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sign up today—it's free! On This Day1922 — The Bowdoin Orient reports Lieutenant Richard Schoslberg, Class of 1918, arrives by plane from Framingham, Mass., being the first, “as far as is known,” to visit the College by airplane. StorePurchase Bowdoin merchandise online. |  William Head Williams Two years ago, Bill Williams ’69 and his wife learned that their 22-year-old son, William, was addicted to heroin. Shortly before William’s 24th birthday, he accidentally overdosed. When it was clear William would continue in a persistent vegetative state, his family removed him from life support. “In the beginning,” Bill Williams writes in his New York Times op-ed “Ending the Secrecy of a Child’s Addiction,” the family kept their battle secret, both to shield their privacy and also out of a sense of shame. “How could we possibly explain the corrosion in the midst of our well-reared, respectable family?” Williams writes. Williams reflects on how he and his family learned to open up and share their story, which in turn prompted others to speak about their experiences with addiction, all of them “quite separate from a world racing on.” These stories need to be told, Williams insists. “Secrecy and anonymity are part of the disease, for addict and family alike,” he says.  (L. to r.) Madeleine Albright, Jean Arasanayagam, David Blight, Rose Marie Bravo, Philip Conkling, C. Lee Herter. Many of the College’s six distinguished honorary degree recipients will soon be on campus sharing with the Bowdoin community and visitors fascinating insights on a variety of topics. View the schedule of talks and read more about the honorary degree recipients.  Leon Gorman '56 After leading L.L. Bean for more than four decades and steering the outdoors store to its prominent spot as Maine’s most recognized brand, Leon Gorman ’56 is stepping down as chairman of the company. His nephew Shawn Gorman, great-grandson of company founder Leon Leonwood Bean, will replace him, the Portland Press Herald reports. In 2010, Bowdoin College gave Gorman, a trustee emeritus of the College, The Bowdoin Prize, the highest honor the College bestows. The prize is awarded every five years “to the graduate or former member of the College, or member of its Faculty at the time of the award, who shall have made during the period the most distinctive contribution in any field of human endeavor.” Gorman was selected based on his distinguished career as a business leader, conservationist and philanthropist. In this video by Dave Wilkinson ’67, T’ai Chi Master Ken Ryan ’71 leads 200 students in a class on the Bowdoin Quad. The event was part of International T’ai Chi day, which took place this year on April 27.  Nicholas Miller ’02, of Bien Nacido Vineyards, Santa Maria, California. Photo by Chris Leshinsky. In its feature “40 Under 40: America’s Tastemakers,”Wine Enthusiast Magazine has named Nicholas Miller ’02, of Bien Nacido Vineyards in Santa Maria, California, among the ”rising young stars who are changing the way the world drinks.”  2013 Bowdoin Teacher Scholars Six student teachers were put to the test recently when they presented their teaching portfolios in the Bowdoin Teacher Scholars Program’s annual defense. Each completed a full-time, 14-week teaching practicum in a public high school or middle school earlier this spring. This year’s cohort was composed of three seniors and three recent graduates, each specializing in a particular subject area — Rachel Lopkin ’13 (French), Molly Porcher ’13 (Social Studies), Matthew Bernstein ’13 (Social Studies), Will Holland ’12 (Latin), Kate Reichert ’11 (Social Studies), and Will Cogswell ’11 (English). During their defenses the teacher scholars discussed “one of the principles or practices they’ve come to uphold or embrace” during the process of becoming certified as Highly Qualified Teachers, said Assistant Professor of Education Doris Santoro. Read the full story here. 
In his latest column, John Cross ’76 recalls a tumultuous spring on campus 139 years ago when President Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain squared off against the freshman, sophomore, and junior classes during the Drill Rebellion of 1874. When Joshua Chamberlain of the Class of 1852 became Bowdoin’s 6th president in 1871 he initiated a number of changes, not the least of which was the introduction of a mandatory program of military drill in 1872. Brevet Major General Chamberlain had seen many men killed during the Civil War due to poor military training and inexperience on the part of officers whose service rank derived from their status as college graduates rather than from their knowledge of military tactics. The federal government supported similar initiatives at about twenty colleges and universities in the early 1870s, pre-dating the establishment of Reserve Officer Training programs (ROTC) by 40 years. President Chamberlain was given his choice of available U.S. Army officers to head up Bowdoin’s Department of Military Tactics and Science, and he selected Major Joseph P. Sanger, an artillery officer and Civil War veteran. Continue reading Whispering Pines: A May Uprising  Atayne, a company founded by Jeremy Litchfield ’99 that makes performance apparel out of recycled plastic, has been recognized by Pennsylvania-based B-Lab as among the top 10 percent of corporations world-wide operating with low environmental impact and high civic responsibility. Following B-Lab’s announcement, Maine Public Broadcasting’s Tom Porter profiled Litchfield and Atayne, which is based in Brunswick.
 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].” 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. | On This Day in Civil War History…Bowdoin Talks: Lectures, Discussions and Events |
