Multifaith Banquet 2022

The Multifaith Banquet is an annual event in that brings people from across the Bates community to enjoy food, music, and storytelling. The theme of the 2022 banquet was “Laughter, Lessons and Lasting Connections.” Speakers responded to the prompts: What animates your world? How does laughter help us, as individuals and communities, rebuild and reacquaint ourselves with a world that ought to be?

Laughter is a strategic, powerful, and impactful method of communicating with those around you. There is an exciting joy in bonding with someone over a chuckle or sharing a laugh and making your day. Laugh is a strategic and impactful form of expression used for bonding, reflecting, and providing self-comfort. In its smallest context, it brightens one moment in the day. In other contexts, it is a profound and necessary way of coping with the world around us. We all need laughter and joy in our life to keep us going. Please enjoy the following speeches created by students who underwent deep reflection on the way laughter can be seen as productive and a method of hope in the toughest of times.