Tag: 2012

Greetings from your new Class of 2012 secretary, Amanda Schwartz. A proud Angeleno as always, I’m currently getting my MBA at the USC Marshall School of Business, working at construction software company, Bluebeam, and continually perfecting my In-N-Out order.

Please enjoy the following updates from your classmates:

This year Miriam Berger, a reporter with The Washington Post, got the most adorable terrier, Charlene. She was also part of the team of female journalists at The Post awarded The International Women’s Media Foundation 2023 Courage in Journalism Award for coverage of the Ukraine war.

Noa Borkan and her wife, Danya, have recently expanded their family! They got three  new houseplants, another cat, and their daughter, Aviva, was born on April Fools’ Day! She recently got her first cold from her second day at day care.

After five years of living and working in the DMV area, Ashley Garrett moved home to Boston. Additionally, Ashley was selected by Boston’s mayor Michelle Wu to sit on the SPARK council to help boost civic engagement in the city of Boston among millennials and Gen Z. The SPARK Boston Council advises the mayor on city policies and programs affecting 20- to 35-year-olds. Leadership staff from the mayor’s team come to monthly meetings. The council has increased voting registration in the city and representation of Bostonians in city government. It also has served as a pathway into careers with the City of Boston. Ashley is looking forward to increasing the outreach and community building even more this year.

Tasmiha Khan writes, “I want to share that Rajeeta Iyer and I had a blast at Niagara Falls recently. I’m also working on some criminal justice projects.”

Chelsea Reutcke writes, “I have just begun a postdoctoral fellowship in British Studies at the University of Utah, where I will be teaching on early modern Britain and serving as the assistant editor for the Journal of British Studies. I completed my PhD at the University of St. Andrews (Scotland) in late 2020, focusing on Catholic print networks in late 17th-century England and will shortly be publishing my third academic article.”

Trevor Rhodes writes: “A couple of updates on my end: despite all odds, someone has agreed to marry me. The wedding will be in late August and we’ll for sure be celebrating in person with fellow [Cardinals], Dave Brunelli, Ana Alvarado, and J. R. Mannetta ’13. Also in August, I finished a master’s in global business administration from the Fletcher School at Tufts. I may be part Jumbo now but ya boi will fly as a Cardinal for life. I also visited Cameron Davila in February where I got to meet his new daughter, Lucy, and catch up with him over beers while lounging on the beach. Some things never change!”

Lizzie Simon is sad about her break ups and happy about her friends’ babies. She is entering year 12 in Seattle, year 16 of playing ultimate (thanks Throw Culture!), and year three as a nurse practitioner in community health, and plans on sticking with all three. Several of her best friends are still from Wes.

Thanks to those who contributed and feel free to pass along notes at any time.

Marjorie Romeyn-Sanabria shared: “I’m finishing up my second year of law school at Syracuse College of Law. I’m mostly enjoying it, and I kind of wish I had done it sooner, but better late than never.”

Michaela B. Swee finished her predoctoral training and postdoctoral fellowship in clinical psychology at McLean Hospital last year. She now works as a staff psychologist in the Trauma Continuum of McLean Hospital and is an instructor in psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. Michaela was the recent recipient of two prestigious awards, the 2022–2023 Adam Corneel Fellowship and the 2023–2024 McLean Presidential Award, for her research and clinical work in compassion-focused therapy. She cohosts the Compassion Collective podcast, a freely available podcast developed to help laypeople and professionals in the field of mental health alike learn more about self-compassion and cultivate greater compassion in their lives.

Tasmiha Khan wrote: “I’m wrapping up a fellowship at Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri to create a Muslim media tool kit.”

Raghu Appasani contributed: “I’ve been living in San Francisco. I have a concierge private psychiatric practice, engaged in psychedelic research, and working with a number of mental health start-ups! Still running The MINDS Foundation, which I founded while at Wesleyan! Looking forward to attending the weddings of fellow Wesleyan 2012s—Blake Dubois’s in San Luis Obisbo, and Geoff Mucha’s in the Outer Banks.”

Kamar Thomas said he “had a book come out called the Artist’s Creative Vision.” Published in January 2023, the “book aims to eliminate the phrase ‘starving artist’ by helping people create more interesting art, more sustainably, regardless of location.”

Katherine Mullins married Omar Hunter Craighill ’09 in Brooklyn, New York, in September. Many Wesleyan friends were by their sides, including Amani Sampson ’12, Marie Scarles ’12, and Jesse (Greenblatt) Walker ’12 in the bridal party; and Will Runge ’09, Yale Yng-Wong ’09, Derek Silverman ’09, Louis Langlois ’08, and Zach Fried ’08 as groomsmen. The after-party featured live music from additional alumni, including Keenan Mitchell ’09, Lucas Carrico ’09, Jake Aron ’08, and Sam Ubl ’08.

