CLASS OF 2006 | 2020 | ISSUE 3
For this edition, I’m changing it up by placing births first! Steven Wengrovitz and his husband Dan welcomed their daughter, Elise Lucca Wengrovitz-Freeman, to the world on July 20, 2020. They can’t wait to show her around campus someday soon!
Please be sure to pick up Drew Berkowitz’s first book Framing School Violence and Bullying in Young Adult Manga: Fictional Perspectives on a Pedagogical Problem, released in November 2020 via Palgrave Macmillan. This title analyzes the ways in which young adult Japanese manga has influenced patterns of violence and
bullying in K–12 schools.
Kyle Gardner finished his PhD in South Asian history at the University of Chicago in 2018 and moved to D.C. to work for a consulting firm. Keep an eye out for his forthcoming book, The Frontier Complex: Geopolitics and the Making of the India–China Border, 1846–1962, which will be available in January 2021 via Cambridge University Press.
Amanda Thieroff is single and childless but she does not live with her parents (writer’s note: huge congratulations on that end)! Her small vegan ice cream company Fiddlehead Creamery, based out of Port Townsend, Washington, is weathering the COVID-19 storm and she is happy to be providing a small amount of joy in these wild times. She also adopted the most wonderful puppy in the world: Finlay. When she and Finlay are not hiking in the beautiful Pacific Northwest, they enjoy growing and cooking food, and trying to stay positive through the power of human connection.
Be sure to add the letters “M.D.” after Stephanie Diana Garcia’s name. Diana is happily thriving in Los Angeles and works as a family medicine resident at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. She recently had her research published in a prestigious journal.
Also on the West Coast is Alix Sleight, who just survived a wild pandemic cross-country move with her family. She started a new job as an associate professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where she’ll be developing a new health behavior counseling program for underserved cancer survivors. She’s living in Malibu now and looking forward to reconnecting with all her old Wesleyan friends in SoCal.
Natalie Finegood Goldberg is a licensed marriage and family therapist with a private practice in Beverly Hills, California. While she has been an AASECT certified sex therapist since 2015, she’s now also an AASECT certified sex therapy supervisor. Although the move to online counseling was daunting, her practice has been running smoothly.
The U.S. Department of State announced the selection of Juan Sebastian Moreno for a virtual fellowship engaging with English language learners online in Panama at Education USA. Moreno is among the first to be selected for the Virtual English Language Fellow Program, a new program created for the 2020–2021 academic year.
Hayley Stokar relocated to Washington, D.C. with her husband and two-year-old daughter to join the Social Work Department faculty at Gallaudet University.
Maggie Elliott Martin moved to Nashville this summer with her husband for his job at Vanderbilt. Post-pandemic, they’re looking forward to exploring the city and spending some time with Jessie Morris, Brian Adams ’04, and Brent Taylor ’07.
Pia Silva has launched her podcast Show Your Business Who’s Boss. The podcast seeks to educate service business owners and consultants about what it really takes to be the boss of their businesses, instead of at the mercy of clients. She also recently did a TEDx talk titled “Taking Leaps Is The Only Way To Bank True Confidence.”
And here’s a quick mention of a Wesleyan alum abroad. Smith Louis moved to Berlin, Germany in February 2020, where he works as a product manager at a tech company in the content management space.
And now I’ll be stepping into the third person role. Calvin Cato has remained in high spirits by keeping in touch with friends Sophie Karp, Mariana Brewer, Gabrielle Tynes-Labonte, and Alana Liskov (who recently completed her counseling psychology doctoral program at the University of Denver). Beginning in September 2020, he is currently co-hosting and producing an outdoor, socially-distant comedy and music variety show in the northwest end of Prospect Park called Disco Tree Variety Show. If you live in NYC and can travel safely and own a picnic blanket, feel free to come by! The show accepts donations where proceeds have gone to support mental health charities as well as BIPOC and LGBTQ organizations.
Finally, Fazal Yameen is currently the vice president of Product at Stash, a financial technology and financial services start-up in NYC. He sends his best regards and hopes that everyone is all well, healthy, safe, and staying close to their loved ones, whether in person or virtually.
Calvin Cato | catocals@gmail.com