April at Bates arrives with light, with motion, and with meaning. Students dance through history and map the past. There are thesis toasts, moonrises, and moments — big and small — that remind us what it means to learn, to lead, and to belong to this community. Come see for yourself in this month at Bates.
Moonlight Moment
The moon rises above Commons. April’s full moon is known as the Pink Moon, so named for pink creeping phlox wildflowers that bloom in early spring.
Sammy Weidenthal ‘27 of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, created this image from a composite of long exposure images taken just before clouds rolled in at mid-evening.
Bates Beginnings: The Beginning
Leigh Weisenburger, vice president for enrollment and dean of admission and financial aid, welcomes prospective students and their families to campus during Bates Beginnings, the college’s program for newly admitted students.
Held twice each spring, the full-day event offers tours, classes, panels, information sessions, and conversations designed to give future Bobcats a taste of all that Bates has to offer.
Poster Party
Sloan Philips ’25 of Evergreen, Colo., explains their poster at the Mount David Summit to President Garry W. Jenkins. Their senior thesis in biochemistry explores skin bacteria and associated risks of infection in humans.
“We shouldn’t take it for granted,” said Jenkins in his welcome remarks, referring to Bates’ distinctive commitment to undergraduate, mentored research. “It’s unique, it’s special, and it’s worthy of celebration.”
Dancing through History
Students perform the dance En Route during the annual Marcy Plavin Spring Dance Concert, which honors the legacy of the founder of the Bates dance program.
The concert featured a range of repertory works reflecting a semester of creative exchange in two Bates courses taught by Assistant Professor of Dance Tristan Koepke, “Dance Repertory” and “Repertory Styles,” in collaboration with Bates Dance Festival artists-in-residence Gesel Mason, Lisa “MonaLisa” Berman and Joe “MN Joe” Tran of BRKFST Dance Company, and Christina Robson.
En Route, choreographed by Mason, was inspired by the Portland Freedom Trail, which highlights 13 key sites related to the Underground Railroad in Maine.
Four Ball
From left, Eli Criss ’25, James Sacco ’28, Eric Diop ’28, and Ben Adey ’25 warm up prior to the Bobcats’ match against Wesleyan in Merrill Gymnasium.
Have Your Cake and Read It Too
Carina Plettenbacher (left) and Raluca Cernahoschi react to a cake by Sam Gamber ’25 of Marlborough, Mass., a recreation of the children’s book Llama Llama Red Pajama. Plettenbacher is a Fulbright teaching assistant in German for 2024–25 and Cernahoschi is an associate professor of German.
Map Magic
Anelise Hanson Shrout, associate professor of digital and computational studies and history, works with Avery Lehman ’25 (center) of Portsmouth, N.H., a studio art major and DCS minor, and Julia Roelofs ’26 (left) of Rye, N.H., an environmental studies major and DCS minor, in the course “Public History in the Digital Age.”
A digital historian, Shrout is leading the class to create a map showing the development of Lewiston’s Lisbon Street from 1850 to 1940, including profiles of individuals who lived and worked in specific Lisbon Street buildings.
Bates Beginnings: The Middle
In a Hathorn Hall classroom, Mollie Woodworth, an assistant professor of neuroscience, leads a discussion on “the weird and wonderful neuroscience of the senses, from the tiny hairs in your ear that allow you to hear to the upside-down neuron relay in your eye that allows you to see.”
Woodworth’s pupils weren’t Bates students — yet. Instead, they were prospective Bates students on campus for the second of two Bates Beginnings programs.
Launching a Love of Learning
At the annual Astronomy Extravaganza, Mikaila Whitaker Bennett ‘28 of Rowley, Mass., demonstrated the Doppler effect with a Nerf rocket, delighting young learners like 7-year-old Jorah Robbins.
The community event, created in 2017 by Associate Professor of Physics Aleks Diamond-Stanic and deployed by students in his introductory astronomy course, featured dozens of interactive activities tailored to students from Lewiston and Auburn elementary schools, grades three through six.
Immersive Images
Assistant Professor of Music Asha Tamirisa listens during an artist talk in Chase Hall Lounge in early April.
The talk, whose attendees included students in her “Immersive Media Installation” course, was offered by guest artists Nadav Assor and Tirtza Even, whose multimedia exhibition Chronicle of a Fall was shown in the college’s Immersive Media Studio in Coram Library.
In the Studio
Lizi Barrow ’25 of Winchester, Mass., works on her paintings in her studio in Olin Arts Center. Barrow was among the seven senior studio art majors whose work was featured in the annual Senior Thesis Exhibition in the Bates College Museum of Art.
Real Poet
Dana Professor of English and Africana Therí Pickens signs a copy of her recently published poetry collection, What Had Happened Was, during an event in Commons celebrating her new book and her appointment as a Dana professor.
The event also included a Q&A moderated by Samaa Abdurraqib, executive director of the Maine Humanities Council, who asked Pickens if publication of her first poetry collection made her feel like a “real poet.” “Oh no, no,” Pickens said, laughing as she described opening the box of author copies. “I was screaming, running around the house being like, ‘I’m a real poet!’ It feels surreal actually.”
