Slideshow: This Month at Bates

We’ve experienced beginnings and ends, rituals and transitions, struggles and reflections, but this month in a different way.

Bates is spread throughout continents, but we remain a community.

Here’s a small glimpse at some of what has happened during This Month at Bates.

---

Early Morning Puddle

Glide-by ducks produce a sunlit wake on the surface of Lake Andrews.

---

Commencement: The Movie

Livestreamed on May 31, the college’s 154th Commencement comprised prerecorded video segments, including a social-distanced processional to the Historic Quad on May 11 led by Charles Franklin Phillips Professor of Economics of Michael Murray, seen here, President Clayton Spencer, Dean of the Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs Malcolm Hill, and Multifaith Chaplain Brittany Longsdorf.

---

Ivy Stone Installation

Bates mason Ron Tardif installs the Class of 2020 ivy stone near the front entrance of Pettengill Hall on May 26, five days before Commencement.

---

Picture Perfect

Outfitted in her Commencement cap and gown, El Khansaa Kaddioui ’20 of Elhajeb, Morocco, pauses at the entrance of Coram Library to check her reflection before an informal photo session on May 23. She is one of a number of students living on campus.

---

Mulch Ado

Jeremy Lavertu, tending to campus trees with a Facility Services grounds and maintenance crew, mulches a paper birch on Alumni Walk.

---

Cheney House

Early morning sun and trees cast a stark contrast on Cheney House, a residence on College Street.

---

A Pause for Reflection

From left, President Spencer, Vice President for Equity and Inclusion Noelle Chaddock, and Multifaith Chaplain Brittany Longsdorf shared a video message with the Bates community on Commencement eve, May 30, to “acknowledge the relentless race-based violence that we continue to enact as a nation,” said Spencer.

Three days later, Spencer issued a full statement condemning “these acts of extreme cruelty and the long history of racial injustice and violence against black, brown, and indigenous people that have made them possible and dangerously routine.”

---

For That Special Occasion

On Commencement day, Assistant Vice President for Dining, Conferences and Campus Events Christine Schwartz (right), Executive Chef Owen Keene (center), and Sous Chef Michael Staffenski (left) pack box lunches — featuring the ever-popular graduation lobster roll — in Commons.

The lunches were presented to the several dozen Bates students who still live on campus due to the pandemic.

---

Senior Class Speaker

Alexandria Onuoha ’20 poses for a FaceTime portrait ion May 19 in a park near her home in Malden, Mass.

Onuoha offered her prerecorded Senior Address during the Commencement livestream on May 31.

A double major in psychology and dance from Malden, Mass., Onuoha is well-known on campus for her work in social justice and her leadership.

---

Commencement Day Scenes: May 31, 2020

The 463 members of the Bates Class of 2020 come from 37 U.S. states plus the District of Columbia, including 38 students from Maine, and from 52 countries. These photos provided by graduates and their families offer a peek at their Commencement-day celebrations.

---

Protected Predator

The Bobcat statue on the walk to Merrill Gym is outfitted with a coronavirus mask made by theater professor Christine McDowell and her student crew in Schaeffer Theatre’s costume shop.

The sculpture, created by artist Forest Hart and made possible by donors including the Class of 2004, was dedicated during Reunion 2009.

---

Sun’s Up

The sun rises behind the Class of 1906 Gate, a Campus Avenue entry to the Historic Quad.

---

Purposeful Power

Project manager for a firm that develops utility-scale solar photovoltaic plants in Maine, Audrey Puleio ’17 poses on June 2 at Maine Audubon in Falmouth with three solar panels in the background. Puleio will remotely supervise two Bates interns that her firm hired this summer.

---

Early Morning Run

A jogger circles the Puddle on an early morning run.

---

Electric Effort

Kyung Phil Ko ’22 of Toronto poses in his room in the Residential Village. A member of the EcoReps’ Data Group, Ko contributed computational and managerial skills to a project making it easier to analyze Bates’ electricity consumption.

---

Roll Out The Bleachers

Grounds and maintenance staffers Mike Adams, Adam Wright, and Tim Kivus move baseball bleachers so that they can mow Leahey Field.

---

Truman Scholar

Essie Martin ’21 pilots a motorboat near a lobster pound at Bremen, Maine, during her summer 2019 research internship with the University of Maine. Aspiring to a career in aquaculture, Maine native Martin is a 2020 recipient of a highly competitive Harry S. Truman Scholarship.

---

The Path Often Taken

An early riser takes an often-traveled path on the Historic Quad to cross campus.

---

Virtual Vigil

“In these vigil moments may we find renewed energy for the work of antiracism and justice at hand.” — The Rev. Brittany Longsdorf, Multifaith Chaplain

The Multifaith Chaplaincy and the Office of Equity and Inclusion jointly hosted an online vigil on June 5, asking members of the Bates community to pause and recenter with ritual and “to collectively grieve the hurt and hatred that is running rampant in our world.”

---

Boxed and Ready to Go

On June 10, Bates staff formed a busy assembly line in the College Store. Their job: placing diplomas, Commencement programs, and other graduation materials into special mailing boxes for members of the Class of 2020. Post and Print handled the shipping.

(A nice touch: If a senior requested it, the box included a complimentary copy of the senior’s thesis in the traditional black binding.)