has been 50 years since the Bobcats field hockey team became a varsity sport at Bates! We are celebrating the 1967 team and their undefeated season with a Friends of Bates Tailgate on Saturday, September 16, following our noon contest against Maine-Farmington. RSVP via email to Head Coach Dani Ryder at dryder@bates.edu. We hope to see you there!
Also come be a part of a second Friends of Bates Tailgate on Saturday, September 30. Our Bobcats will be on the road for Back to Bates Family Weekend, so we will be celebrating a week later with a tailgate following our 11 a.m. home contest against Trinity.
On the Road Fan Crew!
We always love seeing Garnet in the stands and appreciate our home crowds as well as our alumnae and families who support us on the road. To say thank you for all the support Bates Field Hockey receives, we will be hosting an Alumnae Tailgate in New London, Conn., on Saturday, October 7, 2017. We hope to see our New England-based alumnae attend!
Help Us Give Back!
On the weekend of October 14–15 we have a back-to-back weekend, with games against Tufts and Amherst. Sunday, October 15, will be our annual Hockey for Hunger game, where we will team up with Amherst College to take collections (monetary and non-perishable food items) for the Good Shepherd Food Bank of Maine.
We would also like to invite you to come be a part of student-athlete organized AFSP (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention) game on Saturday, October 21, against Middlebury College. This game is organized by rising junior Taylor Lough and rising senior Sam Reiss.
We hope that you are able to catch a game or two this season! Please check out our 2017 game schedule.
How you can help support Bates Field Hockey
The generosity of our parents, alumni, and fans has been tremendous over the years. All gifts directly impact our student athletes and provide them with the resources they need to be successful. The 2016 season marked the program best in close to two decades, and much of our success can be directly linked to gifts made through Friends of Bates Athletics and our Bates Field Hockey Goal Club. Through your support we are able to increase our team travel budget, provide the team with a strength and conditioning coach, connect our team with the organization Athlete Assessment, and improve their overall experience with the smallest gestures such as team pizza night!
To make a gift in support of Bates Field Hockey you can give online at bates.edu/give. Just indicate “Field Hockey” in the comments section. Thank you for your support of Bates Field Hockey!
All my best for a wonderful 2017–18 year!
Dani Ryder