We're following the Class of 2014's AESOP trips

• Click the thumbnails below to view the slide show

Over the next four days, student photographer Matt Baker-White ’13 of Williamstown, Mass., will follow Bates’ newest students as they head out on the 2010 edition of the Annual Entering Student Outdoor Program, better known as AESOP, one of the very few entirely student-run outdoor orientation programs in the U.S.


Follow Baker-White’s travels as we will post his stories and photos on the Bates Facebook page.


The 40-plus student-led AESOP trips feature base camping, hiking, canoeing and surfing around Maine and New Hampshire, plus a community-service program in Lewiston-Auburn.

Each year, about 60 percent of the class takes part in AESOP. By week’s end, the new students will have made new Bates friends and learned names like Acadia, Moosehead and Mahoosuc even before they have to figure out the difference between Pettengill and Pettigrew here on campus.

On Monday, Baker-White (who is tooling from place to place in one of several Bates Zipcars) looked at the meet-and-greet experiences as AESOP leaders welcomed first-years to campus. Click on the thumbnails above to view the slide show.

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