At the heart of every campus group is a Community Liaison who mobilizes their peers to engage with our city in meaningful ways. Our clubs and teams have been especially busy this school year, from the wildly successful Trick-or-Treat event in the fall to other focused projects throughout the year.

Athletic outreach remains popular with our active, energetic student body, with sports clinics serving as a driving force for local connection. This year, for instance, the Bates volleyball team hosted over 20 hours of clinics, and Men’s Lacrosse dedicated more than 50 hours to youth coaching. Bates Men’s Lacrosse was also a top contender in fundraising challenges once again, raising over $20,000 for Headstrong Mustache Madness (cancer care) and Shave the Date (men’s health), respectively.

The Women’s Lacrosse team was a clear champion of community engagement this school year, drawing over 150 attendees to their clinics. In the spring, they partnered with Lewiston High School and Lewiston Recreation to host eight consecutive weeks of training sessions. In addition to several other workshops, they also participated in a Special Olympics Game night in March, welcoming people of all abilities to enjoy the sport.

Numerous campus organizations participated in this year’s Dempsey Challenge, including the Track and Field and Cross Country teams, Rowing, and Basketball. Bates Cycling Club is proud to have raised over $2,500 in support of cancer research. The Reindeer Run was another popular event, organized by the Student Academic and Athletic Committee and benefiting Lewiston Public School’s Student Resource Center. SAAC also hosted the “Dream Big” event on MLK Day, with about 30 local youth attendees and a great volunteer turnout–over 70 Bobcats showed their support!

Food, clothing, and hygiene drives were also huge successes this year. Chicks on Sticks, a club that advocates for inclusivity and accessibility in snowsports, ran a winter apparel drive during January in cooperation with The Store Next Door, which supports unhoused students and others who could use some assistance. Meanwhile, GENCO and the Public Health Initiative collaborated to host the 2nd Annual Menstrual Product Drive and a panel on menstrual poverty. Several clubs and teams supported the annual Thanksgiving food drive by distributing fliers and drumming up support.

Bates students are generous with their time and use their diverse skillsets to improve local infrastructure and community access. In the fall, for example, the Bates Law Society kick-started free LSAT prep sessions for about ten local students to lower barriers to graduate school. As part of an initiative to improve public transportation, the Filmboard collaborated with the City of Lewiston to provide accurate GPS locations for all CITYLINK bus stops.

Art and music groups on campus continue to flourish, hosting lively performances and community events. The Bates Art Society partnered with the Asian Students Association and ArtVan, a mobile art therapy nonprofit, to lead several successful workshops. They also participated in the annual Puddle Arts event in May, when local after-school programs came to campus for an afternoon of art-making and games with Bates students. Our a capella groups stayed busy as usual this year. The Crosstones had the honor of singing the National Anthem at the Dempsey Challenge and a Hearts of Pine Soccer game, alongside a whole calendar of other local events, while TakeNote sang for Lewiston Middle School students as part of a psychology/art thesis project and performed at a gallery opening where immigrant mothers in Lewiston presented and sold their pottery. The Small Ensembles Club performed at the college’s Veterans Day event and Candles and Carols.

In still more community engagement efforts from Bates clubs and teams, Snaggletooth Magazine collaborated with L/A Arts and Ellard Studios to host Zine Fest this year on Lisbon Street. It was a hit, with over 15 vendors from Bates and across Maine coming together to distribute prints, zines, paintings, and more. The free event featured live music from Bates musicians and the opportunity to create personal artwork. Meanwhile, the Bates Discordians shook things up at Tree Street Youth, bringing their 20-sided dice and creative mindsets to weekly Dungeons and Dragons sessions. Down the street at the YWCA, the Robinson Players taught theater games to local youth. In one of the biggest series of the year, dozens of Bates students attended Aspirations Days, which is when every Lewiston/Auburn eighth-grader spends a day on campus to learn about future education opportunities and career possibilities.

This busy recap is just a snapshot of all of the community engagement that has taken place this year. We are so grateful to have such dedicated Community Liaisons who keep our clubs/teams engaged and motivated!