CLASS OF 2002 | 2016 | ISSUE 2
Only one more year until our 15th Reunion! Can’t believe how quickly time flies! On to the notes, with lots of congratulations in order, as always!
A recent wedding: Rachel Miller got married on April 9th, 2016, to Harvard alumnus Jack Steadman at the Metropolitan Building in NYC. The two met in 2012 while working on President Obama’s reelection campaign in Chicago. After the wedding, Rachel and Jack went on an epic honeymoon to Bali and Italy for three-and-a-half weeks. Rachel is enrolled in graduate school for instructional yechnology at Columbia’s Teachers College.
And lots of new babies: In 2014, Daniel Winokur moved with his wife, Anne, back to Albany, Calif., only five minutes away from where he grew up. The same year, they welcomed a new baby girl, Hazel, and a house into the family. In late 2015, all three (minus house) took a trip to Paris and Italy, “learning very well that babies do not exactly appreciate travel as adults do.” In early 2016, Dan switched jobs and is now director of philanthropic partnerships at UpStart, a nonprofit business accelerator in San Francisco. Dan plays squash with Ryan Akers whenever possible.
Sarabeth Broder-Fingert and her wife welcomed their twin baby girls, Ilana and Kai, into the world, making them a family of five on Oct. 17, 2015! Sarabeth is an assistant professor of pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine and continues to actively recruit promising Wesleyan alumni to her medical school and residency program. Rachel Gooze and her partner, Scott Kaplan, welcomed a baby girl, Talia Judith Kaplan, on Feb. 16, 2016. They live in Washington, D.C., where Rachel is a public health researcher at a nonprofit. And Angie Schiavoni had a baby girl, Vera Schiavoni Kamvar, on April 23, 2016. Her son Dario, 5, goes to Wildflower Montessori School, which is one of dozens of new Montessori schools started by her husband, Sep Kamvar. They are moving from Cambridge, Mass., to Belmar, N.J., in June to be closer to family, and hope to continue starting schools and working in the community.
On the job front: John Milioti is the store manager of Paper Source in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, and would love it if any of the billions of classmates who live nearby would come say hi! Sarah McCormack Natonson has had a busy year. She started a new job as a veterinarian seeing dogs, cats and exotic animals in May; got her fingertip bitten off by an iguana in August and made the local news; had a beautiful baby boy named James in November; and will be moving to Portland, Ore., in June for husband Andrew’s neurology fellowship specializing in dementia. Jesse Lava is rooming with Edna Togba in the Northcenter neighborhood of Chicago. Jesse is the director of policy at the Chicago Department of Public Health, where he creates new laws and initiatives to improve health.
Caitlin Hardy is doing her radiology residency; she lives in Philadelphia with her husband, Jeff Raynor, and their daughter, Savannah. Carly Einstein lives in Denver, Colo., with her husband Andy and their 22-month-old daughter, Lily. She is the director of annual giving at the Kent Denver School. And Lexi Keeler resides in Seattle with her wife and three kids, working at Summer Search as a fundraiser. Occasionally, she sees other Seattle-based Wes folks like Josh Blumenstock and Annie Youngerman ’03 (who are about to have a young Youngerstock), Meghan Kelly ’03, and Tyler LePard ’00, among others. Mostly she spends “a lot of time making breakfast, getting little people ready for preschool, making dinner, getting little people ready for bedtime, picking up Lego pieces and collapsing into bed.”
Since graduation, Wichuda (Tang) Wichaidit has worked with the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in early intervention in various capacities. Currently, she is a part-time supervisor for the service coordination department at Cooper Kids Therapy Associates. She is also a professional photographer (tangysweet.zenfolio.com) on the side, while juggling two children, a stubborn 8-year-old boy and a feisty 2.5-year-old girl. Since her son entered the NYC public school system, Tang has been leading an enrichment committee of the school’s PTA, which has brought in third-party supplemental in-class music and art programs since discovering that some classes may miss music for a whole year because the school is overcrowded, understaffed and underfunded.
On the media front: Jody Avirgan is hosting and producing podcasts at FiveThirtyEight, Nate Silver’s data journalism site owned by ESPN, of all places. He’s covering the presidential election and asks that if anyone can help explain what the hell is going on, please get in touch.
Alex Horwitz has been following Lin Manuel-Miranda and the cast of Hamilton with cameras off-and-on for nearly three years, and is happy to announce that Hamilton’s America, a feature film he is directing and producing, will air this October on PBS. It’s as much a documentary about history as it is a behind-the-scenes look at the show. Lin is an executive producer as well. While working on that, Alex continues to develop his own scripts and edit documentaries and TV.
And for some, new adventures are in store: Allison Brenner is excited to be embarking on a new adventure, and will be moving to Portland, Ore., with her partner and 2-year-old twins this summer. She will continue her research position in social epidemiology at the University of Michigan remotely, and in her free time plans to introduce her kids to the ocean and mountains of the Pacific Northwest.
Lily Seaman will be graduating with a master’s in clinical social work from Smith in August and will be traveling with her partner to Montreal for six months before heading back to Walla Walla, Wash., in 2017 to find a job. She doesn’t “know a soul in Montreal,” so if you or someone awesome you know is in or near Montreal, let her know!
JUSTIN LACOB | justinlacob@gmail.com