On a recent early September afternoon, a spirited group of a dozen �ֲ���ý students rambled along the Androscoggin Riverwalk in downtown Auburn, listening to music turned low on a hand-held bluetooth speaker carried by Alexis Gonzalez ’26 of Hanford, Calif.

The group had just come from nearby Crescent Beach in Auburn, where they threw a Frisbee, waded in Taylor Pond, and sang karaoke songs. Beside the edge of the rushing Androscoggin, they stopped for photos, while some danced. 

Just one day earlier, the nine first-year �ֲ���ý students in the group were strangers. Now, as they enjoyed one of roughly 50 orientation trips offered to the entire Class of 2027, the strangers had accomplished what their trip leaders were working toward: creating their own sense of �ֲ���ý community.

“They were able to really connect with each other,” said Gonzalez, a co-leader of the Lakes Chillin’ trip with J.J. Mariscal ’26 of Mission, Texas. “They learned each other’s names very fast. They’re comfortable with each other.” 

And the karaoke? “They’re really good singers, actually. The energy was just really cool.”

Outdoor orientation trips for first-year students are not unique to �ֲ���ý, nor are they new. But in recent years, more has been done to hone and develop �ֲ���ý’ long-running program, known as AESOP (Annual Entering Student Orientation Program). 

In the late 1800s, for example, first-year students were welcomed to �ֲ���ý with a bird walk and picnics. Then, through the mid-1900s, the Stanton Ride tradition took hold with a hike, picnic, and �ֲ���ý stories told by beloved dean, Harry Rowe. 

In the late 1980s, AESOP emerged as a multi-day, outdoor experience run by the student Outing Club. Similar to other colleges’ programs, AESOP carried a strong outdoor-education component, with physical challenges in nature being a key part of the program’s focus.

By the late 2010s, as �ֲ���ý began to examine the totality of its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, hard questions were asked about a predominantly white program at a predominantly white college engaged in a historically white activity, that being outdoor recreation, mostly in the backcountry. 

In response, student leaders and �ֲ���ý staff teamed up to make mission-driven changes, taking a deep dive into data from student surveys and national best practices to help them more effectively design an array of trips that adhere more closely to the AESOP goal: An inclusive and welcoming experience that gives first-year �ֲ���ý students a sense of their place on campus, in Lewiston, and in Maine, and to help them feel an integral part of the �ֲ���ý community.

“There is a lot of experiential education research we’ve looked at,” said Blake Reilly, associate dean of students and director of operations and administration. A successful orientation trip is “not necessarily about an outdoor experience, it’s about having a shared experience and working together toward something.”

To that end, AESOP can’t be one size fits all. Students should be able to choose whatever level of challenge they want, Reilly said, since many already have had their fair share of challenges just getting to �ֲ���ý. 

“AESOP should be challenge by choice,” said Reilly. “When students come to campus they are coming from all over the country and world, and some have never been to Maine before. If you’re dropped onto the �ֲ���ý campus for the first time, you are already facing a challenging situation.”

AESOP offerings are more creative and varied than ever. While a range of trips still afford traditional outdoor excursions to the backcountry of Maine and New Hampshire (like backpacking in Grafton Notch or canoeing on Moosehead Lake), today about a third of the roughly 50 AESOP trips focus on some sort of city or campus experience. 

One local trip gave students a chance to produce a film. Another explored downtown Lewiston landmarks. Another taught students woodworking skills in the theater department’s scene shop, while Wool and Waves traveled to Popham Beach for surfside fun and knitting (no experience required).

Another major change is offering multiple versions of some trips for affinity groups: women, women of color, international students, and students who identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color). 

For example, the Lakes Chillin’ trip led by Gonzalez and Mariscal was a BIPOC student affinity trip. The two leaders didn’t know they would be leading an affinity group until they were assigned one. When that happened, both said they wondered whether offering affinity groups might be limiting by preventing the first-year students from meeting students from more diverse backgrounds. But as they watched their group bond quickly, they saw the merit in this new option. 

“We kind of realized that the whole AESOP statement is about making sure students are feeling included in everything; making sure they have a safe and comfortable environment,” Mariscal said. “Introducing them to �ֲ���ý through a BIPOC group, they will have a strong connection with the group. And later on if they need someone to talk to, they’ll always have someone they met in AESOP who they feel comfortable talking to.” 

Together, Gonzalez and Mariscal helped forge that strong connection. They planned a surprise birthday cake for one of the new students, and invited the first-years to contribute songs to a Spotify playlist. Within a day the playlist held 24 hours worth of music. 

About 50 miles to the northwest, AESOP trip leader Verina Chatata ’26 was climbing a steep, rocky trail to the summit of 3,200-foot Mount Blue with deep breaths and a smile that stretched all the way back to last year, when Chatata climbed the same peak for the first time as a first-year at �ֲ���ý with nine other women of color on an affinity trip.

The experience was positive and powerful because it leveled the field, Chatatas said, making it more inclusive and less intimidating. 

“I absolutely loved it. I liked hiking with the affinity group because it made the environment a lot more comfortable for me, even though I didn’t have an incredible amount of hiking experience,” said Chatata who is from Lilongwe, Malawi, in southeast Africa, and grew up camping, but not hiking. “We shared a certain level of understanding across the different conversations we were having, which thus contributed to the comfort level.”

Catie Luedee works closely with AESOP student leaders as the college’s coordinator of outdoor education and programs. She also advises the Outing Club. The ability to be comfortable in the outdoors, she admits, was never a question for her growing up.

“The more I work in outdoor education, the more I think am so privileged: upper-middle class, white girl from small-town Maine. I’ve always felt safe outside — my dad is a boat captain,” said Luedee, who is from the coastal town of Phippsburg, an hour from campus.

“Remembering that for a large population of people, the outdoors is not a place they feel safe is very important — and it’s very important for AESOP.”

The changes to the program seem to be working. By 2019, post-AESOP student surveys showed that 86 percent of respondents said the experience was “enjoyable” or “somewhat enjoyable.”  In 2021, after COVID canceled the 2020 trips, AESOP scored a 96-percent approval rating. Last year, it hit 99 percent. “I was pretty happy with that,” Reilly said, “but the goal is 100 percent.”

Another improvement added this year in the name of inclusion is a program to educate trip leaders about the history of the Indigenous lands they and their first-year students visited. 

During one of their many training sessions, AESOP trip leaders on Aug. 28 heard from Associate Professor of History Joe Hall, whose scholarly interests focus on Native American interactions with Europeans during the colonial period and who teaches a Short Term course on the history of the Wabanaki, the collective term for the Maliseet, Micmac, Penobscot and Passamaquoddy tribes in Maine.

During his talk to the more than 100 AESOP leaders, he played a video made by three students from his Short Term course that raised hard questions about what the students knew about Wabanaki history. Then Hall asked the trip leaders to ask themselves those same questions.

“One of the things that I want to have us think about is the way that outdoor experiences is not just going for a hike, which has all sorts of histories of really intense privilege rooted in that,” Hall explained. 

