On the evening of March 9th, 2025, the community safety team found Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates hiding in a makeshift habitation behind a display. The display in the Pigott Family Arts Building, sometimes nicknamed a “shrine,” contains information about Gates’ interest in computer programming, furnished by items that might have drawn in the billionaire.
This discovery followed many reports of strange occurrences on the bottom floor of Pigott Arts. Photography students encountered several discarded takeout bags from Dick’s Drive-In, a known fast-food pleasure of Gates’, and a pickleball paddle corresponding to another of the philanthropist’s pastimes. Only after hearing continuous rustling sounds emanating from behind the shrine did the Upper School administration dismantle the display window. There, behind a trapdoor, the facilities department encountered a large compartment insulated haphazardly using copies of Gates’s memoir, Source Code, adorned with Microsoft memorabilia and electronics. Gates sat at the opposite corner of the room in a posture described by Director of Community Safety David Buerger as “goblin-like.” When ushered out of his hiding by the community safety team, Gates merely pontificated at length about the ASR-33 teletype and his fond memories of programming it together with “Paul [Allen], Ric [Weiland], and Kent [Evans].” Mr. Buerger recalled that Gates appeared “teary-eyed” as he left and that it was “very sad to drag him away.”
While it remains unclear what exactly compelled Gates to take up residence in the small space, the Teletype machine and antiquated photographs likely led him to reminisce nostalgically on his years at Lakeside. Some students have since questioned how long Gates has lived behind this display, even theorizing about the links between this discovery and his appearance on campus in January.
The space behind the display was previously assumed to contain electrical equipment or janitorial supplies, though it is now evident that the facilities department did not confirm this before last month’s incident. In order to prevent future CEO occupants of Lakeside buildings in the future, the Upper School administration promises to more carefully examine the Allen-Gates Building for either of its namesakes.
