Dear Bobcat,

When I first arrived at Bates from Bangladesh, I remember feeling both exhilarated and overwhelmed. Everything was new—language nuances, cultural rhythms, even the quiet beauty of winter mornings in Maine. Like many international students, I carried both deep gratitude for the opportunity and quiet questions about belonging. Over time, I discovered that the very differences I brought to campus became the roots of my confidence and my contribution.

What I came to love most about Bates was its sense of curiosity and connection. Professors who invited honest dialogue, classmates who listened without judgment, and mentors who saw potential long before I did. Those relationships taught me that education is less about mastering content and more about becoming fully yourself—someone who can learn from, lead with, and stand alongside others across cultures.

After Bates, my path led me into higher education leadership. Today, I serve as an Associate Dean at the University of Washington’s business school, helping build programs that connect global talent, ideas, and opportunity. The foundation for that work was laid at Bates: learning to listen deeply, to think independently, and to trust that empathy is strength.

If you ever feel uncertain or alone, remember this: the courage it took to leave your home and study here is already proof of your resilience. Your story—and the global perspective you carry—is exactly what our world needs. Lean into the community around you, and let Bates shape you as much as you shape it.

With pride and solidarity,
Tahsin I. Alam ’04

Hello Bobcat,

How are you? I hope you are well. I was an international student at Bates College and graduated in 2007 (a long time ago 🙂 ). I am writing to congratulate you on being accepted to Bates, a special place.

After Bates, I went to Brown University and received my Master of Public Health degree. I then worked for two years at the Boston Public Health Commission and then went to Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine where I obtained my PhD in Epidemiology. Afterwards, I did a postdoctoral research fellowship and was then Research Assistant Professor in the College of Behavioral and Community Sciences at the University of South Florida and moved to the University of South Carolina in 2018 where currently I am an Associate Professor of Epidemiology.

During my time at Bates, Dean Reese was a major source of support and other friends who were also international students.

I would like to encourage you to make use of the opportunities that come your way as Bates is truly a special place!

Best regards,

Monique J. Brown, PhD, MPH, FGSA ‘07
Columbia, SC
moniquejbrown@gmail.com

Dear Bobcat,

About 25 years ago, I arrived at Bates with a single suitcase and a clear commitment to squeeze every drop of learning and opportunity from this community. In a less developed campus than the one you enjoy today—and through long, white winters—I lived a personal revolution. I didn’t always recognize it while I was in Lewiston, but it reveals itself to me every day since.

During my time at Bates, we witnessed 9/11 and a world grappling with uncertainty. Even then—though on a smaller scale than today—I felt the importance of reaching out, of building community daily. I found that community with classmates and upperclassmen, with faculty, staff, and the Deans—everyone who makes Bates special. Those relationships helped me stay focused on growth. They carried me through the transition to a new country and a demanding academic journey. They still do.

One of the most important choices I made was to focus on making Bates better. I had the privilege to serve as Class President, lead the Philanthropy Committee, and work in the Student Assembly. Those experiences stretched my leadership and, I hope, left a positive mark—including helping lead the Gift Committee that brought the Bobcat to campus. Get involved beyond your immediate needs. Gratitude builds peace—and action builds confidence.

There’s a lot of noise in the world right now. Much like they say in yoga: stay on your own mat. Keep your focus—on your dreams, your passions—and live those through your campus experience. That clarity will quiet fear and help you navigate the changes happening around us. A strong spirit will carry you further than you think.

Be proud. A lot of hard work and bravery got you here. You made it—likely with the support of family and people who believed in you. That commitment and resilience are your advantage. Now is the time to chase your dreams, push your thinking, and grow.

A few things that helped me as an international student:

• Ask—often. Visit office hours. Talk to your Deans. Use the Writing Center and Career Services. These are not extras; they’re part of your education.
• Build your circle. Join clubs, play intramurals, volunteer, show up. Community is built through small, consistent moments.
• Try something new each term. A class outside your comfort zone. A leadership role. A project that scares you a little.
• Take care of your mind and body. Winters are long; routines help. Meditation and yoga became anchors for me.
• Keep perspective. Your journey is your own. Comparison is the thief of joy.

My path after Bates has been anything but linear—and that’s the point. I studied Economics and Political Science, earned fellowships, and spent time at Oxford. I started my career on Wall Street at Goldman Sachs, then pivoted to the Boston Consulting Group to learn strategy and operations. I jumped into tech, leading teams across Europe, and later joined PagerDuty, where I now serve as VP for EMEA. In parallel, I co-founded a design hostel chain in South America and supported social-impact ventures and housing projects in Quito. Along the way, I’ve kept art, cycling, and mindfulness close. None of this was predetermined. It emerged from curiosity, relationships, and the courage to try, stumble, and try again.

If you ever doubt yourself, remember: you belong here. Bates chose you because of your potential and your perspective. Your language, your story, your culture—these are strengths. Let them shape your scholarship, your friendships, and your leadership.

Onwards, upwards. You’ve got this.

With pride from one international Bobcat to another,

Eduardo Crespo
Class of 2004
Ecuador → London

Dear Our Global Bobcat,

First of all, I want to say thank you for choosing to be a part of the Bates community. The international circle is one of the most kind, diverse, talented, and hardworking groups of people of which I have been a part. I am grateful that you will continue to enrich this community through your presence.