“But those so-called classic experiences are rooted in a certain tradition of relatively rich white people enjoying the spaces that their ancestors had conquered from other people. And there are politics about who feels welcome where and what those spaces mean.”

For Mitchel Soederberg ’25 of Bedford, N.H. who knew little about Indigenous lands in Maine, Hall’s discussion “planted a seed.”

“It just shocks me how little I know about… the history of the people who lived in this space,” said Soederberg, who helped lead the backpacking AESOP trip in the Bigelow Range. “I love hiking and backpacking to these places. I want to learn about the people who (lived) in these places.”

Four days later — following the traditional, raucous welcome to first-year students at the Keigwin Amphitheater — Soederberg and his fellow trip leaders gathered their first-year charges and fanned out across Maine and into New Hampshire to lead 57 trips. 

With the help of the Harward Center for Community Partnerships, one AESOP trip offered new students a chance to engage with the Lewiston community to get a sense of the rich experiences that await them if they venture beyond campus.

“That’s the hope for these local community engagement trips,” said Darby Ray, the center’s director. “That they welcome students into the local community, expose them to the work of several local organizations, and give them an opportunity to get involved in that work.”

One of the AESOP community engagement trips this year went to the Montello Heights assisted living community, where the students played games with the residents, including one that revealed the cost of everyday things 70 to 80 years ago.

Trip leader Gail Curtis ’26 of Rockport, Maine, called it moving and unexpected.

“What we learned is that service is not one-sided. We’re also gaining something from the experience,” Curtis said. “That really came to fruition right before our eyes when we went to Montello Heights because they gave us stories and advice from their lives. 

“They said other �ֲ���ý students have gone there and written their life stories. As an English major, that really resonated with me. That would be such an honor to write someone’s life story to pass on to their children. We learned so much there. I just feel really lucky.”

Outdoor trips as part of new-student orientation are nothing new. Into the mid-1900s, new �ֲ���ý students spent an off-campus day with Harry Rowe to hear the avuncular dean recount �ֲ���ý tales of old.

Today, the off-campus trips are collectively known as AESOP: “Annual Entering Student Orientation Program.”

AESOP is based in the college’s Student Affairs Office and annually led by three student coordinators. Its mission is simple enough: “To engage and empower every incoming �ֲ���ý student to be their authentic selves through off-campus, student-led orientation programs.”

Mission simple, but the execution is eclectic, fun, and full of what students love: hanging out and getting to know each other.

Typically, outdoor orientation programs are all about the great outdoors: hiking, biking, climbing, kayaking, and otherwise navigating the ups and downs of mountains and lakes and everything in between.

And, for those inclined toward nature, they’re a blast. With an eye on achieving greater equity and inclusivity, the AESOP program leaders have brainstormed and deployed new trips in order to broaden the program.

“We’ve spent the past year curating this year’s programming to reflect the diverse needs and interests of the entire first-year class,” explained senior Alix Zabin of Greenwich, Conn., one of three coordinators along with Erik Malm of Batavia, Ill., and Jack Fruechte of Edina, Minn.

So while this year had the traditional trips like hiking Franconia Ridge and kayaking the Damariscotta River, there were also opportunities to paint riverfront scenes along the Androscoggin, create a movie in 48 hours, find their way out of a Portland escape room, visit local farms, and generally explore the downtown area.

Carrie Murphey ’06, assistant dean of students for first-year programs, likens the experience of Orientation to a kaleidoscope.

“If one thing isn’t fitting quite right, or they’re feeling like, ‘Hmmm, not quite sure how this feels,’ they have lots of opportunities and lots of clicks of the kaleidoscope to see themselves in other parts of �ֲ���ý,” she says.

Photographers Phyllis Graber Jensen and Theophil Syslo followed members of the Class of 2021 for much of Orientation, as they walked Lewiston, learned about the importance of reasoned inquiry, and spent their days and nights in the woods, on a farm, or at sports practice.

The clicks of the kaleidoscope started Tuesday, Aug. 29, as the new students met advisers in various First-Year Seminars, continued with off-campus AESOP trips and on-campus varsity sports practices late in the week, then returned to campus for Tuesday’s Convocation and the start of classes on Wednesday.

Jaelene Perez '20 of the Bronx, Precious Johnson '20 of Chicago, and Jesus Carrera '20 of Waco, Texas, pose for student photographer Alexandria Onuoha '20 of Malden, Mass., during the OIE reception. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Wednesday, Sept. 6: Catching up at the OIE's reception, from left, are John Collantes '18 of Park Ridge, Ill., Sally Ceesay '18 of the Bronx, Jeanne Hua '18 of Honolulu, and Frederick Cheng '18 of San Leandro, Calif. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Wednesday, Sept. 6: Brooke Drabkin '18 of Roslyn Heights, N.Y., (facing camera) hugs Cash Huynh '18 of New Orleans during an Office of Intercultural Education reception held to welcome the Class of 2021 and give returning faculty, staff, and students a chance to connect and reconnect. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Wednesday, Sept. 6: Students listen to a discussion about the "Odyssey" during the first lesson of Lisa Maurizio’s First-Year Seminar, “Classical Myths and Contemporary Art.” Students in the course “explore the ways in which myths give members of a society, whether ancient or modern, meaningful tools to describe and explore issues, values, and conflicts.” (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Tuesday, Sept. 5: After Convocation, Marshall Vale pours a cup of water from Lake Andrews on the soil around a red oak sapling near the Class of 1929 Gate. Each year, a memorial tree is planted to honor members of the �ֲ���ý community who have died in the past year. Marshall Vale’s wife Katie Vale, college librarian and vice president for information and library services, died in December. (Theophil Syslo/�ֲ���ý College)

Last week we brought you all the stories, in text, images, and video, about the Class of 2019’s arrival on Aug. 31.

This week offers a look at all that’s happened since, right up through the first day of classes, as the first-years got their footing and started to make some tracks.

Sept. 1, 9:48 a.m.

After moving in the day before, the Class of 2019 began its �ֲ���ý experience with what brought them here: academics.

A new feature of Orientation, all new students had a class session right off the bat with their first-year seminar professors.

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Here, atop the campus hill known as Mount David, Associate Professor of Religious Studies Cynthia Baker slices an apple under the watchful eyes of students in her first-year seminar, “The Nature of Spirituality.”

Baker then invited them to dip the fruit into honey as an expression of hope for a sweet school year, a ritual inspired by a Jewish new year tradition. After apples and honey, the group discussed the Ralph Waldo Emerson essay “Nature,” in which Emerson wrote:

Not the sun or the summer alone, but every hour and season yields its tribute of delight; for every hour and change corresponds to and authorizes a different state of the mind, from breathless noon to grimmest midnight.

Sept. 1, 2:19 p.m.

After morning classes, it was time to play. In a game of ultimate organized by upperclass leaders known as OWLs (Orientation Week Leaders), John Neufeld ’17 (right) of Doylestown, Pa., and Edward James ’19 of Scarborough, Maine, contest a pass during a game on the grass field across from Smith Hall.

Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College

Sept. 1, 8:50 p.m.

