Have a taste of summer at Bates — and we promise that summer will still be around, well into September, in fact, for the soon-to-arrive Class of 2023 to enjoy.
Take a look at these verdant campus scenes from June, July, and August, paired with images of Bates-funded student research and internship opportunities from all over that keep Bobcats busy each summer.
Lunchtime on Lake Andrews
Theophil Syslo/Bates College
An osprey shakes water from his feathers while flying above Lake Andrews with a goldfish in his talons.
Construction Update
(Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College)
A worker welds a splice joining two sections of pipe pile at the construction site for the Bonney Science Center, set to open in 2021.
Roll Out The Bluegrass
(Michelle Holbrook-Pronovost and Theophil Syslo/Bates College)
Workers for Sports Fields Inc. of Monmouth, Maine, use a specialized forklift, at lower right, to lay new sod on the Russell Street soccer field in July. The rolls of bluegrass sod came from Maine Turf Company of Fryeburg.
The re-sodding was among several athletics projects completed over the summer.
Sound Design at Steppenwolf Theatre
Michael Schmidt for Bates College
A theater and English double major, Deon Custard ’21 of Chicago has a Bates-funded internship with the city’s Steppenwolf Theatre Co., where he works on sound design and production.
This supportive ensemble has shown him that “the most powerful artistic expressions come when you work with people with whom you can freely discuss ideas, knowing that you will be challenged but brought to a deeper understanding.”
Funded by the Bates Department of Theater, Custard’s internship honors the memory of the late Bates theater professor Ellen Seeling.
Morse Course
Brittney Lohmiller for Bates College
One of two rivers within the Bates–Morse Mountain Conservation Area, the Morse River flows into the ocean near Popham Beach.
Wall Street Finance
Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College
Keaton Shaw ’21 of Middleton, Wis., poses at 100 Wall St., where under the direction of Andrew Carman ’85, chief investment officer with Capital Management LLC, Shaw had a Purposeful Work–funded internship at SQN Capital.
The internship allowed Shaw, an economics major who is fulfilling premed requirements, the opportunity to combine his finance and healthcare interests.
Measuring and Monitoring on Lake Auburn
Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College
Supervised by Holly Ewing, Christian A. Johnson Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies, environmental studies major Christopher Castaneda ’20 takes water samples from Lake Auburn.
He’s studying nutrients produced by algae and consumed by other organisms in the lake. Related to the impacts of algae blooms on water quality, the research supports community efforts to deliver unfiltered public water at the lowest price.
At the End of the Day
Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College
The day ends with friends on Alumni Walk.
Starry, Starry Night
Theophil Syslo/Bates College
As the July sun set over Meetinghouse Pond at the college’s Coastal Center at Shortridge in Phippsburg, Maine, a star show began. “The clear view of the night sky motivates human curiosity about our place in the universe,” says Assistant Professor of Physics Aleks Diamond-Stanic.
Caring for Wounded Wildlife
Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College
Biology major Erin Murphy ’21 of North Andover, Mass., feeds an injured fledgling red-eyed vireo at the Center for Wildlife in Cape Neddick, Maine, where she has a Bates Environmental Internship in the medical clinic. The center cares for injured and orphaned wildlife and offers an outreach education program.
“This is my first taste of being in a therapeutic setting for animals, interacting with them, and understanding their needs and behavior,” said Murphy, an aspiring veterinarian. “If I want to do this, I need to know the good, the bad, and the ugly.”
Pettengill Illuminations
Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College
We featured this photograph of Reunion 2019 fireworks over Pettengill on Instagram to wish the Bates community a happy Independence Day.
The Golden Hour
Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College
Lake Andrews at the end of the day provides just the right backdrop for quiet reflection.
Think Tank Research
Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College
A research intern for the Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity at the Cato Institute, a think tank in Washington, D.C., Javier Carranza ’21 of Santa Tecla, El Salvador, specialized in Latin America research under the direction of policy analyst Juan Carlos Hidalgo, a prominent scholar on Latin American affairs.
This Purposeful Work–funded internship allowed Carranza to see a connection between his two majors. “My economics and politics knowledge was crucial in understanding, researching, and commenting on issues like the Central American immigration crisis and the American embargo in Venezuela, to name but a few,” he said.
Custom Fabrication at Rag & Bone
Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College
Sociology major Analea Angot ’20 of Hampton, N.H., has a Purposeful Work–funded internship in Brooklyn, N.Y., in the fabrication shop of the internationally known fashion label Rag & Bone. This “unconventional internship” says Angot, “has brought me a new perspective on design.”
The fabrication shop creates custom furniture and fixtures, and gave Angot metalworking skills that she will integrate into her personal creative process. “This internship has provided me with a unique lens into the fashion industry and solidified my goal of pursuing a creative career after Bates,” she says.
He’s Floored
Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College
“For the first time ever,” says Dave Haefele, manager of equipment and contest operations for Bates Athletics, as he lays down a modular turf system in Underhill Arena.
Enabling athletes to bring the outdoors in, the turf is the first surface besides ice ever to cover the arena’s concrete floor.
Alumni Walk Lights
Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College
All’s quiet and wet on Alumni Walk.
Ice Cream Options
Theophil Syslo/Bates College
Economics major James MacDonald ’20 of Quincy, Mass., prepares a Beckon Ice Cream demo at Whole Foods in South Weymouth, Mass. Bay State–based Beckon produces premium ice cream that’s free of lactose as well as stabilizers, gums, and other additives.
MacDonald had a Purposeful Work–funded sales and marketing internship with the firm. Working for a smaller business and its owners “is cool,” he says. “As much as we want feedback on how we’re doing, they’re constantly asking us for our feedback.”
Calling All AESOPers
(Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College)
This year’s coordinators of the Annual Entering Student Outdoor Program pose for a photograph: from left, Erni Whitaker ’20 of San Luis Obispo, Calif., Peter Griffin ’20 of Beverly, Mass., and Grace Warder ’20 of New York City.
“We have a really important opportunity,” Whitaker says, “to show first-years that this is a place we love, you belong here, and we’re going to give you an experience that is inclusive and safe and fun for everyone — an experience that’s going to make you feel empowered and welcome here.”
An Orientation Week tradition, this year’s AESOP will features 57 outdoor trips, each led by two upperclass leaders, for members of the Class of 2023.
Comfort With Discomfort
Phyllis Graber Jensen/Bates College
“I grow most when I’m incredibly uncomfortable, but you have to be comfortable with being uncomfortable,” says Elijah McLean ’20 of Providence, R.I., photographed during his summer Purposeful Work internship in Washington, D.C.
Moments of discomfort, he says, include attending a predominantly white institution like Bates, which “is a place that helped mold me. I felt uncomfortable at points, but I now know how to make the space my own.”
McLean interned with Peer Forward, a nonprofit that connects low-income students to college and careers through positive peer influence.
