Homecoming spotlights the wide range of Bates pride

Whether it’s harkening back to gridiron triumphs a half-century ago, celebrating Bates’ embrace of the great outdoors or gathering to talk about strategies that gay students and alumni can use in their job search, Homecoming Weekend promises to evoke great memories and prompt relevant conversations about Bates alumni life today. Some Homecoming highlights:

Friday

• At 7:30 pm, recent grad Chomba Kaluba ’10 explains his work with a Zambian nonprofit organization that he founded and directs, in the Keck Classroom of Pettengill Hall.
• At 8 p.m., the a cappella group Crosstones celebrate the release of their CD Lost and Found in the Little Room of Chase Hall.
• Also at 8 p.m., in Chase Lounge, the Bates Outing Club holds its 90th anniversary celebration finale. The program promises a photographic review of the year and a discussion of “activities and antics” of the BOC today, produced and presented by current students.

Saturday

• At 11 a.m., apropos of Halloween,  Regina Marchi ’87, author of Day of the Dead in the USA, explains the growing American popularity of the Mexican celebration El Día de los Muertos.
• At halftime the football game vs. Colby, five recent grads will receive Senior Athletic Citations, among other awards. The College will salute its women’s soccer program, celebrating 30 years as a varsity team, and the 1956 football team, Maine State Championship victors.
• At 4 p.m. in the Benjamin Mays Center, alumni share tips and strategies for LGBT job seekers and their allies. The topics of the program, hosted by Bates Alumni PRIDE and OUTFront, will range from self-identifying on a resume, coming to prospective employers and ways the Bates LGBT alumni network can help student job-seekers. Panelists will include Jason Hall ’97, senior counsel to Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon who, in 2005,became president of the first St. Louis gay lawyers’ association; Laura Kay Gagnon ’88, manager of information services for the Maine Association of Non Profits; and Larry Handerhan ’05, pursuing a master’s in public affairs at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public Policy at Princeton University.
• At 5 p.m., by prior reservation, is the annual Alumni Celebration reception and dinner. Many awards are on tap, including honors to Tanya Schwartz ’04 (Distinguished Young Alumni Award), James Houston ’95 (David G. Russell ’66 Alumni-in-Admissions Award) and Paul “Swede” Anderson ’53 (Alumni Community Service Award).

“Swede” Anderson is a College Key member, longtime volunteer fundraiser and active in the Bates National Day of Service. Of his service to Bates, he once said that “institutions that you’ve been involved with — good causes that are sincere and beneficial to humankind — can’t exist without contributions from generous people.”