Following a presentation to all first-years on alcohol and campus life, the college’s Junior Advisors — trained upperclass students who live among and guide small groups of first-year students — led breakout sessions with their charges.

JA Keenan Shields ’18 of Pittsford, N.Y., at bottom in white T-shirt, talks with students in Clason House.

(Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College)

Sept. 2, 9:14 a.m.

Kim Trauceniek, associate dean of students for campus life, talks with Isa Barrengos ’19 (left) of Mill Valley, Calif., and Anh Thai Tran ’19 of Hanoi, Vietnam.

The two students are among several dozen first-year students for whom Trauceniek is a Student Support Advisor.

The SSAs will be a single point of contact in the Student Affairs office throughout a student’s four years, providing continuity, personal support, and supplemental academic advising.

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Sept. 2, 11:17 a.m.

Professor of Psychology Todd Kahan (right) speaks with first-year students about his department’s offerings during an academic fair.

A recent recipient of the prestigious James McKeen Cattell Fund Fellowship, granted to only two to four researchers annually, most affiliated with major research universities, Kahan studies how people process visual information and how cultural differences affect those processes.

Let’s put a fine point on this: a world-class researcher, department chair, meeting personally with first-year students the week before classes start.

(Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College)

Sept. 2, 1:18 p.m.

While the first-years were meeting new friends, some old friends were seeing each other after a long time apart.

Here, Alex Eliopoulos ’16 (left) of Akron, Ohio, and Julia Rice ’16 of Providence, R.I., greet each other in front of Commons. They last saw each other in December 2014, after which each spent a semester abroad, Eliopoulos in Italy, Rice in Spain.

“It’s great to be back,” said Eliopoulos. “It’s so welcoming. It feels just like home.”

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Sept. 2, 2:08 p.m.

First-year students reach for pastries at Grant’s Bakery, which has been satisfying the campus sweet tooth since 1956.

Led by OWLs, the students were touring local bakeries, and subsequent stops included the Cupcakery on Lisbon Street and the Italian Bakery on Bartlett Street.

Digging in for samples here are Becca Havian of Piedmont, Calif.; Sara Hollenberg of Stamford, Conn.; Amanda Sobotka of York, Maine; Anissa Garza of Waukegan, Ill., Jon Sheehan of Tyngsborough, Mass.; and Ross Ackerman of Houston.

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Sept. 2, 4:10 p.m.

Having gotten grounded in �ֲ���ý academics and residence life, the first-years were ready to head off campus for some fun.

Here, the first-years gather at the Keigwin Amphitheater to meet their AESOP (Annual Entering Student Outdoor Program) trip leaders, who give a big �ֲ���ý hello, en masse, to the first-years.

(Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College)

Sept. 3, 8:53 a.m.

On Wednesday morning, the various AESOP trips packed up and headed out on their four-day excursions.

Connor Gray ’18 of Whitefish, Mont., co-leader a trip to trip to Maine’s Mooselookmeguntic Lake and the western foothills, takes his materials from AESOP coordinators Natalie Silver ’16 of Bennington, Vt., and Sasha Lennon ’16 of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, who found this unconventional but apparently comfortable way to hand out materials to the students leaders of this year’s 54 trips.

(Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College)

Sept. 3, 4:47 p.m.

While the rest of the first-year students took part in AESOP trips, first-year varsity athletes joined their teammates and got down to business on campus.

Linebackers Sam Freeman ’16 (left) of Newton, Mass., and Mark Upton ’17 of Winthrop, Mass., go through a drill with assistant coach Chris Kempton.

(Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College)

Sept. 4, 11:06 a.m.

Morgan Lewis ’19 of Nederland, Colo., cleans the windows of the swimming pool at the YWCA near campus during his AESOP service trip in Lewiston, led by Bridget Feldmann ’16 of Potomac, Md., and Will Bryer ’16 of Richboro, Pa.

Students spent part of this morning doing cleanup, weeding, and painting, along with window washing, at the Y on East Avenue in Lewiston.

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Sept. 4, 9:13 p.m.

Two of this year’s AESOP trips headed to Mount Blue State Park, and this long-exposure photo shows students playing light-up frisbee while others hang out around the campfire.

Capturing the stars depends on a very dark sky, and in Maine still has some of the darkest night skies in the country. You don’t have to go far to find them: Mount Blue is just over an hour from campus.

(Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College)

Sept. 5, 8:15 a.m.

Dabbed with paint as a way to create some art ‘n’ AESOP identity, trip co-leader Calvin Reedy ’17 of Wilton, Conn., paints co-leader Erin Montanez ’16 of Fairfield, Conn., after they arrive at the famed artists’ colony of Monhegan Island.

During their day on the island, the group visited art galleries and studios, hiked the island, and created their own art.

“I love the openness of the water and the stillness of the coast,” said Montanez, an art and visual culture major. “It’s spiritually moving.”

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Sept. 5, 9:38 a.m.

Paloma Baille ’19 of Los Angeles sits and sketches upon a high spot on Monhegan Island.

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Sept. 5, 11:35 a.m.

Mickai Mercer ’19 of Philadelphia looks at framed artwork at Monhegan Island’s Lupine Gallery.

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Sept. 5, 12:32 p.m.

Back with the Mount Blue crew, AESOP co-leader Ryan Chinn ’18 (left) of Wilmington, Del., and William Sanders ’19 of Arlington, Mass., sit on a boulder on Tumbledown Pond, an alpine pond just below the summit of Tumbledown Mountain.

(Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College)

Sept. 8, 9:40 a.m.

Bethel Kifle ’14 and Deepsing Syangtan ’18 of Kathmandu, Nepal, arrive at the corner of Lisbon and Main streets as they give first-year students a tour of downtown Lewiston-Auburn.

The first-year tours, organized by the Harward Center for Community Partnerships, were led by students and staff who have done significant volunteer work in the local community.

Kifle works with the Harward Center and Student Affairs as an AmeriCorps VISTA Civic Leadership Post-Baccalaureate Fellow, and Syangtan is an Orientation Week Leader.

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Sept. 8, 9:30 a.m.

At brunch in Commons, faculty, staff, and JAs lead members of the Class of 2019 in a discussion of their Common Reading, Danielle Allen’s Our Declaration.

Afterward they attended Convocation and heard Allen deliver the event’s principal address.

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Sept. 8, 10:43 a.m.

After brunch, the 518 members of the Class of 2019 pose for the traditional incoming class photo. Behind them are three class banners. The new class will choose its banner design later in September.

(Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College)

Sept. 8, 10:43 a.m.

Dressed smartly for the occasion, the Class of 2019 lines up on Alumni Walk before processing to the Historic Quad for Convocation.

(Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College)

Sept. 8, 10:57 a.m.

Michael Murray, the Phillips Professor of Economics, prepares to lead the academic procession to Convocation as the new mace bearer, an honor accorded the senior member of the �ֲ���ý faculty.

Murray succeeds Professor Emeritus of Sociology Sawyer Sylvester, who succeeded Professor Emeritus of History James Leamon ’55, who succeeded the late Walter Slovenski, and so on.