Tea with the President
President Garry W. Jenkins was the featured guest for the ongoing Scholar Teas series. Interviewed by Associate Professor of Sociology Marcelle Medford, he shared the rich — and joyous — story of his journey as a legal scholar and his enthusiasm for and devotion to scholarship and the faculty side of academia.
Artist in Bloom
At the opening reception for the annual Senior Thesis Exhibition in the Bates College Museum of Art, studio art major Danny Zuniga Zarat ’25 (left) of Houston, holding a bouquet of flowers given to each artist in the show, talks with Carolina González Valencia, associate professor of art and visual culture, one of this year’s faculty advisors to the studio art majors.
The Ava Equation
Facing Wesleyan, Ava Steinberger ’27 of Hockessin, Del., goes to the backhand during her doubles match with partner Ava Lyon ’25 of Naples, Fla.
Thesis Time
From left, seniors Sophia Ibeh, a biochemistry major from Houston, Darlene Igiraneza, a biology major from Glendale, Ariz., and Blessing Akinmade ’25 (right), a biochemistry major from Newark, N.J., celebrate their theses bindings with a spray of bubbly on the steps of Coram Library.
“After four years of working toward our majors together, spending late nights in Bonney covering boards full of equations, what was hard work is now a small picture of who we are, and a snippet of what college was to us,” said Akinmade. “I want to thank you guys for doing it with me and for being a part of me.”
Reigning on the River
On a chilly and showery day, the men’s second varsity crew rows to victory in the 27th annual President’s Cup regatta on the Androscoggin River.
Welcoming Bowdoin, Colby, and the University of Maine, the regatta once again featured dominant performances by Bates men’s and women’s boats and festive moments off the water, including the christening of a new shell, The Cadillac, and a celebration of the 2015 NCAA champion women’s team.
Bates Beginnings: The End
Associate Professor of Politics Clarisa Pérez-Amendáriz leads a Bates Beginnings presentation and discussion titled, “What is Populism? Lessons from Latin America,” exploring the distinctive features of populist leaders, including those of the 1940s and 1950s, versus neo-populists of today, looking at populist leaders of Argentina, Mexico, and El Salvador.
Pérez-Amendáriz recently received the Kroepsch Award — Bates’ highest honor for excellence in teaching. The current Kroepsch recipient, Associate Professor of Education Mara Tieken, says that Pérez-Armendáriz has great passion for what she teaches, rooted in deep respect for her students. “She treats them as worthy of her time and attention.”
Reading the Room
D.J. Mason ’28 of Naperville, Ill., reacts during a campus gathering in Commons celebrating the publication of What Had Happened Was, the debut poetry collection by Therí Pickens, and Pickens’ appointment as the Charles A. Dana Professor of English and Africana.
Victory, With a Family Assist
Olivia Joaquin ‘25 of Washington, D.C., shares a moment with her mother, Mary Joaquin, during Senior Day introductions at Garcelon Field for the women’s lacrosse team in early April.
Olivia was joined by her brother, Teddy (left), and her father, Alan (right). The Bobcats defeated Connecticut College, 18–11.
Breaking the Mold
“I love these pots,” says Britton Gorfain ’25 of New York City as he takes a closer look at what his friend Alex Provasnik ’25, a studio art major from Arlington, Va., created for the 2025 Senior Thesis Exhibition, featuring the works by this year’s seven studio art majors.
For her senior thesis, Provasnik unraveled expectations of “useful” pots, drilling holes into her ceramics, then entwining the holes with embroidery thread or yarn, turning traditional pots into hand-stitched landscapes.
From Archive to Interface
Becky Philips ’25 of San Francisco, Calif., stands beside a display for an interactive digital map tracing the history of downtown Lewiston’s Lisbon Street, 1850–1940.
The project, developed by students in the course “Public History in the Digital Age,” taught by Anelise Hanson Shrout, associate professor of digital and computational studies and history, made its soft launch in Pettengill Hall, where students presented their research and digital work to the campus community.
Welcome to the Show
Jack Margiloff ’26 of Rye, N.Y., has his eye on the ball during a game vs. Trinity College. The “Welcome to Bates” banner in the background hangs above the entrance to Commons.
Coding the Way Forward
Barry Lawson (left), the Colony Family Professor of Digital and Computational Studies, works with Emily Mueller ’25 (center) of Alexandria, Va., and Fatina Mulumba ’25 of Yarmouth, Maine, as they present their final project in the course “Introduction to Web Development.”
The students developed and presented an interactive and algorithmic questionnaire to help current and prospective students understand pathways and options within the new DCS major.
Diving for the Cure
Center fielder Zariya Anderson ‘27 of Wayzata, Minn., makes a splendid diving catch during a 3–2 Bates victory over Bowdoin. The team wore pink as part of a Strikeout Cancer Game sponsored by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.
thROWback!
From left, Win Brown ’89, Graham Proud ’08, and Arnold Robinson ’87 enjoy the moment as they christen the new Bates boat, The Cadillac, at the Traquina Boathouse in Greene following the President’s Cup regatta.
Founding members of Bates rowing in the 1980s, Brown and Robinson have remained dedicated to the program — Brown’s daughter Kathryn ‘21 was a coxswain at Bates — and were among a throng of Bobcat rowing enthusiasts on hand for this year’s President’s Cup, which included honoring the 2015 women’s team that captured the NCAA rowing title.
