This spring, hundreds of Bowdoin seniors will walk across the stage at Commencement. While many will head off to jobs and graduate programs across the country and around the world, some will join the nearly 1,500 Bowdoin alumni living and working across the state of Maine.
Based on figures provided by the Office of Alumni Relations, Maine has been a popular destination for recent Bowdoin graduates. One hundred and fifty-nine alums from the Classes of 2000 to 2008 are currently working in the state.
Though Bowdoin students may be familiar with some of the more well-known alumni living in the state, including Congressman Tom Allen '67 and Olympic marathon champion Joan Benoit Samuelson '79, there are also a number of recent graduates doing work across the state.
Z-Z Cowen, a member of the Class of 2008, started working in May for Safe Passage, a non-profit founded by Hanley Denning '92. Safe Passage works with the children and community living in the area around the Guatemala City garbage dump, seeking to end the cycle of poverty by providing education and opportunity.
Cowen's position as Outreach and Communications Coordinator at the U.S. office in Yarmouth is focused on development and fundraising. In an e-mail to the Orient, Cowen wrote, "I just returned from a trip to visit the program in Guatemala, and it was incredible to see and spend time with the children and families that our work in Maine supports."
Though Cowen grew up in Scarsdale, New York, she felt no qualms about staying in Maine after graduation. "After four years at Bowdoin, I felt I still had more to do and experience here," she said.
Cowen currently lives in Portland, and she noted that it is comforting to know that the College is close by "if I do need a Bowdoin fix."
However, she doesn't need to leave Portland if she misses the Bowdoin network. "We're all over the city, which is great?it's always nice to see a familiar face. I think it speaks to how much Maine comes to feel like home after four years of college."
One of the familiar faces Cowen might see is that of Luke McKay '07, who is also living in Portland.
McKay has been working for the Maine Chapter of the Nature Conservancy since April 2008. Though the office is located in Fort Andross, McKay, a stewardship field assistant, spends most of his time outdoors.
"My specific tasks are to monitor our easement lands, conduct ecological inventories of our preserves, and conduct hazard assessments of properties we plan on acquiring, along with every day management of all our properties."
These properties, McKay notes, total more than 275,000 acres of conservation land across the state.
McKay, also a native of New York state, found the job at the Conservancy this spring because he found himself "missing Maine." A co-president of the Outing Club his senior year, he noted, "I did a lot of stuff with the Outing Club and missed Maine's mountains, beaches, rivers, and the ocean."
Though he works in Brunswick, McKay enjoys living in Portland, which he said is "a great city."
"It's small so you never feel overwhelmed [since it has] lots of young people, a good bar scene, restaurants, and decent music. It's pretty happening," he said.
Further north, Betsy McDonald '08 just moved to Augusta to begin working as an AmeriCorps/Maine Conservation Corps environmental educator at Maine Housing, where she will be working on home energy projects, addressing both short- and long-term issues.
McDonald was an environmental studies major at Bowdoin, so she jumped at the chance to work for Maine Housing. "It seemed like a cool opportunity to get involved with issues I cared about and to come back to Maine."
Though McDonald is originally from Massachusetts, some of her family lived in the southern part of the state, so she felt a connection. However, she noted, "I definitely didn't take advantage of all the state had to offer while I was at Bowdoin, so I'm grateful for a chance to spend more time here."
A number of Bowdoin graduates living in the local area are a product of the College's student teaching program, which runs every spring through the Education Department. During the spring semester, a handful of Bowdoin seniors student-teach in local schools, including Morse High School, where Tasha Graff '07 is now working.
Graff, an English major at Bowdoin, is in her second year of teaching at Morse, where she student taught from January to April in 2007. The decision to work there, Graff noted, was an "optimal choice."
"Not only did I have my mentor teacher, Johanna Stanton, in the classroom next door, I also had two of my stalwart mentors from the Education Department, Penny Martin [associate professor of education emerita] and Suzanne Aldridge [visiting professor of education] nearby," she said. "Their expertise, love, and friendship helped me through my first year in what can be a very difficult, taxing profession."
Graff noted that her close proximity to and relationship with Bowdoin is helpful in a number of respects, from scheduling field trips to securing guest speakers. Last spring, two Bowdoin students, one a Morse alum, visited her classroom to give a mini-unit on college aspirations.
Another former student teacher, Seth Knowles '03, is now teaching Latin in Cumberland. A Classics major at Bowdoin, Knowles also advises the Junior Classical League at his school and will be the president of the Maine Classical Association next year.
"I involve myself in these organizations to boost my program and keep my teaching current," said Knowles.
A native of Maine, Knowles cites the close proximity to his family as one of the top benefits of staying in Maine. He plans to stay here for the long-run, noting that since property values are reasonable, "young people have opportunities to buy homes here."
However, Knowles noted, "The biggest negative to staying in Maine is the lack of higher education opportunities."
Some alumni work around that by continuing to work in higher education?specifically, at Bowdoin. Alumni work in nearly every facet of campus life, returning to the College as professors, deans, administrators, and even the president.
Currently, three out of the five members of the Residential Life staff are Bowdoin alums: Associate Directors Erica Ostermann '06, Dudney Sylla '08, and Manny Lora '04.
Though Ostermann is originally from Maine, growing up in Belgrade, both Sylla and Lora hail from more urban locales?Boston and Brooklyn, respectively.
However, noted Lora, "After spending a total of six years in Maine as a student, coach, and College official, I have gained a love for this place; it is so different from where I grew up."
"Though it sounds cheesy, what makes this place special and continuously calls people back are the people you meet and the lifelong friends you make," said Lora.
Executive Director of Alumni Relations and Annual Giving Eric Foushee '90, returned to Maine with his wife, also a Bowdoin grad, "for the quality of life."
"Obviously, coming back to work at Bowdoin is fabulous," said Foushee. "To work for a place that you believe in and care about is that much more rewarding."