“As we stepped off, my first thought was that Sawyer did such a wonderful job,” Murray said. “He is tall and lean, and has such a noble, austere bearing. I’ve said that in giving me the mace they’re turned it over to the leprechaun.”

Some years ago, Murray recalled, the firm tradition, prescribed in the college bylaws, was that faculty marched in the order of rank and seniority: full professors followed by associate professors followed by assistant professors, followed by instructors.

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

When Murray arrived at �ֲ���ý in 1986 as the Phillips Professor, and joined a like-minded group of professors who rebelled against the tradition. “We said that we were not going to pay attention to that rule.” The rebellion succeeded, and today the college bylaws no longer require marching by seniority.

And now, Murray himself is the leader of the academic procession. “The irony of having a mace bearer who undermined one of the key parts of this academic ritual is not lost on me!”

Sept. 8, 10:59 a.m.

President Spencer and Convocation speaker Danielle Allen, author of Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality, watch faculty arrive for Convocation in front of Coram Library.

In her greeting, Spencer spoke about the relationship between the words we use and the community we wish to create.

“In order to make change in the world — or to shape this campus community based on a set of principles and values that we forge together and consciously embrace — words are just the starting point. They must be backed up with actions, and these actions eventually need to become habits.”

Allen told the audience that the Declaration of Independence is fundamentally “about people diagnosing what afflicts them, prescribing remedies, and justifying those remedies.”

And because a liberal arts education emphasizes substantive discussion, reasoning, and argument, it gives students the ability to justify their paths in life, to come “into their full as agents, actors in the world, choosers of their own courses.”

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Sept. 8, 11:53 a.m.

During the recessional, Norberto Diaz ’16 of Carson, Calif., who is president of the �ֲ���ý Student Government, talks with, from left, Danielle Allen, multifaith chaplain Brittany Longsdorf and President Spencer.

One of the Convocation speakers, Diaz told the new students that “�ֲ���ý is truly unlike any other community you have been part of.”

He added, “�ֲ���ý is in a time where the voice of the students can have a tremendous impact. I implore you to join, to commit, and to lead. Your voice — our voice — is one with tremendous weight, and you have the ability to make �ֲ���ý even better for those who come after you.”

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Sept. 8, 12:19 p.m.

Faculty, staff, and students take turns pouring cups of water, drawn from Lake Andrews, onto the roots of a new tree on the Historic Quad.

The annual ceremony, held after Convocation and led by multifaith chaplain Brittany Longsdorf, pays tribute to �ֲ���ý faculty and staff who have died during the past year.

This year’s tree, an autumn blaze maple, was planted in memory of Lucia A. Binette, Alexis A. Caron, Patricia I. Draper, Ronald R. Fazio, Frank Glazer, Laurette M. Jalbert, Neville J. Knowles, Susan Michel, Phyllis I. Mixer, Virginia A. Souza, Katharine F. Stevens, Carole Anne Taylor, Gordon W. Wilcox, and Chelsey Williamson.

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Sept. 9, 12:51 p.m.

In Carnegie Science Hall, Assistant Professor of Biology Brett Huggett talks with, from left, Julia Fisher ’16 of Philadelphia, Rebecca Leloudis ’16 of Chapel Hill, N.C., and Emma Dunn ’17 of Bellevue, Wash., following their first class session of the semester.

Involving extensive fieldwork, the course is “Dendrology and the Natural History of Trees,” and Huggett will teach his students about the anatomy, functioning, taxonomy, biology, and uses of trees.

Huggett and his students plan to create a website of the various tree species on the �ֲ���ý campus.

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Sept. 9, 6:53 p.m.

Proud and hopeful, members of the field hockey team hold hands prior to introductions for their first game, vs. Husson University.

From left: Danielle Pierce ’16 of Parsonsfield, Maine, Caroline Gettens ’18 of Concord, N.H., Taylor Lough ’19 of Little Compton, R.I., Lauren Foster ’18 of Pawling, N.Y., Alyssa Alexander ’18 of Millstone Township, N.J., and Samantha Reiss ’18 of New Haven, Vt.,

At game’s end, the two teams were still unbeaten and untied. How? With �ֲ���ý up 4-0, the game was suspended due to lightning, to be resumed another time.

And that’s how we see the new �ֲ���ý year. No results yet, but reasons to feel confident!

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

The 518 members of the Class of 2019 began arriving early on Aug. 31’s Opening Day, and all sorts of gerunds followed them through the day and into the night.

Signing in. Unpacking. Setting up. Lunching. Listening. Leaving (crying). Playing.

After Opening Day, the first-year students had a couple days of Orientation on campus, including the initial session of their First-Year Seminars, and are now on various AESOP outdoor trips around the state or with their varsity sports teams. Next week is Convocation, marking the official start of the new year, on Sept. 8 and the start of classes the next day.

But before we get ahead of ourselves here are some Opening Day happenings.

Reporting by Doug Hubley and Jay Burns.

7:08 a.m. — Ready and waiting

Deepsing Syangtan ’18 of Kathmandu, Nepal, a 2015 OWL, waits on Campus Avenue to greet arriving first-year students and family members.

Who are OWLs? They’re Orientation Week Leaders, students trained to provide on-the-spot support, advice, and guidance during Orientation.

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

7:23 a.m. — Simplicity itself

Daniel Fichmann ’19 of New York City gets out of the family vehicle as parents Jose and Barbara drop him off at Commons on Central Avenue.

Students entered Commons for registration set up along the MacNaughton Arcade, where four tables were staffed by folks from various departments including Dining Services and Human Resources.

Taking less than a minute per student, the check-in was simplicity itself: what’s your name, please sign and date here, and here’s your room key and key access card. Can you find your dorm? Do you need a map? Any questions? Welcome to �ֲ���ý!

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

7:37 a.m. — And coffee

Alexia Sahue ’19 of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, registers in Commons with �ֲ���ý staff member Sarah Bernard ’75, as a new friend, Leslie-Anne Bernard ’19 of Kingston, Jamaica, looks on.

There were no long lines at the ID table this year — students were invited to send their own ID photo ahead of time, rather than wait to be photographed.

“It’s been really smooth,” said Ree Russell, a member of the Student Affairs staff. “Everyone seems happy. The parents all want to know where they can get coffee. They ask about IT support, where their students’ residences are — and coffee.”

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

8:42 a.m. — Crewing interest

Members of the college staff, the “�ֲ���ý Welcome Crew,” volunteered to greet arriving families and help with registration.

The crew included Curt Lyford ’04, director of the Parents Fund. He helped a student from South Korea find Ladd Library. “She got in at 9 o’clock last night. She was excited, but trying to stay awake!”

“It’s hard not to be excited” about the way things were going, he added. Students and families were “anxious, but in a good mood” as they dropped off their students on Central Avenue.

By 10:05 a.m., 430 students had checked in.

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

9 a.m. — Twice goodbye

A mother takes a photo of her daughter and roommates outside of Smith Hall.

