CLASS OF 2010 | 2016 | ISSUE 3
Happy fall, Class of 2010! Please enjoy the following updates in the lives of our classmates:
Holing Yip has been working for the past four years in an advocacy group in Hong Kong on education policies for ethnic minority students, and just moved to Cambridge, Mass., to start his master’s in education policy. “I would love to connect with Wes friends in the field and in the area!”
Sarice Greenstein is delighted to report that she graduated with a master’s in public health from Columbia University, alongside Jessica Steinke. The two both received certificates in sexuality, sexual, and reproductive health. Sarice is working for Culture of Respect, a project committed to ending sexual violence on campus. She works remotely from various Brooklyn coffee shops. Sarice has enjoyed a season of celebrations as well, proposing to her boyfriend with some extravagant gifts: an “I said yes” t-shirt and matching pair of socks. They plan to get married next summer.
Jenny Ajl and Ruthie Lazenby are co-habitating and celebrating their 10-year “friendiversary” in New Haven, where they are at Yale, studying to be a family nurse practitioner and lawyer, respectively.
Sam Friedman reports that he got married to Rebecca Cimino ’11, and “we had a few Wes people there to help us celebrate: Nadeem Modan, Eugenie Carabatsos, Nick Miller ’09, Dana Shukovsky ’11, Nic Wilder ’11, and Marlene Sim ’11.”
Niki Holtzman-Hayes is happy to say, “I am (finally) in medical school at Northwestern University in Chicago!”
Seth Rosen reports: “After moving back to domestic soil (San Francisco, specifically) a year ago, I’m finally emerging from crunch mode at work. The past year I’ve been working on Mafia 3, making the ambient life in our version of New Orleans in 1968, and the game will be out in October.”
Ben Seretan writes, “I continue to play music, and performed a concert at the National Gallery of Albania in Tirana.”
Michael DeFranco and Jason Krigsfeld continue to build Lua Technologies, the startup they founded while at Wesleyan. Lua provides a secure messaging solution to the healthcare industry. They are now serving hospital systems, clinics and laboratory environments, encrypting communication wherever patient information is being digitally shared.
Michael added that he enjoyed playing a part in the greeting of the Polynesian Voyaging Canoe from Hawaii, The Hokule’a, as it sailed into NYC in June. The Hokule’a has been on a worldwide voyage, spreading a message of malama honua, to care for the earth. Over 2,000 attendees congregated in North Cove Marina, a few blocks from the Freedom Tower, to receive and honor the canoe. Michael was responsible for the coordination of all the indigenous communities present that day. Since then, he has been playing a larger role with the United Nation’s Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and has been helping shed light on some of the issues Hawaii is facing. He has also been working with the indigenous tribes of New York to support the Lakota in their efforts to stop the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Danielle Mor is finishing a PhD in neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania. “My work has focused on the mechanisms of neuron death in Parkinson’s disease. I am starting my postdoctoral research at Princeton University to study the genetics of aging.”
Wesleyan alumni of all ages have been collaborating in the Berkshires, Alice Maggio reports. As executive director of BerkShares, Inc., she works with potter Dan Bellow ’87, who serves on the board of directors of BerkShares, Inc. She and Emily Watts ’03 joined forces to bring BerkShares, a local currency, to northern Berkshire County. All three of them hope to work with Adam Hinds ’98 when he gets elected to the Massachusetts state senate in November.
Brendan McEntee has some great news: “I, and projects I oversee at my work, have been honored with major recognitions. I received recognition as the top ’Forty Under 40’ in the association community, and a project I oversee was recognized with top honors for having the power to profoundly impact society. The project is implementing clinical decision software that assesses individuals with addiction to determine what treatment is appropriate. It has been an exciting five years working at the American Society of Addiction Medicine. I will be sharing this experience with Wes students in October as part of a career center event.
“In my personal life I took up the hobby of rock climbing and have been enjoying pushing myself indoors and out on mountains. I’ve been living in D.C. and I spend my free time cooking, seeing friends, and volunteering for mentoring programs and on my condo board. I look forward to catching up with everyone next time we are all back on campus. I am impressed every time I catch up or see what my colleagues are doing. I cannot wait to see the further impact as we keep on advancing. Go Wes!”
Angus McCullough updates us that he is managing a newsletter, At the Present Moment. Angus’ newsletter invites folks to art exhibitions and events around the country. Angus explains: “Art requires being in the room with something to feel and understand it. Over the past few years, I’ve been sending out invitations to exhibitions and events that are, for many city people, hard to get to. So I’m very happy to send invitations to events in three major cities and in Vermont, all happening this fall.” Angus also adds that he has been playing improvisational music. “One notable jam was a live score for Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams at the 2016 Cooperstown Biennale. Another was when we played in a field under the full moon and let the horses decide when the session was over. This fall, there will be a show, potentially in Saratoga Springs and in NYC.”
Jonna Humphries has an update: “For the past year, I have been with Sofar Sounds leading growth in D.C. Sofar Sounds is a global music series that hosts secret concerts in over 271 cities around the world. In D.C. we’ve featured artists like Broods, Vanessa Carlton, BUIKA, Fruit Bats, and more. I am excited to announce that I’ve accepted a position at Moog Music and MoogFest to help lead their branding team.”
As always, if anyone has notes to add anytime feel free to send me an e-mail.
David Layne | dlayne@wesleyan.edu