Parents and Families

Last week the Bowdoin Chorus and Mozart Mentors Orchestra performed the world premiere of the oratorio “As It Began to Dawn,” by Bowdoin Music Department staff member Delmar Small.

Small’s oratorio was inspired by the story of the Resurrection and Jesus’s later appearances to the disciples. Conducted by Anthony Antolini ’63 in Studzinski Recital Hall on May 2-3, it featured guest tenor David Myers, Jr. in the role of Jesus. Student and community vocal soloists sang the roles of Mary, the Other Mary, the Angel, Life, Death, Hope and Faith.

“It’s a beautifully crafted work that has roots in music of much earlier times,” said Professor of Music Robert Greenlee. But the piece has a modern vibrancy, Greenlee added, which shone through in last week’s “powerful rendition.”

Howell House, one of eight houses in Bowdoin College’s residential system, recently held a silent auction to benefit a program run by the McKeen Center for the Common Good. By the end of the evening, Howell had raised over $650 for the Common Good Grant program.

The Common Good Grant is both a program designed to give students philanthropic experience as well as a way for the College to give back to the community. “The Common Good Grant is a pool of resources that a student committee parcels out among projects benefiting the greater Brunswick community,” explained Micah Ludwig ’13, co-leader of the Common Good program.

The idea for the auction originated with Howell House Vice President Amy Spens ’15, who organized fundraisers in high school and wanted to bring that experience to Howell.

Read the full story here.

Photo credit: URI

Cheryl Foster ’83, a professor of philosophy and associate director of the Honors Program at University of Rhode Island, has received a Kennedy Center/Stephen Sondheim Inspirational Teacher Award. She was just one of seven teachers across the country to receive the award this year, and only one of two university professors to be bestowed with the honor, URI reports.

Foster was nominated by a former student who described her as “the woman who I can say without a shred of doubt is the single most influential person in my life — inside the classroom and out.” The student, Rachel Walshe, continued, “Cheryl is more than a teacher. She is an activist; a revolutionary waging class warfare on a system rigged against kids like me [a child of divorced parents raised on public assistance].”

Baseball — In a game that featured 10 unearned runs, the Wesleyan University baseball team survived a late rally to defeat Bowdoin, 8-6, on the opening day of the 2013 NESCAC Baseball Championship Friday afternoon.

Bowdoin’s annual Scholarship Appreciation Luncheon — an event President Barry Mills calls “the most emotional gathering of the year” — was held Thursday, May 9, in Thorne Hall.

Hundreds of students shared a meal with the donors — alumni, parents and friends of the College — who have provided the financial support that makes a Bowdoin education possible for them.

Following a performance by jazz trio Samuel Eley ’15, Simon Moushabeck ’16 and Benjamin Pallant ’16, President Mills spoke of the importance of ensuring that an education of the caliber of Bowdoin’s be available for every student, no matter their financial circumstances.

Donors Dennis Sgroi ’83 and Susan Sgroi ’86 shared the podium, explaining the origins of their love for Bowdoin and why it is a priority for them to help students.

Student speaker Adrian Rodriguez ’14 shared his family’s story of leaving the Dominican Republic for a better life, and his promise to his mother when he was a young boy that he would help her financially one day. He decided the best way he could do this was by becoming educated.

Read President Mills’ introductions about the speakers and musicians.

See more photos.

Cindy Cammarn '14 (bottom row, second from right) with fellow College Week contestants and Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek (top row, center).

Cindy Cammarn ’14 has had enough of the right answers — in the form of questions, of course — to survive to the next round on Jeopardy!‘s College Championship. Cammarn, a history and English major, and theater minor, taped her appearances earlier this spring and is keeping mum about the ultimate outcome, but what we can report is that in her first appearance, she amassed $12,700 and advances to the next round. Watch a post-game interview with Cammarn and read a pre-game story about her here.

Leslie Shaw (1955-2012)

The McKeen Center’s annual awards ceremony, which every year recognizes a few Bowdoin community members for their volunteer service, was extra special this year.

The final award that President Barry Mills presented at the ceremony, which was held last week to honor campus members for their community service, was for Leslie Shaw, a beloved faculty member who is missed.

John Cross ’76 received the award on behalf of his late wife, who passed away unexpectedly last August. Shaw taught anthropology at Bowdoin for 14 years and contributed greatly to the Native American culture on campus.

Read the full story here.

More than 500 swimmers, cyclists and runners turned out for the 11th annual PolarBear Triathlon and Duathlon Saturday, May 4. A moment of silence was held to honor those lost and injured in the recent Boston Marathon bombings, and students from the College’s a cappella groups sang the national anthem. More than 200 students volunteered and participated in the event, which was founded and continues to be produced by Will Thomas ’03. Find triathlon and duathlon results.