One of the first-year moms feeling a double dose of letting go was Heidi Statile, the mother of Eliza Statile ’19 of Ipswich, Mass. The family had just seen Eliza’s twin brother off to the Massachusetts Maritime Academy and now they were handing Eliza off to �ֲ���ý: instant empty nest.

“They’re both going to be gone,” said Heidi, standing outside of Smith Hall near the heap of Eliza’s stuff that had filled a small truck. “I’m a mess.”

But, she added, “�ֲ���ý is the right place for her to be. I’m extremely impressed with �ֲ���ý. I feel she’s going to be taken care of.”

The twins are the family’s first generation to attend college.

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

9:06 a.m. — Settling in before setting out

Alex Brown ’17 of Hanover, N.H., and Monata Song ’17 of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., help new students move their gear into Smith Hall.

The pair are co-leaders of an AESOP trip, one of dozens of outdoor excursions around Maine for incoming students. On Thursday, all the trips departed from campus with their charges. Brown and Song headed to Rangeley, planning to hike a section of the Appalachian Trail and canoe Rangeley Lake.

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

9:30 a.m. — Taking flights

Marcus Delpeche ’17 of Wilmington, Del., helps get the load up four flights of stairs. Delpeche is a Resident Coordinator in John Bertram Hall who pitched in at Parker on Opening Day.

RCs like Delpeche are liaisons between students and various administrative offices, keeping fellow students up to date on campus issues, policies, and events.

(Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College)

9:33 a.m. — Interior angles

Sometimes the first act of connection and community occurs like this. Roommates Catie Spaulding ’19 (left) of Huntingtown, Md., and Katie Hughes ’19 of Pittsfield, Maine, discuss interior design ideas in their residence at Parker Hall.

(Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College)

10:35 a.m. — OWLs and empty nests

OWLs, AESOP leaders, and junior advisors — students who live among first-year students and give them advice, information, and support as they learn about college life — form a bucket brigade outside of Smith Hall, swiftly emptying a tightly packed minivan.

“All your stuff is already in the dorm,” one mother told her student as he arrived at his residence hall after checking in at Commons.

Outside Smith, parents Jennifer Pline and her husband, Hans Oettgen, of Wellesley, Mass., were seeing off their daughter, Karly Oettgen ’19.

Pline was having an “awesome” day, she said. Check-in and moving in were “very well-organized.” There were so many people around to help, she laughed, “I never lifted anything heavy!”

Hans said he likes �ֲ���ý’ small scale and its welcoming atmosphere. “Everyone is friendly.”

He added, “We’re about to become an empty nest in six hours.”

(Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College)

10:49 a.m. — Fairing well

Anjali Thomke ’19 of Lexington, Mass., and her parents Stefan and Savita take in the Resource Fair in Perry Atrium of Pettengill Hall, a one-stop spot to talk with various campus offices and programs.

Here, the Thomkes speak with Darlene Zupancic of Dining Services about the college’s meal plan.

Dining Services purchases directly from 32 local Maine suppliers and from another 50 local providers through their distributors, and also uses products from the campus garden. These sources total about a third of the college’s food purchases.

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

10:51 a.m. — Banner year

Lisa Legowski hangs a newly purchased �ֲ���ý banner for her son, Justin Legowski ’19, of Farmington, Conn., while Justin’s roommate, Eli Nixon ’19 of Eliot, Maine, decorates his section of the suite.

(Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College)

10:53 a.m. — In the swim

As they check out the offerings at the Resource Fair in Perry Atrium of Pettengill Hall, Daniel Flores ’19 (left) of Los Angeles and Shangwei Deng ’19 of Portland, Maine, laugh as they talk about the opportunity to take a swimming class to meet the college’s physical education credit.

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

11:18 a.m.

Josh McIntosh, dean of students and vice president for student affairs, talks with a new �ֲ���ý family outside Pettengill Hall.

He and his Student Affairs team made some changes to Opening Day and Orientation this year, specifically organizing the same-day arrival of all students. In prior years, new students arrived in three waves: those going on AESOP trips, then fall varsity athletes, then the balance of the class.

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

The new setup also has the incoming students spending three days together on campus before leaving for trips, together and with faculty and staff.

“This emphasizes academic life first,” McIntosh said. “We want to impart a sense of community and connection among new students together, as they interact with and are led in conversation by upper-class students and by faculty and staff.

“Mixed in, of course, is fun — community, connection, and social opportunities.”

11:45 a.m. — In step

Crystal Williams (left) talks with first-year students and their families outside Roger Williams Hall during the Opening Day barbecue. Williams is associate vice president, chief diversity officer, and professor of English.

(Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College)

11:54 a.m. — Seating for three

Jake Atwood ’19 of Natick, Mass. has lunch with parents Beth Wald and John Atwood during the  family barbecue on the Ladd Library Quad.

The barbecue had four serving tables, each with eight chafing dishes, capable of serving up to 2,000 people, reported Dining Services director Cheryl Lacey. In the end, the college served 340 pounds of pulled chicken, 400 pounds of pulled pork, and 100 pounds of barbecue tofu.

(Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College)

12:40 p.m. — First look

President Spencer talks with new students and families at a lunch and panel discussion for first-generation-to-college students and families in Commons. The session kicks off a new college program, Bobcat First!, that supports first-generation students in their first year at �ֲ���ý.

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

1:43 p.m. — International session

Irene Mapfunde ’19 of Harare, Zimbabwe, listens to a question during a panel session for international students and their parents led by James Reese, associate dean for international student programs.

(Phyllis Graber/�ֲ���ý College)

1:53 p.m. — Sidewalk walk

Afua Sekyere ’19 of Tampa, Fla., and Accra, Ghana, walks outside of Commons with her family. From left, father Kofi Sekyere ’83, brother Papa Sekyere, and mother Nana Sekyere. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

2:19 p.m. — Bobcats from the grizzly bear state

Andy and Kate Barrengos, parents of Isa Barrengos ’19 of Mill Valley, Calif., express their pride as �ֲ���ý parents before a panel discussion on academic and student life in the Gray Athletic Building.

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

2:32 p.m. — Laugh and life

Faculty member Kirk Read gets a laugh from fellow panelists — from left, Crystal Williams, Erin Foster Zsiga, and Darby Ray — as he talks about the popularity of First-Year Seminars with the word “Life” in their titles.

There’s “Well-being and the Good Life” (philosophy), “Searching for the Good Life” (psychology), and “The Sporting Life” (psychology).

Read, who is an associate dean of the faculty and a professor of French and francophone studies, told the parents that the seminars are not intended as a “gateways to a major,” but rather as a kind of hors d’oeuvre to excite the intellectual palate.

“Your student will be taking a writing-intensive course with a professor who is teaching a topic that he or she is passionate about,” he said.

Williams is associate vice president and chief diversity officer and professor of English; Foster Zsiga is associate dean of students for residence life and health education; and Ray is director of the Harward Center for Community Partnerships.

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

3:34 p.m. — Growing up

Halsey Platt ’88 and son Gordon ’19 used Opening Day to reprise a family photo taken 18 years ago on Garcelon Field during Back to �ֲ���ý. Joining the fun were his mom, Julie Sutherland Platt ’88, and younger brother, Alex.

