Double the Fun

The first half of the 1997-98 Bates Club calendar year finished in strong fashion, with seventeen Bates clubs holding fifty-one events from July 1 through December 31, 1997. This continues a sharp increase in Bates Club activity over the past three years: The entire 1994-95 Bates Club calendar year, for example, contained fifty-one events.The activities were wide-ranging, from a traditional Down East lobster bake held on beautiful Bailey Island (Androscoggin and Cumberland County clubs), to professional and minor league summer baseball outings (Boston, Cumberland, Delaware Valley, and Washington, D.C.).

In October, the Alumni Council launched a series of welcoming receptions for 1997 graduates in Boston, New York, and Washington, D.C. The chair of the Council’s Young Alumni Committee, Jodi Sturgis Coppeta ’93, and the Alumni Office coordinated the events with local club leaders.

The goal of these events was not only to welcome new alums to the city, but help ease the transition from Bates to the city. Other alums offered insights on apartment and job hunting, places to visit, and coming Bates Club activities. The event was free and attendance in all cities was high.

Alumni Council President Nancy Higgins ’81 also visited with members of the Arizona Bates Club in early December.

Musical performances dotted the Bates Club landscape, with concerts by Mark Erelli ’96 in Cambridge, Massachusetts (Mark performed new songs from his CD, Long Way from Heaven). Members of the Androscoggin and Cumberland County clubs were treated to a performance by pianists Frank Glazer (Bates artist-in-residence) and Duncan Cumming ’93. (Glazer and Cumming gave a series of concerts at Bates last fall consisting of piano solos by Johannes Brahms, commemorating the centennial of Brahms’s death).

The Boston Bates Club attended a special exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Picasso: The Early Years, 1892–1906.
Edward Harwood, associate professor of art at the College, was on hand during a pre-
exhibition reception, offering insights and
answering questions from Bates alumni and parents.

Finally, December was the season for several of our Bates clubs to hold their traditional holiday parties. Boston, New York, Hartford, Washington D.C., Cumberland, and Androscoggin, normally offer such affairs.

In 1997, we were pleased to welcome the New Hampshire Bates Club to this list. The New Hampshire Club has become active once again, under the direction and support of Chris Poulin ’86, Bonnie Groves ’69, Ken Snow ’62, and Martha Webb Snow ’63. In addition to hosting a holiday party in December, the New Hampshire Bates Club surveyed New Hampshire Bates alumni regarding possible club activities for 1998.

Many thanks to our terrific group of Bates Club volunteers in getting the 1997-98 Bates Club calendar year off to such a fine start!

NYC Club Walks the Walk

Members of the New York City Bates Club joined more than ten thousand other walkers in the American Cancer Society’s fourth annual walkathon to raise money in the fight against breast cancer.The five-mile walk, with the theme “Making Strides against Breast Cancer,” wound through Central Park and the streets of Manhattan last October. Proudly dressed in Bobcat apparel, participants exchanged ideas and shared stories on the walk. Collectively, the group raised nearly $3,000 to support breast cancer research and services.

The New York City Bates Club welcomes those interested in participating in events and activities to contact Giancarlo Giangola ’94 at 212-876-8919.