{"id":168814,"date":"2025-05-15T10:45:43","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T14:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=168814"},"modified":"2025-06-17T09:39:24","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T13:39:24","slug":"slideshow-this-month-at-bates-68","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2025\/05\/15\/slideshow-this-month-at-bates-68\/","title":{"rendered":"Slideshow: This Month at Bates"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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 \u2014 big and small \u2014 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moonlight Moment<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Orange
Sammy Weidenthal \u201827 for Bates College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The moon rises above Commons. April\u2019s full moon is known as the Pink Moon, so named for pink creeping phlox wildflowers that bloom in early spring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sammy Weidenthal \u201827 of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, created this image from a composite of long exposure images taken just before clouds rolled in at mid-evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bates Beginnings: The Beginning <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Moments
Theophil Syslo\/Bates College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019s program for newly admitted students. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Poster Party<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"garry
Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sloan Philips \u201925 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe shouldn\u2019t take it for granted,\u201d said Jenkins in his welcome remarks, referring to Bates\u2019 distinctive commitment to undergraduate, mentored research. \u201cIt\u2019s unique, it\u2019s special, and it\u2019s worthy of celebration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dancing through History<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Artistic
Sammy Weidenthal ’27 for Bates College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Students perform the dance En Route<\/em> during the annual Marcy Plavin Spring Dance Concert, which honors the legacy of the founder of the Bates dance program. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 \u201cMonaLisa\u201d Berman and Joe \u201cMN Joe\u201d Tran of BRKFST Dance Company, and Christina Robson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

En Route<\/em>, choreographed by Mason, was inspired by the Portland Freedom Trail, which highlights 13 key sites related to the Underground Railroad in Maine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Four Ball<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"mens
Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From left, Eli Criss ’25, James Sacco ’28, Eric Diop ’28, and Ben Adey ’25 warm up prior to the Bobcats\u2019 match against Wesleyan in Merrill Gymnasium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Have Your Cake and Read It Too <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"On
Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Carina Plettenbacher (left) and Raluca Cernahoschi react to a cake by Sam Gamber ’25 of Marlborough, Mass., a recreation of the children\u2019s book Llama Llama Red Pajama<\/em>. Plettenbacher is a Fulbright teaching assistant in German for 2024\u201325 and Cernahoschi is an associate professor of German.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Map Magic<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Public
Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Anelise Hanson Shrout, associate professor of digital and computational studies and history, works with Avery Lehman \u201925 (center) of Portsmouth, N.H., a studio art major and DCS minor, and Julia Roelofs \u201926 (left) of Rye, N.H., an environmental studies major and DCS minor, in the course \u201cPublic History in the Digital Age.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A digital historian, Shrout is leading the class to create a map showing the development of Lewiston\u2019s Lisbon Street from 1850 to 1940, including profiles of individuals who lived and worked in specific Lisbon Street buildings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bates Beginnings: The Middle<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Moments
Theophil Syslo\/Bates College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In a Hathorn Hall classroom, Mollie Woodworth, an assistant professor of neuroscience, leads a discussion on \u201cthe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Woodworth\u2019s pupils weren\u2019t Bates students \u2014 yet. Instead, they were prospective Bates students on campus for the second of two Bates Beginnings programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Launching a Love of Learning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"It
Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the annual Astronomy Extravaganza, Mikaila Whitaker Bennett \u201828 of Rowley, Mass., demonstrated the Doppler effect with a Nerf rocket, delighting young learners like 7-year-old Jorah Robbins. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Immersive Images<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Asha
Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Assistant Professor of Music Asha Tamirisa listens during an artist talk in Chase Hall Lounge in early April. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The talk, whose attendees included students in her \u201cImmersive Media Installation\u201d course, was offered by guest artists Nadav Assor and Tirtza Even, whose multimedia exhibition Chronicle of a Fall <\/em>was shown in the college\u2019s Immersive Media Studio in Coram Library.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the Studio<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Taking
Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lizi Barrow \u201925 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Real Poet<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"hand
Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Dana Professor of English and Africana Ther\u00ed Pickens signs a copy of her recently published poetry collection, What Had Happened Was<\/em>, during an event in Commons celebrating her new book and her appointment as a Dana professor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 \u201creal poet.\u201d \u201cOh no, no,\u201d Pickens said, laughing as she described opening the box of author copies. \u201cI was screaming, running around the house being like, \u2018I\u2019m a real poet!\u2019 It feels surreal actually.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tea with the President <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Scholar
Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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 \u2014 and joyous \u2014 story of his journey as a legal scholar and his enthusiasm for and devotion to scholarship and the faculty side of academia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Artist in Bloom<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Taking
Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the opening reception for the annual Senior Thesis Exhibition in the Bates College Museum of Art, studio art major Danny Zuniga Zarat \u201925 (left) of Houston, holding a bouquet of flowers given to each artist in the show, talks with Carolina Gonz\u00e1lez Valencia, associate professor of art and visual culture, one of this year\u2019s faculty advisors to the studio art majors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Ava Equation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Theophil
