From buzzer-beaters and Broadway guests to sunlit praise on the Historic Quad, March offered moments of joy, reflection, and renewal. With every performance, project, and passing connection, students leaned into the turning season — ready for what’s next, but fully alive to what’s now.
Around the World in One Night
Students who attended and hosted the annual International Dinner pose for a group photo in Gray Athletic Building.
While new cohorts of students prepare and present dishes from around the world to the community each year, the decades-old tradition maintains continuity through James Reese, the longtime dean who supported the founding of the event by the International Club shortly after he arrived in 1977.
Passing It Forward
A gathering of the Bates Men’s Soccer Alumni Mentorship Program in Commons gave current Bobcats a chance to connect with soccer alumni to receive guidance, support, and a start on a path toward careers.
Bold in the Black Box
Kyle Woodworth ’25 (left) of Nova Scotia, Canada, and Kennedy Mathis ’27 of Brookline, Mass., act in Body Awareness, directed by Emma Seitz ’25 of Brooklyn, N.Y., for her senior thesis.
With humor, heart, and fearless honesty, she guided the tight-knit cast through a sharp, poignant exploration of intimacy, identity, and discomfort — all within the close quarters of the Martin Andrucki Black Box Theatre.
Says Seitz, “Discomfort with hard topics is the very reason we should see them on stage” — especially a stage on a college campus.
Doubles and Wins
Eric Diop ’28 of Roslindale, Mass., won his doubles and singles matches vs. Connecticut College in March.
Great Day, Big Wins
With fists raised and the Bobcat beaming beside him, President Garry W. Jenkins congratulated donors during the livestream that rolled throughout Great Day 2025, held on March 13.
This year, 2,499 donors gave a total of $1,247,332 to support the college — increased numbers on both fronts from 2024. The annual Bates giving day is named after the famous Bates cheer, “It’s a great day to be a Bobcat,” coined by the late, beloved football and lacrosse coach Web Harrison ’63.
All in the Swing
Team captain Lizzie Frekko ‘25 of Lake Forest, Ill., rips a two-handed backhand during a singles match vs. Tufts in Merrill Gymnasium.
The Power of Memory
Amy Bradfield Douglass celebrates her appointment as Whitehouse Professor of Psychology with a talk in Commons. Douglass is a social psychologist who explores psychology and law, specifically eyewitness testimony, including how witness memory can be profoundly distorted by subtle interactions with other witnesses and investigators.
The work of supporting Bates students, she says, “can range from helping a student accomplish their goal of speaking up in class more, to connecting them with a community partner to advance criminal justice reform, to preparing an honors thesis for publication.
“In all cases, having the opportunity to work closely with students is deeply meaningful.”
Taste, Told from Memory
Guest chef Susan Reid ’79 serves up her butterscotch apple oatmeal cookies during the lunch rush at Commons.
A cookbook author and former King Arthur recipe developer, Reid returned to Bates for a three-day culinary residency with Bates Dining Services featuring a seminar on differences between flour types (with warm, buttery biscuits on hand to illustrate her points, and in Commons, lunch service with recipes from what she calls her “idiot savant talent: I can taste something in my head and write you a recipe that will make that happen.”
New Turf, Same Game
Lefthander Christopher McGrail ’25 of Dedham, Mass., delivers a pitch during the Bobcats’ game vs. St. Joseph’s College. Bates hosted the Monks on the new hybrid surface at Leahey Field, where turf covers the infield area and natural grass remains on the outfield.
Pitch Perfect
Ella Beiser ’25 of Chicago took top honors, and a big check for $15,000, at this year’s Bobcat Ventures pitch competition for her project, the Campus Reporting Network. Co-developed with Micah Clark Moody, a Ph.D. candidate at Northwestern University, the platform offers resources to empower student journalists to report on campus discipline systems with confidence and care.
Here, she accepts the check from judge Pranav Ghai ’93 as fellow judge Chris Barbin ’93 addresses the audience; also serving as a judge was Benjamin Schippers ’04.
The Bobcat Ventures judges were so impressed that they awarded the entire prize pool to a single pitch for the first time in the competition’s decade-long history.
Garcelon on the Go
Lauren Wong ’26 of Walpole, Mass., moves past a defender during Bates’ women’s lacrosse game vs. Plymouth State at Garcelon Field. Wong contributed three goals and an assist in the team’s 21–9 win.
Science with a Welcome
From left, April Horton, who is the Wagener Family Professor of Equity and Inclusion in STEM, Nora Gilmer ’28 of Fairfax, Va., and Nisan Ozmert ’27 of Nicosia, Cyprus, speak with prospective students during the Bates Beginnings program for newly admitted students.
