Since May 1, Audrey Phillips ’16 and Sophie Janes ’16 have not missed one daily ocean jump.
The two graduating seniors—and a few regulars, including Peter Powers ’16—are fulfilling their vow to plunge into Maine’s frigid waters each day leading up to graduation, on May 27. Temperatures at the beginning of the month were around 45 degrees Fahrenheit and have nudged up a tiny bit since then.
“It felt like a good Maine thing to do and a fun way to end college,” Janes said.
Phillips, Janes, and Powers are all leaving Maine after they graduate. Janes is headed to Boston to do clinical diabetes research at Massachusetts General Hospital. Phillips is traveling to Wisconsin to teach at an outdoor semester school for high school juniors. And Powers is moving to New York City to work with Sprout, a children’s television network.
The pledge has also garnered the support of Dr. Houghton “Hody” McLellan White, who graduated from Bowdoin in 1958. Earlier in the month, when the students were jumping from a public boat launch at Mere Point, they ran into White’s son. He urged them to jump from his father’s private deck just down the street. Since then Hody White and his wife have welcomed the jumpers to their home and dock every day.
