“I hope everyone’s summer has been going well. I forgot to post the pictures earlier but here are the ones that I promised about a week ago. It is pretty nice to wake up to this every morning and to watch the sunset every evening.” Check out some of Paul’s latest photos of his favorite Maine landscapes HERE.

“Camp has been beyond great. The campers in my tent are all friendly, helpful, funny, active kids from all over the world. Teaching the campers baseball and soccer has been a lot of fun. It can be a bit challenging when the kids only want to play games and not work on skills and do drills but other than that working with the kids has been a blast. They are energetic and willing to learn.” Read more about Paul’s first week as a camp counselor HERE.

“About a 20 minute drive from campus there is a series of old dirt roads along the river that then turns and leads up a hill to Judy’s house. Judy is an old Bates alumnus who is still very active with the college and our Outing Club. She let’s any Bates kid park in her driveway, and if you follow the dirt trail in her back yard for about 1/2 a mile you will find the lean-to. The property has recently been given over to a land trust, but the lean-to is allowed to remain.” Explore one of Graham’s favorite Bates places — reminiscent of a Robert Frost poem — HERE.

“So this week I finally contacted the Sun Journal (Lewiston’s newspaper) about any type of internship they might have in the fall for an aspiring journalist. There’s no internship program - but what’s even better is that the woman on the other end of the line explained that I would be able to freelance for the paper…” Read more about Naima’s gregarious job pursuits for next fall, all the while loving Chicago in the summer and keeping herself entertained HERE.

“You always hear stories about how helpful Bates’ alumni networks can be when searching the job market, but I never thought it was true. Yet, this summer I put the Bates’ alumni network to the ultimate test. As, you may have gathered from my previous posts, I am living in Portland this summer in a house with 5 other Bates students and am working part-time for Bates.” Find out how Graham scored a second summer job through the Bates alumni network HERE.

“I am very excited for the campers to come. It has been fun hanging out with all the counselors but it will be even more fun once the campers arrive and activity teaching begins. Once the kids arrive the dining hall here is going to get kind of wild… much like the dining hall at Bates around lunch time.” Read more about Paul’s progression as camp counselor HERE.

“…I have been so busy working. This summer I am working in retail at a store called Fred Segal in the infant/toddler department. My days are from 9:30am - 7:00pm with an hour lunch break, so i have been quite busy. On the two days a week that I don’t work,  I go on hikes, hang out with friends, rock climb and try and catch up on sleep.” Read more about Charlotte’s summer excursions HERE.

“Readjusting to living in Maine again has been fairly easy. I am only about an hour from the Bates campus so in some ways I feel like I never left. It has been awesome catching up with the other counselors. I have known many of them for years and it is great to be able to see them again and pick up from where we left off.” Read more about Paul’s first week on the job at Camp Winona HERE.

“El Camino de Santiago brings a brand new meaning to the concept of a ¨road trip¨for me. As I mentioned in my last post, I´m right now traveling across the entirety of Northern Spain on foot along the ancient pilgrimage road that leads to Santiago de Compostela. The city holds the remains of Santiago, or Saint James, one of the disciples.” Read more about how Jake found Spain’s El Camino de Santiago through Bates HERE.

“My education in general but especially my three years at Bates has helped me become a more engaged thinker. I’ve been encouraged to question what I’m exposed to, which is often a difficult thing to do. I am also given the space to draw connections for myself which is enjoyable and exciting. So whether I’m typing a paper on the performance of gender or staring at an industrial sized salad spinner, I am confident in my ability to navigate the task at hand. And living in the real world makes me realize that this is a valuable skill that not everyone possesses and I should be grateful. Which I am.” Read more as Steph realizes the many ways in which Bates has prepared her for the real world HERE.