Just a couple of post-reunion notes to share:

Ian Hoffman writes, “I’d like to offer a huge belated thanks to all my 2012 friends I got to see at our reunion in May! In September I got to help welcome the Wesleyan Wind Ensemble back out of our pandemic hiatus and we’ve been having some fantastic rehearsals leading up to our fall concert. It’s great to be on stage at Crowell again after being kept off for two and a half years

And Abaye Steinmetz-Silber reports, “I’ve been living in Park Slope, Brooklyn, and I work at a local community development nonprofit called Fifth Avenue Committee, building new affordable housing here in Brooklyn. It was great to see old friends at our 10-year reunion this year! If anyone’s swinging through Brooklyn, drop me a line!”

Different types of good news to share this round. On the wedding front, Katherine Mullins let us know that she is marrying Omar Hunter Craighill ’09 in September 2022 in Brooklyn, New York, and looks forward to celebrating with many friends from Wesleyan at the wedding.

New babies have arrived too! Luke Erickson and Hannah Berkman welcomed their first child, Oscar “Ozzy” Lawrence Erickson, in Washington, D.C., in February. Everyone is doing well, and Ozzy is lucky to count several Wes babies among his friends. Also, Matt Hurwit and Angela Allan ’11 had a baby this last May in Berkeley, California. Her name is Margot Allan and she’s just started sleeping through the night (thank goodness!).

In the realm of books and education, Dr. Alex Ketchum (FGSS) published Engage in Public Scholarship!: A Guidebook on Feminist and Accessible Communication with Concordia University Press this June! Her second book, Ingredients for Revolution: A History of American Feminist Restaurants, Cafes, and Coffeehouses, will be coming out later this fall, also from Concordia. She started her research on this subject when she was a student at Wesleyan University as part of her senior thesis. Both books are available for order in paperback and will be made available in open access later this year. Kamar Thomas wrote in to say he is a “professor of art at Centennial College in Toronto, Canada.Tula Telfair taught me. I will have a book coming out next January tentatively titled The Artists’ Creative Vision.” And AhDream Smith reported that on May 8, 2022, she graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a master’s in fine arts for acting and completed a three-year acting residency with PlayMakers Repertory Company. Upon graduation, she attained an agent and management and is excited to be relocating back to New York City this fall.

Others wrote in to share about life in general. Sandy Leung said, “In 2020, I was preparing to take the GRE to apply for business school when an opportunity came to make a career shift into investment management, but then the pandemic hit a month after. Two years and two layoffs later, I’ve finally landed at a growing private equity firm where I hope I’ll be able to grow for a few years, and hopefully find the time to take the GRE and apply to business schools to attend part time. In the meantime, I’ve been hanging out with my cat Koji, a gray-and-white rescue that I adopted last year and eating my way through some of NYC’s best local food.” Sandy also said, “Wes alum sightings this year include catching up with David Barach and Will Miller over dinner and visiting Daisy Chen and Neil Ni’s (’14) store, Yoseka Stationery, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, for delightful goods and refills.”

And Abaye Steinmetz-Silber is living in Park Slope, Brooklyn. “I work at a nonprofit called Fifth Avenue Committee, building new affordable housing in NYC, and play music on the side. Was great to see so many people at our 10-year reunion in May!”

Tasmiha Khan has been named a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT. Tasmiha is an independent journalist who covers a wide range of topics related to health, race, politics, culture, and religion.

Han Hsien Liew writes that he has “started a tenure-track position as assistant professor of Islamic Studies at Arizona State University in fall 2021.”

Alexandra Ketchum has two books coming out this year! The first is Engage in Public Scholarship!: A Guidebook on Feminist and Accessible Communication. The second book is Ingredients for Revolution: American Feminist Restaurants, Cafes, and Coffeehouses. Alex started her research for this book back when she was writing her honors thesis for Wesleyan’s FGSS program. Concordia University Press is releasing the books in open access (so freely available online) and in paperback.

Geri Rosenberg says: “I’ve hiked more than 3,000 miles since the summer of 2020. I followed up my Colorado Trail thru-hike with a thru-hike of the Pacific Crest Trail from the Canadian border to the Mexican border. I even got to take Adrian Rothschild on his first backpacking trip as an adult!”

Jake Schofield reports: “I’ve returned to my roots in Yonkers, New York—living in my great-grandma’s dusty old house—and am currently in my fifth year of teaching high school science research in the Yonkers public schools. Always looking to connect with Wesleyan people in the area, especially those who might be interested in mentoring exceptional high school students.”

Sean Curtice lives in Basel, Switzerland, where he is completing a PhD in music theory. His research concerns Filippo Trajetta, an Italian composer who immigrated to the United States in 1800, establishing the first conservatory in the country and promoting Neapolitan music-pedagogical methods. A recent research trip took Sean back to the Wesleyan campus for the first time since 2012.

Allegra Heath-Stout writes: “Laura Heath-Stout ’11 and I are proud new homeowners in Arlington, Massachusetts. More importantly, in November we welcomed our first child, River Benjamin! River is a wonderful baby and loves ceiling fans and long naps. Also, last year I had a great time creating the Access to Power Fellowship, a leadership development program focusing on disability justice, community organizing, and Judaism, as part of my work at JOIN for Justice. Kyle Rocco East was one of the fellows!”

 

 

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