Nowadays, people in power around the world want us to believe that we can live in isolation. However, everyday I find evidence that proves it to be not true. We share the same planet, rely on each other to meet our basic needs, and share love and hatred towards each other. If there is a group of people on campus who know this the best, I know it will be us, the international circle. I know it because each of us has left behind a full, lavish, buzzing reality. Whether those are a culture rooted in thousand-year-old history or a small piece of childhood memory, those realities are so vivid and alive – and in fact, engraved within us – that we could not close our eyes from it. That is why we are destined to recognize the various facets of life and the connection between them.

Of course, having a perspective that is different from those with most privilege is difficult. In addition to it, trying to live a normal life of a young adult with the possibility of expulsion and the lack of social protection makes it even more difficult. I will not deny it — I had friends crying next to me, and I had cried next to them too. However, everything will be worth it.

Yes, everything will be worth it. It is not easy to pack your life into a few pieces of luggage, to wait for the visa not knowing if you would get it denied, to speak in your second (or third or fourth) language all day until your brain freezes, and to be alone in your dorm room while your roommates spend time with their family during Back to Bates weekend. Nevertheless, it will be worth it because of two reasons.

First, the Bates community will be next to you. You will find people who will share your sorrows and happiness despite coming from opposite side of the world.

Second, your education at Bates will help you comprehend your experience and transform it into your strongest weapon. Fortunately, you are within the hands of educators who have fostered a community that successfully raised critical thinkers and empowered young talent. They know how to uphold academic excellence but also to nurture you with compassion. 

By the time you graduate, I have no doubt that you will be like the trees in the quad, rooted so deeply in the ground that it could survive through any thunderstorm and snow even when their branches crack down.

For this very moment you are reading this letter, I hope you could leave all of your worries aside and rely on my words. Always remember you have a group of fellow Bobcats who are there to support you. You are already trying your best, and it is ok to leave your burden on the side. You got this!

Sincerely,

MinAh

Hello dear student,

I was a 20-year-old young high schooler living in Istanbul, Turkey, when Bates College granted me an acceptance to attend the school in 2005.

As I had just recently lost my mother to cancer, I wholeheartedly didn’t know how to go through it all. Leaving what scattered family I had back in Istanbul, leaving the city I loved so much behind, and leaping into the unknown…

As the Greyhound bus drove further and further away from Boston and closer and closer to the LA of East Coast, I felt the kind of uneasiness I was eventually to name as cultural shock.

During my time at Bates, I only regret not making more friends and not having the emotional bandwidth to hold on to the friends I had made. Sometimes, I regret that my emotional unavailability at the time has gotten in the way of a better higher education (I wish I took better advantage of my professors, gotten to know them better and kept more in touch); however, the safety I feel to embrace sprouted from being a part of the Bates family.

All those books of literary and political theory (I double-majored in English and German with a minor in what used to be called Political Science) paid off in establishing me, to this day I must admit, in working as a video editor in film and TV. I continue to write and publish poetry, work on narrative scripts and perform comedy whenever I get a hold of a Mic.

These days, many slander liberal arts education as “a waste of time and resources”, and I am not here to solicit either way but, for me, Bates College turned out to be a safe container, the safest I could have ever imagined, not to know how to go through it all, to be lost and found.

Though being found is an ongoing process to this day, it was the freedom, peace and platform for differences that Bates, from faculty to the students, from the blueprint of the school campus that embraced its local constituents to every single one of its staff, provided that enabled me to take root in this journey.

Sincerely,
Cem Kurtulus

Dear Global Bobcat,

Coming to Bates in the mid-1990s from a small town on the other side of the world was as traumatic as it was exciting. I had no idea what to expect, Bates was just a college that a high school senior had attended (and I was not in touch with). I did not appreciate Maine’s beauty then, the snow was thrilling only till I realized it did not go away for months and  it cost more than $2 per minute to call back home! Looking back, I have to admit being an international student was a tough proposition. But I believe we had angels around us. Angels who ensured that we were the most supported and spoiled students one could imagine. Being an educator myself now, I still struggle to imagine how someone like Dean Reese can exist in real life. That large smile still warms my heart even though I haven’t seen it first-hand in decades. Professors like Michael Murray who in teaching me econometrics actually taught me what it means to be a professor: I still use his words often with my students;  Bob Branham who seemed never to give up on anyone and their debate skills (and whose early loss is so difficult to fathom). I could go on, but the bottom line was it is a place that cared for us no matter what. The whole community came together in 1996 when we organised the first International Festival (Matsuri, we called it) and being an international student was a point of such pride when we cooked and hosted the International Dinner.

I am now back to the other side of the world and have not visited Bates since I graduated. Yet not a day goes by when I don’t think about it or some person I met there. Do I have regrets? Yes, I wish I had done more of everything it offered. But even in this regret, I think of what it offered and the remarkable generosity of that offering. In a world which sometimes seems to have become so disdainful of humanity and authenticity, my Bates years remind me that it does not have to be this way. The idea of Bates is not just a memory that I carry, I feel privileged to consider myself tasked to keeping it alive. I have no doubt so do you.

Best,

Ankur Sarin 
(Class of 1998)