For all their experience with �ֲ���ý, being able to have 15 minutes of family fun on a day of big change was good for the Platt family, Halsey said. “Gordon was clearly happy and comfortable for the rest of the day.”

(left: Marc Glass ’88/�ֲ���ý College; right, Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

5 p.m. — Last words

The traditional finale of Opening Day is President Spencer’s greeting to all the new students and families.

In the college rosters it might be just another incoming class, but there are 518 new relationships with �ֲ���ý just starting.

Sam Holmes ’19 of Middlebury, Vt., is the grandson of the late Joseph Welch ’57, who had told Sam about �ֲ���ý in glowing terms. “�ֲ���ý meant the world to him,” Sam said.

Eric Jordan ’19 of Stratham, N.H., “was excited but a little nervous. It’s my first time on my own.” During his college hunt, Jordan was impressed by �ֲ���ý’ size, its academic reputation and by how “super-friendly” everyone was. But he was also struck by an “awesome” admission interview, which was the very first interview of his search.

Emily Bowen ’19 of Pasadena, Calif., was “really nervous.” She’d been texting her roommates all summer but was still worked up at the thought of meeting them and so many other new people at �ֲ���ý. “I’m nervous, but extremely excited,” she added.

“It’s really beautiful here. I fell in love with it when I saw it.”

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

5:08 p.m. — Truth and dare

In her remarks, Spencer offered a charge to the new students.

“The willingness of each of you to take personal and intellectual risks is crucial to our sustaining a strong and vibrant community on campus,” she said.

“Unless you dare to step outside your armored-up ways of being and open yourself to your own uncharted inner terrain, you will miss the chance to create deep and authentic connections with others.”

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

5:17 p.m. — Treat your parents well

As parents say their goodbyes following President Spencer’s remarks, Emily Gibson ’19 of Poland, Maine, hugs her mother, Kathy, as father, Darryl and brother Hunter stand by.

In sharing her own feelings when she left her children at college, Spencer said that parents have that special “X-ray vision” to “look at our accomplished, poised, and loving children and see straight through to the fears and frailties that we know are there….

“So, kids, be nice to your parents today. It’s hard to let you go. And parents, do your best to let go anyway, because letting go is a huge part of what college is all about.”

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

5:21 p.m. — Different path

President Spencer talks with David DeLuzuriaga ’19 of London and his father, Luis, after her welcome address.

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Each new student, she told the incoming class, “has a different path that has brought you here — a different set of hopes, doubts, fears, passions, and interests encased within those calm and self-possessed exteriors.

“It’s up to you to seize this opportunity.”

“So I’d like you now to consider doing something that is really hard. I would like you to risk letting go, to stop holding fast to the things that got you here….Think of these next four years as a time of letting go, a time to step back and broaden the frame.

“A residential liberal arts education — more than almost any kind of experience you will have — gives you the opportunity to explore, to try new things, to take risks. But it’s up to you to seize this opportunity.”

5:22 p.m. — Their best selves

Lisa Petrini Bell ’86 of Dover, Mass., takes a farewell family selfie with, from left, daughter Olivia Bell ’19, husband Robert, and daughters Carley and Emily.

(Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College)

5:31 p.m. — Generations of history

Angela Kemfack ’19 of Houston poses with her grandmother, Heleine Dessiji, and mother, Line Kemfack, in front of the college seal, hung from Coram Library during ceremonial college events.

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

6:33 p.m. — Things in Commons

For their first few meals in Commons, first-year students dine with their JAs. It’s a nice time to get the feel of Commons before school begins.

(Josh Kuckens/�ֲ���ý College)

8:13 p.m. — Time to shoes

The student OWLs revive a historic Orientation tradition of the shoe toss. Students throw a shoe into a pile, then everyone grabs one and finds its owner. Good-natured mayhem ensued, followed by a game of Capture the Flag.

https://youtu.be/H430SjliisI

8:26 p.m. — Night OWLs

What do Bobcats OWLs do at night? Cavort!

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

10:36 p.m. — Game

Later, students headed to Chase Hall Lounge for snacks and games, including foosball. From left, Jillian Sheltra ’19 of Biddeford, Maine, Kayleigh McLean ’19 of Bridgetown, Barbados, Elizabeth Pumiglia ’19 of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., Nicole Friedman ’19 of Mill Valley, Calif., and Daniel Fichmann ’19 of New York City.

(Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

When the 518 students in the Class of 2019 arrive en masse on Monday, Aug. 31, for move-in day, they’ll have a few hours to unpack, get photo IDs and keys, meet their roommates, and hit the bookstore.

A campus barbecue for new students and their families will be a midday treat on Opening Day, Monday, Aug. 31. This was the scene in 2014. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Soon after Opening Day, though, the journey to becoming a bona fide �ֲ���ý College student begins with Orientation, a heady, weeklong mix of conversations, activities, and academic programming, and concludes with Convocation on Sept. 8 and the start of classes the next day.

In addition to introducing new students to the people, places, and programs at �ֲ���ý, Orientation also aims to arm first-years with the knowledge and skills necessary for a successful and safe transition from high school grad to fully independent college student.

An inclusive start, right from the start

“Our focus is on creating a sense of community and connection among the first-year students,” said Josh McIntosh, the college’s vice president for student affairs and dean of students. “We’re creating opportunities to interact and talk with them about topics that are relevant to succeeding as a �ֲ���ý College student.”

Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students Josh McIntosh (left) talks with parent John Goldberg during last year’s Orientation. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

For longtime observers of Opening Day at �ֲ���ý, this year’s version has a few enhancements designed to support that mission-driven idea of community and connection.

This year, all new students and families will arrive on a single day, rather than the past years’ format that saw three arrivals, of students going on multi-day, outdoor AESOP trips; students playing varsity sports; and then the balance of the class.

The class will spend time together on campus before embarking on their student-led trips in Maine, known as AESOP.

“This is a much more inclusive schedule,” McIntosh says.

“And instead of the weekend arrivals of the past, having the arrival day on a Monday, when the campus is really lit up with faculty and staff and student Orientation leaders, will be a great experience for us all.”

Class of 2019 by the numbers

The Class of 2019 was selected from a record-setting pool: 5,636 applicants, a 12 percent increase over the previous year.

�ֲ���ý accepted just 22 percent of those who applied — the strongest rate of selectivity yet. Forty-one percent of accepted students chose to enroll, among the strongest “yield” rates as well, according to Johanna Seltzer ’03, interim director of admission.

Some numbers:

• The new students come from 38 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.
• They are citizens of 43 other countries.
• 12 percent are the first in their families to go to college.
• 22 percent are U.S. students of color.
• 19 percent of the class comes from burgeoning regions in the U.S., the Southeast, West, and Southwest. In fact, California was the college’s third-largest producer of applicants for this class.

Behind the numbers, of course, are real people — young adults with a variety of aspirations, skills, and talents.