Joined by current STEM Scholars, Horton shared an overview of the STEM Scholars Program and led a tour of Bates labs, giving students an inside look at how equity and excellence intersect in the sciences.
Kicking off with a greeting from Bates President Garry W. Jenkins, Bates Beginnings offers admitted students hands-on academic sessions, student panels, and interactive tours.
Under Pressure, She Delivers
Sophie Spolter ‘26 (No. 2) of Blacklick, Ohio, and Elsa Daulerio ‘26 of Auburn, Maine, celebrate the Bobcats’ 55–53 win over Southern Virginia in the first round of the NCAA Division III women’s basketball tournament in March.
Spolter’s basket with 10 seconds remaining — a layup as she fell to the ground — sealed the victory for Bates. The Bobcats finished at 17–10 following a second-round loss to host Scranton the following day.
When Art Imitates Everything
Jack Hagan ’27 of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, playing Konstantin Gavrilovich Treplev, and Kirk Read, professor of French and francophone studies, as Pyotr Nikolayevich Sorin, act opposite one another in The Seagull, staged in Schaffer Theatre in March.
The play was guest directed by Joshua N Hsu. “There is an important, meta-theatrical aspect to The Seagull that I think is relevant for students who are creating art, for artists who are building something,” says Hsu, reflecting on the staying power of the Anton Chekhov play, which was originally staged in 1896.
Game On
Alison Montgomery, head coach of women’s basketball, flashes a double thumbs up as she and the team set off to Scranton, Pa., for the opening rounds of the NCAA tournament, which they participated in for the third time in the last four years.
Singing in the Aisles
The Man-Ops (Manic Optimists for those not in the know) perform a cover of Rihanna’s “Umbrella,” in the iconic style of actor Tom Holland. The Man-Ops were among the five Bates a cappella groups that performed in Gomes Chapel before an SRO crowd during Sex Week programming sponsored by Well-Being at Bates.
Sunbreak
As mid-March temperatures touched 60 degrees, Daquan Johnson ’27 (right) of Euclid, Ohio, called the respite from the snow “a great day to praise the Lord because we are all from different corners of the earth soaking in the sun in one location.”
Kicking off March break, Johnson played worship music, sitting in the sun on the Historic Quad, alongside Vera Song ’27 of Naperville, Ill., and other friends.
‘Across Common Grounds’
Assistant Professor of Dance Tristan Koepke choreographed and performed a multimedia dance piece with Shey ‘Rí Acu’ Rivera Ríos as part of the Bates Museum of Arts “Across Common Grounds” exhibition.
“Across Common Grounds,” which closed March 15, was the first major exhibition at the museum organized by Assistant Curator Samantha Sigmon since she arrived in Maine from her home region of Northwest Arkansas in early 2023. It featured more than a dozen contemporary artists from “outside the center,” including Koepke.
“I came from generations of farmers, quilters, and builders,” Sigmon said of the exhibition. “Working in the arts away from international cities and art fairs made me feel passionate about contemporary art that isn’t often seen as part of the wider art world, or is, but is not interpreted regarding the context of rural cultural landscapes. I want folks to see that artists can create communities and engaging artworks in and about anywhere.”
Spring in Their Step
On the second day of spring, Xander Frey ’28 (facing camera) of Potomac, Md., celebrates his goal vs. Wesleyan with Jack Goldbach ’28 (No. 50) of West Caldwell, N.J. That’s Riley McClure ’27 (right) of Georgetown, Mass., trotting over to join the fun.
Scene by Scene
In Chase Hall’s Skelton Lounge, Tony-nominated actor and playwright John Cariani (center) works with Bates students in an acting master class taught by Visiting Assistant Professor of Theater Sally Wood, offering physical prompts and improvisational exercises to the students.
Cariani was on campus during the month as a Learning Associate, and in addition to working Bates students in both acting and playwriting classes, he gave a talk on March 17 about his love for theater and the opportunity it gives him to share stories from “unthought of” places such as rural Maine.
Wood is directing the world premiere of Cariani’s latest play, Darker the Night, Brighter the Stars, at Portland Stage, a story of intertwined teenaged and young adult lives in northern Maine. It opened in April and runs until early May in Portland. Cariani is best known for his first play, Almost, Maine, which is one of the most-performed plays in the world with nearly 6,000 productions to date.
Golden Moment
Max Cory ‘26 of Dublin, Calif., poses for a portrait in the Alumni Gymnasium trophy lobby with his championship trophy a few days after winning the100-yard freestyle at the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships.
“It’s awesome,” he says. “It’s a career-defining swim for me, and it puts my name in the books, but more importantly, it’s going to garner more attention to Bates as a program as a whole, to help it grow into something even greater, which I have got no doubt that it can be.”
