Class Notes | 2000s

<strong>Aryn</strong> writes: Reunion &amp; Commencement 2016 marked our 15th year as proud Wesleyan graduates. Scary how time flies.

<strong>Elijah Carroll</strong> and <strong>Mattitiyahu Zimbler</strong> reported that our Reunion showing was small but strong. I guess it’s just that time in our lives—busy with young families, careers and being a real grownup. Our 50th Reunion turnout is going to be solid.

Eli and Matt attended with <strong>Steve Munno</strong> and ran into <strong>Meg Bartlett</strong> and<strong> Erin Lane-Aaronian</strong> on Foss Hill, soaking up the sun and the nostalgia.

<strong>Meghan Tomb</strong>, <strong>Josh Kagan</strong>, <strong>Ellen and Alex Healy</strong>,<strong> Joe Lampe</strong>, <strong>Sophia Koulomzin Lampe</strong>, <strong>Anthony Clark</strong>, <strong>Peter Colvin</strong>, <strong>Kim Wittmer</strong> and <strong>Andrew Calica</strong> were also sighted around Middletown that weekend. I’m told everyone looks pretty good for approaching 40!

<i>Wes weddings alerts:</i> One possible reason for the modest attendance was that <strong>Beth Slepian</strong> tied the knot with Ellen Finney on the very same weekend. The couple threw a carnival-themed wedding extravaganza, complete with food trucks, lawn games, a bounce house and mini-concert by The Nields. Cantor <strong>Darcie Naomi Shapiro Sharlein</strong> sang during the ceremony, and guests included <strong>Rebecca Hume</strong>, <strong>Liz Stein Rubenstein</strong>, <strong>Jeff Klein Sharlein</strong>, <strong>Eli Sheridan Wise</strong>, <strong>Mary Coakley-Fields</strong> and <strong>Andrea Donnelly</strong>.

<strong>Abigail Kurland</strong> got hitched back in April to Harry Koutsolioutsos. <strong>Katie Haxall Cronin</strong> and <strong>Kirsten Collins</strong> were bridesmaids. The newlyweds headed to Greece in June to party with Harry’s relatives who couldn’t make it to the States for the wedding. Abby works as an assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York where she prosecutes violent, organized crime and human trafficking cases. In 2013, she and <strong>Nick McQuaid ’96</strong> tried a large Latin Kings gang case together.

<i>Big moves: </i><strong>Emily Van Engel</strong> is excited to report that she is going back to school in the fall to pursue an MFA in pictorial art at San José State University.

<strong>Adriana Laser</strong> announced she’s picking up the family and moving to Albany, N.Y., after securing her first real vascular surgery job since finishing her fellowship.

And a word from our co-secretary <strong>Mara Voukydis</strong>: “We welcomed a tiny bronze-haired wonder into our lives on March 19. Andreas is very smiley and curious. We have been calling him ‘The Human Scanner,’ because in this phase he scans his head side to side to take it all in. We can’t wait to share him with his honorary Wes aunts and uncles.”

Congratulations, all. We love hearing about the incredible happenings in your lives. But let’s make a pact—Reunion 2021 or bust! Until next time,

ARYN KALSON-SPERANDIO | arynsperandio@yahoo.com

MARA VOUKYDIS | maravee@gmail.com

Only one more year until our 15th Reunion! Can’t believe how quickly time flies! On to the notes, with lots of congratulations in order, as always!

A recent wedding: Rachel Miller got married on April 9th, 2016, to Harvard alumnus Jack Steadman at the Metropolitan Building in NYC. The two met in 2012 while working on President Obama’s reelection campaign in Chicago. After the wedding, Rachel and Jack went on an epic honeymoon to Bali and Italy for three-and-a-half weeks. Rachel is enrolled in graduate school for instructional yechnology at Columbia’s Teachers College.

And lots of new babies: In 2014, Daniel Winokur moved with his wife, Anne, back to Albany, Calif., only five minutes away from where he grew up. The same year, they welcomed a new baby girl, Hazel, and a house into the family. In late 2015, all three (minus house) took a trip to Paris and Italy, “learning very well that babies do not exactly appreciate travel as adults do.” In early 2016, Dan switched jobs and is now director of philanthropic partnerships at UpStart, a nonprofit business accelerator in San Francisco. Dan plays squash with Ryan Akers whenever possible.

Sarabeth Broder-Fingert and her wife welcomed their twin baby girls, Ilana and Kai, into the world, making them a family of five on Oct. 17, 2015! Sarabeth is an assistant professor of pediatrics at Boston University School of Medicine and continues to actively recruit promising Wesleyan alumni to her medical school and residency program. Rachel Gooze and her partner, Scott Kaplan, welcomed a baby girl, Talia Judith Kaplan, on Feb. 16, 2016. They live in Washington, D.C., where Rachel is a public health researcher at a nonprofit. And Angie Schiavoni had a baby girl, Vera Schiavoni Kamvar, on April 23, 2016. Her son Dario, 5, goes to Wildflower Montessori School, which is one of dozens of new Montessori schools started by her husband, Sep Kamvar. They are moving from Cambridge, Mass., to Belmar, N.J., in June to be closer to family, and hope to continue starting schools and working in the community.

