CLASS OF 2010 | 2020 | ISSUE 2
Greetings, Class of 2010! Please enjoy the following notes from our classmates around the world:
Keisuke Yamashita and Ginger Patana started an omakase food tour business in Japan. “We take people to very top-notch restaurants people do not otherwise have access to. If anyone comes to visit Japan and wants to try amazing authentic food (sushi, tempura, Japanese western food, etc.), please DM us! Keisuke and Ginger’s business can be found at instagram.com/gastropolitan.tokyo.
Emily Sheehan reports: “In the little Philadelphia row home where I reside with my husband and daughter, I’ve been learning what a social 2-year-old enjoys when she needs to stay home and can’t play with friends, including a lot of tower-building and some drive-by-birthday celebrations. I’m grateful to work in the safety of my home, where I’ve been conducting therapy sessions through the magic of technology. (If anyone finds this to be a challenging time, there are plentiful therapists accepting new clients through telehealth, and many insurance companies are waiving copays, so it’s a good time to add mental health care into your routine.) I’m also enjoying video meetups with friends, including a huge group of fellow ’10 alumni. Grateful for the Wesleyan community in this bizarre time!”
Tony Zosherafatain hopes all of the Wes 2010 family is doing well and staying safe. Tony is still living in NYC (going on a decade now!), but is still a loyal Boston sports fan. He completed production of Trans in Trumpland, a forthcoming documentary about being transgender in the Trump administration era. The film follows four trans Americans living in North Carolina, Mississippi, Texas, and Idaho. Keep a lookout for the film’s release around the fall/winter of this year! You can learn more about the film at transintrumpland.com. Tony looks forward to seeing everyone at our next Reunion!
Lauren Valentino finished her PhD in sociology at Duke University and has accepted a tenure-track position as an assistant professor of sociology at the Ohio State University, to begin this summer. “My research focuses on how Americans understand and make sense of social inequalities and social hierarchies—a topic I became interested in as a wee sociology major at Wes!”
Shannon Sun-Higginson and Andrew Murphy ’10, MA ’11 are social distancing at their home in Philadelphia with their cat, Professor Minerva McGonagall. Shannon is editing the sizzle for her third feature documentary, Losing Face, while working remotely as a producer and director for All Ages Productions. As a Democratic committeeperson, she works to find safe ways for Philadelphians to vote in the primary and general elections. Andrew received his PhD in bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania in August 2019 and is now entering his final year of medical school, with plans to graduate in May 2021. He is taking clinical classes remotely while studying for his Step 2 exam, and continuing his research on neural networks, for which he was recently published in Science Communications. Since the pandemic has begun, Andrew and Shannon have attended a weekly video chat bad movie night with Gabriel Furtado, Yulhee Cho ’11, and Julien Burns. Their top recs are Jupiter Ascending, Little Italy, and Fateful Findings.
Niki Holtzman-Hayes graduated medical school at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine and is headed to NYC with husband Nick Hayes ’09 for residency, where Niki matched into neurology.
A wonderful note from Dan Heinrich: Since graduating, Dan’s path has been largely shaped by Wes, his experiences, and the beautiful people he was lucky to call friends and mentors at Wes. After serving as a senior assistant dean of admission at Wes for four years, Dan finally left Middletown for warmer climes to work at ‘Iolani School in Honolulu, Hawaii, where Lindsay Kokuna ’09 and Lindsay Kosasa ’13 welcomed him with much aloha. Graduate school called him back to New England, where he studied education policy and management at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and got to share some laughs and treats with Jorge Delgado. Earning his Ed.M. in 2019, Dan zipped westward yet again to be part of a new and exciting mission-driven secondary school at UCLA, where student wellness and wellbeing are centered equally alongside academic prep and community engagement. In reflecting upon our 10-year Reunion, Dan is grateful to have cultivated lifelong friends at Wes and regularly connects with and sees the likes of LaShawn Springer ’08 and countless others (200 Church!) during his work and personal travels and via the Reading and Writing Rainbow group with Miles Tokunow, Chelsea Rodriguez, Genesis Grullon, and Lorena Estrella who continue to be anchors in his life.
Thanks to those who contributed and, as always, feel free to pass along notes anytime.
David Layne | dlayne@wesleyan.edu