In this reel, six seniors reflect on mentorship, discovery, and the thrill of sharing big ideas at the 2025 Mount David Summit, the annual celebration of student academic achievement.
At this year’s summit, held April 4 at its traditional location in Pettengill Hall, 256 students presented 130 research posters and participated in 26 academic talks or panels.
You’ll also see and hear how Bates students show up for each other. “One of my best friends is doing a math presentation on Ola words,” says Max Olson ’25, and English major from Beverly, Mass. “Do I know what an Ola word is? Not really. Am I going to see the presentation and find out? Absolutely.”
(Theophil Syslo/Bates College)
These are the seniors in this reel, created by Bates multimedia producer Theophil Syslo, plus a bit about their senior research:
- Aneeza Ahmad of Sharon, Mass., traveled Maine’s farmland to amplify the voices of Wabanaki, white, and Somali Bantu farmers.
- Lydia Frew ’25 of Norwich, Vt., presented research how dance and movement practices can deepen our understanding of the self through internal sensory experience.
- Nimco Jama of Hargeisa, Somaliland, investigates how wild mustard plants may adapt to climate change through “heat memory.”
- Max Olson of Beverly, Mass., explores race and identity in The Lord of the Rings in his English thesis on literary bigotry.
- Ananya Rao of Bedford, N.Y., brings climate policy to life through her internship on offshore wind with the Gulf of Maine Research Institute.
- Brandon Villalta Lopez of Nicaragua and Costa Rica studies the neuroscience of memory suppression and the power of smell in triggering what we forget — or remember.
- Fiona Wilson of Barnstead, N.H., uses wildlife camera traps to explore how coyotes, foxes, and fishers adapt to urban life in Lewiston–Auburn.
