The Class of 2026 at Bates College installed its traditional ivy stone on May 26, with a design featuring two empty Adirondack chairs surrounded by falling leaves. The design, created by Mia Wetzel of Mashpee, Massachusetts, reflects the sense of community she experienced during her time at Bates.
Wetzel said the empty chairs represent openness and opportunity. “The fact that they’re empty, it’s like: There’s an open chair, you never know who you’re going to meet, what’s going to happen,” Wetzel said.
Since 1878, graduating students at Bates have designed decorative stones to commemorate their class year. Any senior can submit a design idea, and the final selection is made by class vote. This year’s installation also marked a milestone for Ron Tardif, a mason with Facility Services who has worked at Bates since 2016 and will retire later this year. Wetzel assisted Tardif in installing the stone on the southeast side of Pettengill Hall. “I feel blessed to have this job,” Tardif said. “Bates is a generous employer. To be able to interact with the students is just one benefit. We have some really good kids here, and I enjoyed installing the ivy stones with them.”
Wetzel chose Adirondack chairs as her motif because they symbolize campus life throughout Maine’s changing seasons and were purchased in 2020 to encourage safe social interaction during the COVID-19 pandemic era. She noted that her class was the first since before the pandemic to experience fully in-person learning: “That’s when everything started returning to normal,” Wetzel said. “I used that as my inspiration — the idea of connection, reconnection, after being isolated or socially distanced.”
For Wetzel personally, arriving at Bates offered an opportunity for deeper connections after moving internationally during high school due to her father’s work in the Foreign Service. She described how supportive professors and friendships shaped her experience on campus through academics and extracurriculars such as leading the Asian Students Association for two years and playing violin with Bates Orchestra.
“Sometimes the people you connect the most with are the people you least expected to,” Wetzel said.