The Class of 2019 includes New England’s third-ranked fiddler, a 2014 Olympic qualifier in alpine skiing, and a patent holder for a running shoe. A member of Pakistan’s under-19 national cricket team and the top-ranked biology student in Rwanda are also among this year’s first-years, as is a nationally recognized ceramicist.

Orientation and the Common Reading

The work of helping this diverse group of students blend into a cohesive class has already begun with this year’s Common Reading, Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality, by Danielle Allen.

Both book and author have a central role in Orientation: the book as the Common Reading and the author as the featured speaker at Convocation, where she will address the academic community on the topic of creating a community with shared values and expectations.

A close, philosophical reading of the Declaration of Independence, Allen’s book reveals how the concept of equality is the underpinning of that foundational document, and how the Declaration serves, in effect, as a blueprint for building a democratic society based on its shared principles and values.

During Orientation, the work of joining and creating community begins right off the bat. Junior Advisors — upperclass students trained as a resident peer advisers to groups of up to 20 first-years in their residences — are a constant presence in the lives of the new �ֲ���ý students. Backing them up and supporting all students is McIntosh’s staff in Student Affairs.

Junior Advisors, upperclass students who serve as trained resident peers to support groups of up to 20 first-years in their residences, are a constant presence for new students. In this photo from 2014, Robert Ibarra ’17, a Junior Advisor from Los Angeles, speaks with his first-year students in a lounge in their residence, Parker Hall. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

“The Junior Advisors are the ones taking their first-year students to educational events and programs,” explains McIntosh, “And, in many cases, they are leading these conversations, too, and bringing various topics and issues back to their residential communities.”

As students discuss Allen’s book in their First-Year Centers, they will talk about how they want to live and how they want to live together in the �ֲ���ý community, says Erin Foster Zsiga, the college’s associate dean of students for residence life and health education.

“How do they choose to do that?” Foster Zsiga said. “How are these values manifested in their centers and their residential community?”

This year, every First-Year Center will create its own declaration, she says.

A range of �ֲ���ý people have joined the conversation about the Class of 2019’s Common Reading, Our Declaration. President Spencer responds to Allen’s idea that the Declaration is about the “co-creation of a shared world.”

Answering those sorts of questions involves introspection, accommodating the points of view of others, and training sessions, many of which will occur during Orientation, as well as throughout the first semester.

For example, all first-year students will receive training in the Green Dot Bystander Intervention Program, which teaches students how to intervene in high-risk situations. The teachings are applicable to everything from physical or sexual violence, to inappropriate language, to dorm damage and more.

Orientation week also has several panel and group

After check-in on Opening Day begins the journey of becoming a bona fide �ֲ���ý student. In this image from 2014, Joakim Cohen ’18 of San Francisco arrives on campus with his mom and dad, Herve Cohen and Guetty Felin. (Sarah Crosby/�ֲ���ý College)

discussions to help students plan their academic experience, explore Lewiston and Auburn, and learn more about diversity and inclusion and student life at �ֲ���ý.

For the first time, every student (except varsity athletes, who begin practices during the week) will partake in an AESOP trip.

This year, more than 50 AESOP trips offer a widened variety of adventures, voyages, and excursions throughout New England, such as a Habitat for Humanity project, community service opportunities in Lewiston-Auburn, and an art experience on Monhegan Island.

Upperclassmen arrive on Sept. 6, and the academic year will officially kick off on Sept. 8 with Convocation.

�ֲ���ý photographers Sarah Crosby and Phyllis Graber Jensen followed the Class of 2018 from its arrival on Aug. 25 through the first week of classes.

Here are 24 moments as 498 new students got to know �ֲ���ý, and �ֲ���ý got to know them.

Monday, Aug. 25, 8:37 a.m.

The markers on the road to becoming an official �ֲ���ý student include getting accepted (of course), making your deposit and showing up on campus. For Andrew Freeman ’18 of Newton, Mass., the key moment came as he got his �ֲ���ý ID picture taken in Chase Hall Lounge. “Now it’s official!” he declared. Andrew’s parents are Scott ’85 and Kristine Falvey Freeman ’86. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Monday, Aug. 25, 11:36 a.m.

Jennifer Pardo displays two boxes of “mom-approved Twinkies” as her son James ’18 registers complete approval of the gift from an aunt. “I might wait until graduation to eat them,” says James, referring to the pastry’s reputed endless shelf life. Fun fact: The shelf life of a Twinkie is 45 days. The Pardo family is from South Salem, N.Y. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Monday, Aug. 25, 11:57 a.m.

In 1986, Miss Manners observed that as fewer people made their beds each morning, we’ve lost “pleasant, orderly, civilized living.” Here, Mark Blau strikes a blow for civilization (and helps his son Adam ’18 feel loved and comforted) by making Adam’s bed in his 280 College Street room. While these two Blaus were at �ֲ���ý, Adam’s mom and brother were moving in at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. The family is from Pacific Palisades, Calif. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Monday, Aug. 25, 12:23 p.m.

Joakim Cohen ’18 of San Francisco arrives on campus with his mom and dad, Herve Cohen and Guetty Felin. His dad said the day was about seeing Joakim “not only discovering his new environment with excitement but at the same time meeting new, friendly students and engaging with them…and, with some, thinking about creating a band together — all in one day. That was really awesome to see and to feel!” (Sarah Crosby/�ֲ���ý College)

Monday, Aug. 25, 2:54 p.m.

Alex Brown ’17 of Hanover, N.H., takes the high end as he helps James Laughlin ’18 of Steamboat Springs, Colo., carry a couch into Smith Hall. So how much did it cost to haul a couch from Colorado to Maine? Nada, explains James’ mom, Linda Laughlin, because “we found it on the side of the road in Freeport, and I said ‘dorm couch!'” (Sarah Crosby/�ֲ���ý College)

Monday, Aug. 25, 3:10 p.m.

Outside their Smith Hall residence, roomies Katherine Hartnett ’18 (left) of St. Paul, Minn., and Amelia Wilhelm ’18 of Charlotte, N.C., meet face to face for the first time. “I knew what she looked like from Facebook,” Hartnett says, “but here she is, finally, which is cool!” (Sarah Crosby/�ֲ���ý College)

Tuesday, Aug. 26, 8:12 a.m.

Keep this photo in mind as you scroll through the next few. This is a group of first-years departing Chase Hall for their AESOP preorientation trip. They look tentative? You bet. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2:35 p.m.

You know that old parenting tip that says car rides are perfect for connecting with your kid because eye contact is limited and a destination is in sight? Maybe the same goes for canoe trips. Here, Laura Rand ’18 of Barrington, R.I., and Christopher Koziel ’18 of Newton, Mass., float under Westons Bridge in Fryeburg, Maine, during their AESOP canoe trip. As another first-year noted as she chatted with her own boat-mate, “there’s bonding happening here.” (Sarah Crosby/�ֲ���ý College)

Tuesday, Aug. 26, 4:14 p.m.

