Class of 2013 | 2014 | Issue 1
It’s been a few months since graduation, and the Class of 2013 is already busy taking the world by storm. We’ve been off working, teaching, studying, traveling, and embracing everything that life has to offer. Although there is the bittersweet realization (often accompanied by poignant nostalgia) that we are no longer in college, we’re also excited to dive right into the next chapter of our lives.
Many 2013ers can be found residing in New York. Catherine Taibi is an associate media editor at The Huffington Post. Her job includes managing the media page, writing and editing stories, creating viral content, managing the Facebook and Twitter accounts for HuffPost Media, creating photo posts and slideshows, and tracking site traffic. Kevin Curtin is living on the Upper East Side and working for JP Morgan’s investment bank. Isabella Cucchi is living in West Harlem and working in the South Bronx as a site coordinator for Reading Partners, NYC. She also works with children on their reading skills at the Metropolitan Lighthouse Charter School. Isabella loves hanging out with other Wesleyan folks in her free time. Sarah Cassel is a corps member at Avodah, a Jewish social justice group. She also works at The Bronx Defenders and spends her free time volunteering at the Homebound Leadership Institute in Harlem, where she works with young men of color on professional development and leadership through identity-based education. Senior speaker Anna Swartz is rooming with Paul Silverman in Brooklyn. She is writing and looking for full-time work, while he works as a kindergarten teacher. Joining Anna and Paul in Brooklyn is Julian Applebaum, who is a software engineer at Squarespace, where he researches, designs, and codes new tools and workflows for e-commerce merchants. In his spare time, he plays bass in the Sirs & Madams, a five-piece folk/singer-songwriter group.
In other parts of the country, 2013ers are also settling into their new jobs and embarking on new adventures. Chris Pao writes in from Boston, where he is working as a remote services consultant at ServiceNow, a growing IT enterprise cloud management software company. He helps clients with their software platform post-implementation with fixing anything that’s broken, not functioning properly, or even adding new functionality per the client’s request. He hopes to become a technical consultant after graduating from the two-year program. When he is not working, Chris enjoys playing in an adult hockey league, an indoor soccer league, and also exploring what the city has to offer. Robert Vance is living in his hometown of Birmingham, Ala., working for Impact Alabama, a community service nonprofit, and writing for Onyx Path Publishing. He’s planning to attend law school next year, focusing on public interest and civil rights law. Ashleigh Corvi writes in from Wesleyan, where she is working as an assistant dean of admission. She lives nearby with her girlfriend (and fellow ’13er) Tori Redding, who also works at Wesleyan as an assistant field hockey coach. They both love staying in touch with friends and professors while being a part of the community in a different capacity. Lisa Sy writes in from the Bay Area, where she is a full-time designer at a Web and mobile application consultancy in San Francisco called Thoughtbot. She works with clients that include start-ups and technology companies to build profitable products and services for their customers. Her day-to-day tasks include interfacing with clients, creating mock-ups and wireframes, leading product design sprints, collaborating with other Web developers, and coding/designing the websites. She is excited by the amount of learning she gains everyday, and is always open-minded to collaborating with other Wesleyan people on interesting projects. Also in California is film aficionado, Michael Steves, who is in post-production on his first feature film, Clinger, a low-budget horror-comedy he directed and co-wrote starring Vincent Martella (Phineas and Ferb, The Walking Dead, Everybody Hates Chris). The cast and crew included about 20 Wes students, including ’13ers Stefan Skripak, Leah Rosen, Paulie Lowther, Becca Kitsis, Sam Barth, Scott Kan, Chris McNabb, Sam Korda, and Ben Smith. Now living in L.A., Michael is co-producing another horror feature with director/producer Jon Hess (American History X) and second-unit directing a horror feature starring Terrance Howard. He also opened a production house specializing in music videos and commercials with two of his high school friends.
On the other side of the world, James Gardner is working as a project assistant for an Afro-German organization that focuses on integration, education, and social work for the Afro-German and African immigrant communities in Berlin. He has been given the opportunity to give presentations on Afro-German history and has also created a “WesGermany” Facebook group for Wesleyan alums and current students in Germany. They had a small event in October and are looking for more friendly faces to join. Shoot him an e-mail (jgarder@wes) if you are in the area! Nearby, Adam Rashkoff is serving as an English language teaching assistant at two different high schools in western Austria on a fellowship funded by the Austrian government and administered by the U.S. Fulbright Commission. He is enjoying teaching and working with high school students, as well as adjusting to the Alpine lifestyle. Any Wes peers who find themselves traveling in Europe and have a desire to go skiing and snowshoeing, eat tasty food and drink superb beer and mulled wine, and explore Roman ruins and medieval cities are welcome to come visit and stay on his pullout couch.
As for me, I’ve settled back at home in the Bay Area and am working for Apple as an engineering program manager. Thanks to everyone for the contributions and wishing all the best to my classmates!
Laura Yim
Lyim@wesleyan.edu