{"id":173047,"date":"2026-05-28T15:48:04","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T19:48:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/?p=173047"},"modified":"2026-05-29T13:21:56","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T17:21:56","slug":"take-a-seat-2026-ivy-stone-highlights-community-gathering-at-bates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/2026\/05\/28\/take-a-seat-2026-ivy-stone-highlights-community-gathering-at-bates\/","title":{"rendered":"Take a seat: 2026 ivy stone highlights community gathering at Bates"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With the breadth of Maine\u2019s four seasons, Bates\u2019 campus is ever-changing throughout the year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, even in the most extreme weather, a few things always remain the same \u2014 such as the Adirondack chairs dotting the Historic Quad. They stay put through winter blizzards, under colorful fall foliage, and during summer heat, like reliable friends waiting for company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Mia Wetzel \u201926 of Mashpee, Mass., those chairs evoke a feeling of community representative of her Bates experience. That\u2019s why the biochemistry major, with a concentration in art and visual culture,  chose to depict them in her design for this year\u2019s ivy stone, which features two empty Adirondack chairs surrounded by a cascade of falling leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe fact that they’re empty, it’s like: There’s an open chair, you never know who you’re going to meet, what’s going to happen,\u201d Wetzel said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
That hand you see is Ron Tardif’s, a Bates Facility Services mason, making sure the ivy stone designed by Mia Wetzel \u201926 of Mashpee, Mass., stays put on the southeast side of Pettengill Hall. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Since 1878, it\u2019s been tradition for a graduating student to design a decorative stone to represent their class year. Any senior can submit an idea, and members of the senior class vote on the final design. On May 26, Wetzel\u2019s stone joined the ranks of more than 130 stones dotting buildings around campus. In keeping with campus tradition, she helped Ron Tardif, a Bates Facility Services mason, install the stone on the southeast side of Pettengill Hall. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though its design depicts an opportunity for new beginnings, the stone itself reflects not only the departure of the Class of 2026 but also the end of an era for Tardif, who has worked at Bates since 2016. He is retiring later this year, making Wetzel\u2019s stone the last ivy stone he will install.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel blessed to have this job,\u201d Tardif said. \u201cBates is a generous employer. To be able to interact with the students is just one benefit. We have some really good kids here, and I enjoyed installing the ivy stones with them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Spackle tool in hand, Mia Wetzel \u201926 of Mashpee, Mass., helps Ron Tardif, a Bates Facility Services mason, installs the the Class of 2026 ivy stone, which Wetzel designed. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For her design, Wetzel wanted to depict something that was personal but also specific to the Class of 2026. She remembered how, arriving at Bates in 2022, she realized that her class would be the first since the COVID-19 pandemic to have a fully in-person campus experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat’s when everything started returning to normal,\u201d Wetzel said. \u201cI used that as my inspiration \u2014 the idea of connection, reconnection, after being isolated or socially distanced.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Adirondack chairs came to mind as a fitting symbol of on-campus community. Bates purchased the chairs in 2020 as a means to encourage socially distanced and safe ways to be together,\u00a0 so they have always been a feature of Wetzel’s Bates. She intentionally included two chairs in her design, representing the inherent connection in being a pair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Mia Wetzel \u201926 of Mashpee, Mass., lounging in an Adirondack chair outside of Pettengill Hall, shows off the Class of 2026 ivy stone that she designed. (Phyllis Graber Jensen\/Bates College)
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As for the personal side of the artwork, Wetzel arrived at Bates ready to slow down and form deep connections after moving twice during high school \u2014 from Zimbabwe to the U.S., then from the U.S. to Germany \u2014 for her dad\u2019s work with the Foreign Service. The chairs, with their wide, inviting seats and spacious arms, reflect the relationships she created on campus, including with her professors, who she said have been incredibly supportive, and friends she met through academics and extracurricular activities. Wetzel was the president of the Asian Students Association for two years, a violinist with the Bates Orchestra, a Student Academic Support Center tutor, and, most recently, an emergency medical technician with Bates EMS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSometimes the people you connect the most with are the people you least expected to,\u201d Wetzel said. \u201cThat’s part of what drew me to Bates, knowing that there was a friendly atmosphere and that people can talk to whoever, and you might find a connection.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For Mia Wetzel \u201926 of Mashpee, Mass., the Adirondack chairs on Bates’ Historic Quad evoke a feeling of community representative of her Bates experience. That\u2019s why she chose to depict them in her design for this year\u2019s ivy stone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1827,"featured_media":173069,"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":[11010,1],"tags":[10831,4506,8784],"class_list":["post-173047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-batesnews","tag-commencement","tag-ivy-stone","tag-tradition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173047","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\/1827"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173047"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":173120,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173047\/revisions\/173120"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}