On the job front: John Milioti is the store manager of Paper Source in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, and would love it if any of the billions of classmates who live nearby would come say hi! Sarah McCormack Natonson has had a busy year. She started a new job as a veterinarian seeing dogs, cats and exotic animals in May; got her fingertip bitten off by an iguana in August and made the local news; had a beautiful baby boy named James in November; and will be moving to Portland, Ore., in June for husband Andrew’s neurology fellowship specializing in dementia. Jesse Lava is rooming with Edna Togba in the Northcenter neighborhood of Chicago. Jesse is the director of policy at the Chicago Department of Public Health, where he creates new laws and initiatives to improve health.

Caitlin Hardy is doing her radiology residency; she lives in Philadelphia with her husband, Jeff Raynor, and their daughter, Savannah. Carly Einstein lives in Denver, Colo., with her husband Andy and their 22-month-old daughter, Lily. She is the director of annual giving at the Kent Denver School. And Lexi Keeler resides in Seattle with her wife and three kids, working at Summer Search as a fundraiser. Occasionally, she sees other Seattle-based Wes folks like Josh Blumenstock and Annie Youngerman ’03 (who are about to have a young Youngerstock), Meghan Kelly ’03, and Tyler LePard ’00, among others. Mostly she spends “a lot of time making breakfast, getting little people ready for preschool, making dinner, getting little people ready for bedtime, picking up Lego pieces and collapsing into bed.”

Since graduation, Wichuda (Tang) Wichaidit has worked with the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in early intervention in various capacities. Currently, she is a part-time supervisor for the service coordination department at Cooper Kids Therapy Associates. She is also a professional photographer (tangysweet.zenfolio.com) on the side, while juggling two children, a stubborn 8-year-old boy and a feisty 2.5-year-old girl. Since her son entered the NYC public school system, Tang has been leading an enrichment committee of the school’s PTA, which has brought in third-party supplemental in-class music and art programs since discovering that some classes may miss music for a whole year because the school is overcrowded, understaffed and underfunded.

On the media front: Jody Avirgan is hosting and producing podcasts at FiveThirtyEight, Nate Silver’s data journalism site owned by ESPN, of all places. He’s covering the presidential election and asks that if anyone can help explain what the hell is going on, please get in touch.

Alex Horwitz has been following Lin Manuel-Miranda and the cast of Hamilton with cameras off-and-on for nearly three years, and is happy to announce that Hamilton’s America, a feature film he is directing and producing, will air this October on PBS. It’s as much a documentary about history as it is a behind-the-scenes look at the show. Lin is an executive producer as well. While working on that, Alex continues to develop his own scripts and edit documentaries and TV.

And for some, new adventures are in store: Allison Brenner is excited to be embarking on a new adventure, and will be moving to Portland, Ore., with her partner and 2-year-old twins this summer. She will continue her research position in social epidemiology at the University of Michigan remotely, and in her free time plans to introduce her kids to the ocean and mountains of the Pacific Northwest.

Lily Seaman will be graduating with a master’s in clinical social work from Smith in August and will be traveling with her partner to Montreal for six months before heading back to Walla Walla, Wash., in 2017 to find a job. She doesn’t “know a soul in Montreal,” so if you or someone awesome you know is in or near Montreal, let her know!

JUSTIN LACOB | justinlacob@gmail.com

Noah and Julia Bruckner Newman welcomed their daughter, Hannah Adele Newman, into the world on May 23rd. She couldn’t have arrived at a better time—Julia just finished her OB/GYN residency program and Noah just wrapped up four years working on Pixar’s summer release, Finding Dory.

Anna Christensen and her husband, Gabe, welcomed their first baby, Maya Judith, on April 10.

John A. Graham defended his dissertation at Princeton University and is graduating in May, 2016. This year, he taught his first graduate course at Yale University, and next year will be back in Tbilisi, Georgia, working on his book and leading wine, music, and culture tours (georgianchant.org/tours). The family welcomed another child, Sebastian, in February.

AMY TANNENBAUM | atannenbaum@wesleyan.edu

Jenina writes: Hi, Class of 2004! Once again, you’ve shared some of the many wonderful, exciting things happening in your lives. So read on to learn more about what your former classmates are up to in work, families and travels!

From the East Coast, Elaina Dellacava seems to have a ton going on. She tells us: “I’m getting married July 30th in Tarrytown, N.Y., to my fiancé, Adam Knowles. We met in residency at Montefiore Medical Center and we are living in Manhattan. Rebecca Weinstein, Morgan Philbin and Sarah Abramson will be at the wedding. I’m chief resident in the outpatient department this year and will be doing a geriatric psychiatry fellowship at New York Presbyterian/Cornell beginning in July 2017.”

Also in New York, Nick Malinowski and David Fine live together in Brooklyn, as they once did on Washington Street in Middletown. “David’s side of the room remains scrupulously tidy,” Nick reports.

Nearby, in Connecticut, Nick Blondin has some great news. “My wife, Rebecca Gordon ’06, and I celebrated the birth of our second child, Daniel Jacob Blondin, on April 5. It was a dual birthday for mom and baby! Big sister Alice loved going to Wes for Reunion & Commencement this year.