Meanwhile, back on campus, Frank Williams ’18 of Brookline, Mass., goes through a speed test on the opening day of football training. The drills help coaches know their players’ speed and strength benchmarks, but head coach Mark Harriman says he’d do the drills regardless of the data. “Football teams have a lot of moving parts,” he says. During most practices, the receivers, defensive backs, running backs, etc., work out separately from one another. “This brings us all together. It’s a rare time, outside game day, when we’re focused on the same thing as a team.” (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Wednesday, Aug. 27, 11:17 a.m.

It’s Day 2 of the preorientation trips, and we’re at Popham Beach in Phippsburg, Maine. “If you’re going to take anything seriously, it might as well be your own happiness.” So said Joseph Marques ’15 of Lexington, Mass., one of the leaders of the AESOP yoga and meditation trip to Popham. Marques, wearing the blue shorts in the photograph, is president of the �ֲ���ý Dharma Society. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Thursday, Aug. 28, 11:02 a.m.

On Day 3 of the outdoor trips, co-leader Kai Payne ’15 (left) of Jamaica, N.Y., and Rob Flynn ’18 of Bedford, N.H., work on a home-building project in Sedgwick, Maine, in partnership with the Hancock County Habitat for Humanity. Making personal connections while contributing to a community is “priceless,” said Payne, “not only to me but to these new students.” (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Thursday, Aug. 28, 1:03 p.m.

We like photos of climbing because they free us from having to invent tortured metaphors for how first-years feel during their first days on campus when nothing feels natural or easy. In other words, they might feel like Fredrick Cheng ’18 of San Leandro, Calif., as he climbs a cliff face during the AESOP trip to Rumney Rocks Climbing Area. (Sarah Crosby/�ֲ���ý College)

Friday, Aug. 29, 1:19 p.m.

Remember that photo from before, of the first-years leaving for their outdoor trip somewhat gloomily and all in single file? Well, here’s what an AESOP group looks like upon returning to campus. Vive la �徱�ڴ�é����Գ���! (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Saturday, Aug. 30, 9:03 a.m.

Back on campus for student and parent Orientation, parents get a final chance to check in, check on and check up on their children. Here, Georganne Greene (left) and Andrea Kandel talk with their daughter, Annie Kandel ’18, of Amherst, Mass. “From the first minute Annie got to campus, everything felt right for her. After her admission tour, she was dancing across the Quad,” said Greene. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Saturday, Aug. 30, 9:41 a.m.

India Lissak ’18 of San Francisco talks with President Spencer, joined by her roommate, Katherine Cook ’18 of South Burlington, Vt., and Katherine’s parents, Kim and Kevin Cook. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Saturday, Aug. 30, 4:52 p.m.

Now it’s late afternoon, minutes before parents depart from campus. Josh McIntosh, dean of students and vice president for student affairs, talks with Ben Roop ’18 of Littleton, Mass., and his father, Bill Roop, on Orientation Day. Ben’s older brother, Daniel, graduated in 2010 with a geology major and is now an environmental engineer. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Saturday, Aug. 30, 4:53 p.m.

James Reese, associate dean of students, poses with a few of the Willseys who have trodden the �ֲ���ý earth. At far right is Daniel ’18, and he’s joined by dad David ’81, younger brother Mitchell and mom Lisa. Daniel’s uncles are Robert Willsey ’79 and Jim Willsey ’89, and his grandparents are Lynn Willsey ’54 and Beverly Hayne Willsey ’55. Reese’s friendship with the Willsey brothers goes back to their student days. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Sunday, Aug. 31, 7:21 p.m.

One chapel, eight banners of the world’s faith traditions and 498 students from 25 countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, China, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, England, Germany, Greece, India, Kenya, Nepal, Netherlands, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, Romania, Rwanda, Swaziland, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, United Kingdom, United States and Vietnam. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Saturday, Aug. 30, 8:23 p.m.

First-year students in Parker Hall meet with their junior adviser, Robert Ibarra ’17, left, of Los Angeles. After a week of wall-to-wall training sessions with other JAs and residence coordinators, learning best practices for supporting students in their residences, it was time to put it all into action. Here, Ibarra follows up with his students about the class-wide gathering they just attended on alcohol awareness, drawing them out while also giving practical information, including emergency phone numbers to enter on their cell phones. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Tuesday, Sept. 2, 11:07 a.m.

Yes, the Class of 1931 Clock is giving the correct time to members of the Class of 2018 as they march to Convocation for the opening of the new academic year. This year, the event was in the morning instead of late afternoon. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Tuesday, Sept. 2, 11:37 a.m.

We featured a similar photo last year, of a student taking notes during the Convocation address, so it’s not unusual that first-years are game to engage. She’s taking notes on Dean of the Faculty Matt Auer’s address. “If you value discovery,” he said and she noted, “it’s a great time to be at �ֲ���ý, or as we say, ‘It’s a great day to be a Bobcat,’ because your own Age of Discovery is likely to be more consequential and fulfilling than the typical collegiate experience of just a few decades ago.” (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

Tuesday, Sept. 2, 11:58 p.m.

Pride in his eye, Professor Emeritus of History Jim Leamon ’55 greets his grandson Nathaniel Stephenson ’18 of Ellsworth, Maine, during the Convocation recessional. “How do I feel about my new identity as a �ֲ���ý grandparent?” Leamon asks rhetorically. “I have a deep sense of pleasure and pride in Nate as a student at �ֲ���ý. His presence at �ֲ���ý also creates in me a renewed sense of identity with the college…and of growing older.” Nathaniel’s maternal grandmother is Silver Moore-Leamon ’55. (Sarah Crosby/�ֲ���ý College)

Tuesday, Sept. 2, 3:38 p.m.

New to Orientation in 2014 was an ambitious program giving every first-year student a walking tour of downtown Lewiston. Led by Darby Ray and colleagues from the Harward Center for Community Partnerships, each walkabout took about 90 minutes and included just a few dozen students. Over two days, Ray and colleagues led 24 tours. “The walkabouts introduced first-years to their new home, what it has to offer and how they can involve themselves in the community,” said Ray, the center’s director. “The tours let them create their own, first-hand impressions of the places, spaces and opportunities in Lewiston.” (Sarah Crosby/�ֲ���ý College)

Friday, Sept. 5, 11:30 a.m.

They might not tangle with man-eating Laestrygonians or strung-out Lotus-eaters, but students embarking on a college education are starting a kind of odyssey, so let’s end with this photograph. Building classroom camaraderie by donning laurel wreaths, students in the First-Year Seminar “Classical Myths and Contemporary Art” talk about Homer’s Odyssey with their professor, Lisa Maurizio, associate professor of classical and medieval studies. (Sarah Crosby/�ֲ���ý College)

Joining a preorientation AESOP trip this year, photographer Mike Bradley captures the leadership of Sophie Pellegrini ’15 of Potomac, Md., and Bobby Lankin ’15 of West Hartford, Conn., as well as the defining moments when, for six first-year students who’ve never met one another, “it clicks, and everyone feels comfortable.”

Calling themselves the Baxter Bushwackers, the group hiked into Baxter State Park and to the summit of Mount Katahdin during the last week of August.