Theophil Syslo\/Bates College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Facing Wesleyan, Ava Steinberger ’27 of Hockessin, Del., goes to the backhand during her doubles match with partner Ava Lyon ’25 of Naples, Fla. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Thesis Time<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\u201cAfter
Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From left, seniors Sophia Ibeh, a biochemistry major from Houston, Darlene Igiraneza, a biology major from Glendale, Ariz., and Blessing Akinmade \u201925 (right), a biochemistry major from Newark, N.J., celebrate their theses bindings with a spray of bubbly on the steps of Coram Library.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter 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,\u201d said Akinmade. \u201cI want to thank you guys for doing it with me and for being a part of me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Reigning on the River <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Moments
Theophil Syslo\/Bates College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On a chilly and showery day, the men\u2019s second varsity crew rows to victory in the 27th annual President\u2019s Cup regatta on the Androscoggin River. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Welcoming Bowdoin, Colby, and the University of Maine, the regatta once again featured dominant performances by Bates men’s and women’s boats<\/a> and festive moments off the water, including the christening of a new shell, The Cadillac<\/em>, and a celebration of the 2015 NCAA champion women’s team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bates Beginnings: The End<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Theophil
Theophil Syslo\/Bates College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Associate Professor of Politics Clarisa P\u00e9rez-Amend\u00e1riz leads a Bates Beginnings presentation and discussion titled, \u201cWhat is Populism? Lessons from Latin America,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P\u00e9rez-Amend\u00e1riz recently received the Kroepsch Award \u2014 Bates\u2019 highest honor for excellence in teaching. The current Kroepsch recipient, Associate Professor of Education Mara Tieken, says that P\u00e9rez-Armend\u00e1riz has great passion for what she teaches, rooted in deep respect for her students. \u201cShe treats them as worthy of her time and attention.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Reading the Room<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Theri
Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

D.J. Mason \u201928 of Naperville, Ill., reacts during a campus gathering in Commons celebrating the publication of What Had Happened Was<\/em>, the debut poetry collection by Ther\u00ed Pickens, and Pickens’ appointment as the Charles A. Dana Professor of English and Africana.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Victory, With a Family Assist <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"April
Avery Lehman ’25 for Bates College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Olivia Joaquin \u201825 of Washington, D.C., shares a moment with her mother, Mary Joaquin, during Senior Day introductions at Garcelon Field for the women\u2019s lacrosse team in early April. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Olivia was joined by her brother, Teddy (left), and her father, Alan (right). The Bobcats defeated Connecticut College, 18\u201311.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Breaking the Mold<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Taking
Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI love these pots,\u201d says Britton Gorfain \u201925 of New York City as he takes a closer look at what his friend Alex Provasnik \u201925, a studio art major from Arlington, Va., created for the 2025 Senior Thesis Exhibition, featuring the works by this year\u2019s seven studio art majors<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For her senior thesis, Provasnik unraveled expectations of \u201cuseful\u201d pots, drilling holes into her ceramics, then entwining the holes with embroidery thread or yarn, turning traditional pots into hand-stitched landscapes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From Archive to Interface<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"student
Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Becky Philips \u201925 of San Francisco, Calif., stands beside a display for an interactive digital map tracing the history of downtown Lewiston\u2019s Lisbon Street, 1850\u20131940.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The project, developed by students in the course \u201cPublic 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Welcome to the Show<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Bates
Theophil Syslo\/Bates College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Jack Margiloff \u201926 of Rye, N.Y., has his eye on the ball during a game vs. Trinity College. The \u201cWelcome to Bates\u201d banner in the background hangs above the entrance to Commons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Coding the Way Forward<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"students
Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Diving for the Cure<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Bates
Theophil Syslo\/Bates College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Center fielder Zariya Anderson \u201827 of Wayzata, Minn., makes a splendid diving catch during a 3\u20132 Bates victory over Bowdoin. The team wore pink as part of a Strikeout Cancer Game sponsored by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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thROWback! <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"christening
Theophil Syslo\/Bates College<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From left, Win Brown ’89, Graham Proud ’08, and Arnold Robinson ’87 enjoy the moment as they christen the new Bates boat, The Cadillac<\/em>, at the Traquina Boathouse in Greene following the President’s Cup regatta.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Founding members of Bates rowing in the 1980s, Brown and Robinson have remained dedicated to the program \u2014 Brown\u2019s daughter Kathryn \u201821 was a coxswain at Bates \u2014 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April at Bates arrives with light, with motion, and with meaning. Students…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":168845,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_hide_ai_chatbot":false,"_ai_chatbot_style":"","associated_faculty":[],"_Page_Specific_Css":"","_bates_restrict_mod":false,"_table_of_contents_display":false,"_table_of_contents_location":"","_table_of_contents_disableSticky":false,"_is_featured":false,"footnotes":"","_bates_seo_meta_description":"","_bates_seo_block_robots":false,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_id":0,"_bates_seo_sharing_image_twitter_id":0,"_bates_seo_share_title":"","_bates_seo_canonical_overwrite":"","_bates_seo_twitter_template":""},"categories":[44,223,11012,11009],"tags":[11075],"class_list":["post-168814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-enewsletter","category-slideshow","category-student-life","category-the-college","tag-this-month-at-bates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/91"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=168814"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168814\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":169709,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/168814\/revisions\/169709"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=168814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=168814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=168814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}