{"id":126252,"date":"2019-08-22T16:28:24","date_gmt":"2019-08-22T20:28:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=126252"},"modified":"2026-01-12T15:13:42","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T20:13:42","slug":"arriving-monday-the-bates-class-of-2023-steps-into-a-world-of-new-connections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2019\/08\/22\/arriving-monday-the-bates-class-of-2023-steps-into-a-world-of-new-connections\/","title":{"rendered":"Arriving Monday, the Bates Class of 2023 steps into a ‘world of new connections’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Selected from the largest applicant pool in Bates history, the 501 members of the Class of 2023 arrive at Bates on Monday, Aug. 26.<\/p>\n

As they settle into various campus abodes on Opening Day and kick off their nine-day Orientation<\/a>, the new students are embarking on a Bates journey that, in a conventional sense, has a specific terminus: Commencement four years hence, on May 28, 2023.<\/p>\n

In another sense, a Bates journey is timeless, a mindset that lasts \u201cfor as long as they wish,\u201d says Professor of Sociology Emily Kane.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

In her Pettengill Hall office, Professor of Sociology Emily Kane wraps up a meeting with Hermione Zhou ’21 last January. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n

While regular classes don\u2019t begin until Sept. 4, Orientation offers a taste of Bates academics right off the bat. So on Tuesday morning, the day after they arrive, the new students will attend their very first class, specifically their First-Year Seminar.<\/p>\n

This fall, Kane is teaching one of the seminars, \u201cInequality, Community, and Social Change.\u201d A few days ago, as Kane was preparing for Tuesday\u2019s first class gathering, she was also exchanging emails with a former student, now in graduate school, who took her First-Year Seminar six years ago.<\/p>\n

\n\t+<\/span>Class of 2023 by the Numbers<\/a>\n\t<\/h5>
<\/p>\n
Demographics<\/h5>\n

Total class size<\/strong>: 501<\/p>\n

Female<\/b>: 54% (270)<\/span>
\n<\/span>Male<\/b>: 46% (231)<\/span><\/p>\n

U.S. students of color<\/b>: 28%<\/span>
\n<\/span>First generation to college<\/b>: 12%<\/span>
\n<\/span>Public school<\/b>: 50%<\/span>
\n<\/span>Independent or parochial school<\/b>: 50%<\/span>
\n<\/span>Non\u2013U.S. citizens<\/b>: 8%<\/span><\/p>\n

Geographic<\/h5>\n

New England<\/b>: 39%
\n<\/span>Middle Atlantic<\/b>: 25%
\n<\/span>Midwest<\/b>: 5%
\n<\/span>Southeast<\/b>: 5%
\n<\/span>Southwest and West<\/b>: 16%
\n<\/span>Outside U.S.<\/b>: 10%
\n<\/span>Countries represented<\/b>: 24, including the U.S.<\/span><\/p>\n

Australia, Canada, China, El Salvador, Estonia, Ghana, India, Ireland, Japan, Kenya, Latvia, Macau S.A.R., Mexico, Nicaragua, Niger, Pakistan, Russia, Senegal, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.<\/span><\/p>\n

Financial Aid<\/h5>\n

Total grant aid<\/b>: $9.6 million<\/span>
\n<\/span>Receiving Bates grant aid<\/b>: 41%<\/span>
\n<\/span>Average Bates grant<\/b>: $47,051<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u201cShe was writing to say she’d come across a recent book chapter I wrote,\u201d Kane explains, \u201cand was finding it useful in her own graduate work on family policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

That moment \u2014 communicating about academics with an alumna while simultaneously preparing for new students \u2014 left Kane dazzled \u201cby all those connecting threads. That\u2019s what I hope to convey on the first day of class: the excitement and possibility and world of new connections that Bates offers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Move-In<\/a>

Jamari Amrham \u201922 of Richmond, Calif., has his eyes on his mom, Cherie Hill, as she took a selfie during Opening Day in 2018. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n

All across campus, Bates has its arms open to the new students, ready to help them make the best of these transformational four years.<\/p>\n

“Orientation introduces students to the Bates people, programs, and resources that will give them the tools to succeed,” says Assistant Dean of Students Blake Reilly, who oversees Orientation.<\/p>\n

“We want our newest students to know that there’s always someone to turn to for support \u2014 and, hopefully, it’s someone they will have already met at Orientation.”<\/p>\n

Orientation, which also features three days of student-led outdoor trips<\/a> throughout Maine and New Hampshire, concludes next Tuesday with Convocation, the official opening of the academic year.<\/p>\n

This year’s Convocation features an address by Dolores Huerta, a labor activist and civil rights icon who co-founded the United Farm Workers of America. The subject of an eponymous documentary that is this year’s Commons Read<\/a>, Huerta will receive a Bates honorary degree at Convocation.<\/p>\n

\"On<\/a>

On Opening Day, as seen in 2018, new students get many helping hands from student members of the college’s Residence Life staff. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n

The metaphorical arms welcoming the new class include those of the beloved, college-run Dining Services, fully ready to welcome the newest students on Monday evening for their very first meal in Commons.<\/p>\n

“Whether a student has had a great day or a lousy day when they come through our doors, we have an opportunity to make their experience excellent.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Among other items, the first dinner will feature salmon piccata; barbecue seitan with veggies; a variety of pastas and sauces, including marinara, alfredo, pesto; and squash and crab bisque made from scratch, as all soups are at Bates \u2014 not to mention fresh tomatoes and kale from the college’s vegetable garden, the Plot, run by student EcoReps<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As prior generations of Bates students have discovered, dining at Bates \u2014 distinctive for its single dining hall \u2014 is about great community and great food. “We want our new students to understand that this is a fun place and a comforting place \u2014 their home away from home,” says Director of Dining Cheryl Lacey.<\/p>\n

\"Kevin<\/a>

Community and comfort are on the menu for the Class of 2023 at Dining Services, where Kevin Michaud prepares grilled cheese sandwiches for a recent Friday lunch. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/p><\/div>\n

A meal at Commons gives students a chance to press the reset button, she says.<\/p>\n

“Whether a student has had a great day or a lousy day when they come through our doors, we have an opportunity, at each point of service, to make their experience excellent.”<\/p>\n

Students “should always feel comfortable approaching any of us to ask questions. They should feel comfortable building connections with our chefs, which they do, year after year, and asking questions about their food.”<\/p>\n

Pursuant to answering food questions, Bates recently became one of the few liberal arts colleges nationally to offer a mobile-friendly online nutrition guide<\/a>\u00a0for every dish on the Dining Services menu.<\/p>\n

Continued national and international geographic expansion is \u201cimperative.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The 501 students arrive Monday thanks to the work of the Admission team, which reviewed a record-setting 8,222 applications this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s excitement for Bates right now \u2014 students and families really desire a Bates liberal arts education,\u201d Weisenburger says, pointing to strengths like Purposeful Work, highly relevant and interdisciplinary academics, a location in Lewiston and in Maine, and a \u201ccommunity where students are recognized and celebrated as individuals.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new class features historic strengths, including 28 percent U.S. students of color, the highest ever, and a continued demographic-driven expansion to the West and South.<\/p>\n

\n\t+<\/span>A Few Facts About Students in the Class of 2023<\/a>\n\t<\/h5>
<\/p>\n

In their applications and conversations with the Bates Admission team, members of the Class of 2023 shared fascinating facts about their interests and accomplishments in high school. Such as:<\/p>\n