Peter Casares has been the head coach of the �ֲ���ý swimming and diving program for 13 years.

One of the first things he did after his hiring was offer lessons for schoolchildren in the community. One of his first pupils was 9-year-old of Lewiston. 

“Matt would come in on Sundays two or three times a month to work with me one-on-one,” Casares said. “And when we decided to run a swim camp, I mentioned to him, as a 9-year old, ‘You know, you’re a good swimmer, you learn really well, I can tell this matters to you. So maybe you should look into this swim camp we have.’”

Video by Aaron Morse.

Charest attended that swim camp and immediately fell in love with it.

“Getting to stay overnight really got me interested in �ֲ���ý,” Charest said. “Getting to have food at the dining halls was amazing for me as a kid, getting ice cream all the time.” 

The now-senior captain of the �ֲ���ý men’s swimming and diving team returned every summer, first as a camper and then as a counselor, becoming a Bobcat for life.

Matt Charest as a young boy at the �ֲ���ý swim camp. (Photograph courtesy the Charest family)

“The thing about Matt is that he is an extraordinary leader by example,” said of Augusta, Maine.

“All the way up from being swim campers together and doing morning practices when we were counselors together. And now, seeing him in practice every day, I look over and he’s kicking really hard, and he’s moving, and I’m like, ‘Man, I can’t lose to Charest!’”

Next up for Charest and his team are the NESCAC Championships, Feb. 20–23 in Williamstown, Mass., where his goal is to qualify for NCAAs in March, in a relay event.

Matt Charest ’20 is an “extraordinary leader by example,” says teammate Nathan Berry ’23 of Augusta, Maine. (Brewster Burns for �ֲ���ý College)

Graduation is just a few months away, but the past 13 years have given Charest, who hopes to coach his own swim team one day, a proud connection to �ֲ���ý that few others can claim.

“It will always be a part of me,” Charest said. “And I can’t thank this pool enough and everybody that’s supported me enough. So, it’s bittersweet, but I’m excited for the future.” 

Senior year is a parade of lasting moments: The last Gala. The last class. The last meal in Commons. The last night with friends.

“It’s been a year of a lot of lasts,” says Jonathan Depew ’18 as Senior Week winds down. “And not just for me.”

He’s referring to his mom and dad, Brenda and Mark Depew of Hudson, Ohio. In fall 2008, the first of their four children, Nathaniel ’12, arrived at �ֲ���ý. At two-year intervals, he was followed by Emily ’14, Caroline ’16, and, finally, Jonathan.

Which means that Mark and Brenda have moved to the beat of �ֲ���ý life for nearly a decade.

And it’s been a strong beat: All four Depews have been varsity swimmers at �ֲ���ý, with their parents mighty involved with and supportive of the program. “Mark and Brenda have played a big role for the team since Day 1,” says Peter Casares, head coach of swimming and diving.

This Sunday at Commencement, the Depew chapter at �ֲ���ý draws to close. “I feel what they must feel,” says Jonathan. “It’s hard.”

Jonathan Depew ’18 and his parents, Brenda and Mark, talk with Professor of French and Francophone Studies Kirk Read (right) during Back to �ֲ���ý Weekend in 2017. (Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College)

“It’s been a lot of years of driving and flying to meets, and sitting in the stands and cheering,” says Brenda Depew. “It’s been a lot of moments of being really proud parents, and some moments of helping them pick themselves up when things didn’t go their way.”

Siblings have been coming to the college ever since �ֲ���ý was �ֲ���ý. Of the 473 seniors set to graduate Sunday, about 10 percent have a sibling who’s a current student or alum. (The family with the most �ֲ���ý siblings is the Chace family: Todd ’75, Melinda Chace Bracken ’76, Paul ’77, Jesse ’80, and Melissa Chace Trace ’82.)

The Depew family poses at the 2018 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships. From left, Brenda, Jonathan ’18, Caroline ’16, Emily ’14, Nathaniel ‘12, and Mark. (Larry Radloff for �ֲ���ý College)

The very first �ֲ���ý sibs were the Stockbridge brothers of Mexico, Maine. Winfield graduated in the first �ֲ���ý class, in 1867. He became a preacher and, later, a restaurateur in Washington, D.C.

George Stockbridge graduated in 1872. He was a mathematical engineer, patent attorney, and a published poet.

Indeed, the Stockbridge brothers were siblings, but very different individuals. Brenda Depew can relate to that. Her children share a college and a sport, “but that’s the only real similarity. Each has different interests and passions. And �ֲ���ý supported each of them in their own endeavor.”

“And I fell in love with �ֲ���ý — by myself.”

Jonathan graduates Sunday with a mathematics major and geology minor. He’s also a FAA-certified drone operator and has been a leader in the college’s Big Brothers/Big Sisters “Cats and Cubs” program.

Jonathan Depew ’18. (Theophil Syslo/�ֲ���ý College)

Four years ago, he didn’t want to follow his siblings to �ֲ���ý. So he looked at larger universities, but then decided he’d prefer a smaller college. Despite his wariness about following his sibs’ path to �ֲ���ý, he visited campus, something he’d done many times. “But I hadn’t looked at �ֲ���ý by myself. And I fell in love with �ֲ���ý — by myself.”

The Depews aren’t the only ones affected by the end of an era at �ֲ���ý.  “They’ve supported their kids and all the swimmers,” Casares says. “They came to every meet. They organized parent groups and senior dinners. They’ve made gifts to the program and helped us chase after things that this program needs in order to improve.

In an era when cautionary tales abound about parents, their children, and sports, the Depews have always been part of the solution for Casares, his swimming and diving program, and the �ֲ���ý athletic department overall.

“Our own parents were very involved in our lives but allowed us to grow along the way and become independent people,” says Brenda. “Nathaniel started competitive swimming when he was 5. You look around the pool, and you know you don’t want to be ‘that parent.’ That’s where it starts. The coach is there for a reason.”

“They’ve simply done everything they could, in their roles as parents, to help �ֲ���ý swimmers have a top-class experience,” says Casares. “For me, when you see parents send four kids to your program and to �ֲ���ý, you feel trust. Their confidence inspired me.”

It’s a bittersweet time of endings. But also beginnings.

“Bittersweet” comes up a lot as the Depew parents talk about Jonathan’s approaching graduation. A decade being around �ֲ���ý means that “we’ve been able to make some very good friends among �ֲ���ý parents,” Mark says. “But we may never see them again.”

“You’re seeing your babies leave their undergraduate experience,” says Brenda. “But they’re also doing exactly what you hope they would do — become contributing, resourceful members of their communities. It’s a bittersweet combination.”

Or, as Jonathan dubs the situation, noting that he and his sibs are now spread out from Chicago to Boston, “it’s a mom’s worst nightmare!”

Yep, it’s a bittersweet time of endings. But also beginnings. Jonathan heads to Boston for his first job, with Toast, Inc., a cloud-based restaurant software company. And in August, Nathaniel will get married, to Katelyn Drake ’10.

“There are a lot of unknowns,” says Jonathan, who will be his brother’s best man. “Because we’re all young.”

An economics major and math minor from Marblehead, Mass., senior swimmer Sarah Daher is a numbers person. Here’s a number she never anticipated: 17.

That’s 17 All-America awards over three years, the most any �ֲ���ý athlete has ever achieved in any sport. And she’s done it all with a smile.

“One of the things I’ve learned since freshman year is, you swim your best when you’re having fun,” said Daher a few days before the team headed to Shenandoah, Texas, for the NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships, which are now underway.

“I try to create a very light and fun environment for the people around me and just have them enjoy the atmosphere and the moment.”

That spirit has elevated the entire team, says head coach Peter Casares.

“The biggest impact she’s made is her effect with all of her teammates. She is fantastic at leading lanes, at doing things right, at inspiring others, and supporting and encouraging others. There’s not a meet that goes by where I don’t just sit there and go, ‘Wow, are we lucky.'”