“Professionally, I have continued building the St. Vincent’s Brain Tumor Center and now have five clinical trials for cutting-edge treatment of brain cancer, in addition to all the state-of-the-art standard treatments. I am optimistic that these breakthrough treatments will lead to advancements in the fight against brain cancer.”

Heading over to Philadelphia, we have another ’04 classmate who’s been keeping busy. In April Greg Heller started a new job as executive director of the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority—the city’s implementation arm for community development. Also his book, Ed Bacon: Planning, Politics, and the Building of Modern Philadelphia, recently came out in paperback.

Sascha Stanton-Craven has been bouncing between coasts recently, continuing his run in Brooklyn of living with Jon Golbe ’06 for a longer period of time than he has with anyone not related to him by blood, and being expertly hosted by Jeff Brenner ’03 and family in Los Angeles while working on Web-to-TV series Decker (with intern Spencer Sheridan ’10), which will run on Adult Swim starting June 17th. Sascha says hello to everyone and hopes you’re all doing great.

Aja Gabel tells us: “Last year I earned my PhD in literature and creative writing from the University of Houston. After spending some time in Japan, I began working full time as a copywriter for Huge in Portland, Ore. Just last week I sold my first novel to Riverhead Books /Penguin Random House.”

Liz Leipzig has some wonderful family news. “I had a baby in January, Logan McKeown Leipzig. Happy, healthy baby. Wish he would sleep through the night! My daughter, Emily, is starting first grade in the fall. She plans to be a paleontologist. I’ll be married to my high school sweetheart and business partner 10 years in September.”

Tajan Renderos also has some great family news and work updates to share: “I’m very busy with the coaching practice that I run, Tajan Renderos Coaching. Our mission is to inspire, challenge, and support young women as they make power moves to go from being stuck in life to soaring. I do this by providing coaching and workshops within organizations that serve young women, where they can learn and apply spiritual principles that are needed to thrive in adulthood. I also have a really cool vlog series that you can check out on tajanrenderos.com. When I’m not at work, Wil Renderos ’05 and I are busy chasing after our 2-year-old guru, Sahai.”

Isaiah O’Rear shares some news on his work in the educational space. “I work at the U.S. Dept. of Education as the project officer for the ED School Climate Surveys (EDSCLS). The EDSCLS was released to the public in April 2016. The EDSCLS is a Web-based platform that allows schools and school districts to collect, report, and act on reliable, valid, and timely measures of school climate.”

And Mosah Fernandez Goodman was recognized in his new hometown of Omaha! “It was recently announced that I will receive an award in Omaha—10 Outstanding Young Omahans (2015 TOYO! Recipient). The TOYO! is in its 83rd year and is among the top honors within the City of Omaha. It has been getting significant media attention within this region. While the award is certainly a personal honor, I thought it demonstrates that Wes alumni make a difference in communities wherever they go in life… even Omaha.”

Congrats to these folks!

As always, we’d love to hear what you’re up to. To get into the next issue, please send a quick note:

Jenina Nuñez | jenina.nunez@gmail.com

Meeghan Whooley Ward | meeghan.w.ward@gmail.com

Stonecutter Spirits has taken some big steps forward for Sivan Cotel, with their Single Barrel Gin winning double gold at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition last spring, and the release of their Heritage Cask Whiskey this summer!

Anna Talman Rapp is thrilled to announce the May 14 arrival of Adam Christopher Talman Rapp.

Chris Gateman and his wife, Kim, are pleased to announce the birth of their son, John Colton Gateman, born Feb. 27, 2016.

Heather Olins finished her dissertation on microbes at deep sea hydrothermal vents, and finally earned her PhD in May from Harvard. She also recently had a baby—Mattea Olins Albro! She will be starting a job in the fall teaching science at The Fessenden School in Newton, Mass.

Lindsay Clarke and her husband, Shea Gunther, welcomed daughter Sagan Brandes Gunther, on May 4. While home on maternity leave, Lindsay continues to run Breaking Ground, a nonprofit started through her grant from the Christopher Brodigan fund in 2005. Also on the board of Breaking Ground are Alex Moore and Alden Blair.

Maria Nankova and family are still in Brussels. Her oldest daughter turned 9 and her little one started at a Flemish kindergarten. They are translating papers from school in French and Dutch, trying to learn more of these languages. Maria’s career has been on backstage for the past couple of years but this past winter she started a new job at Deloitte on the healthcare economics team. They haven’t had much time to explore Europe, due to full-time parenting and working but would love to host anyone passing through Belgium.

On the fun side, her daughter auditioned for the Brussels Light Opera Company’s production of Wizard of Oz. and was chosen for the show. She was the youngest performer in the cast and they were delighted to watch her. They are also choreographing a modern dance this summer for her company’s party. So, the Wesleyan spirit has been passed on to the next generation!

Maria was also very saddened to have lost a dear friend, Amelia Geggel ’06.

Marcella Martinez Winearls is still in London and excited to welcome her second son, Lucas, on May 3. Respect to all of the parents out there!

Marcella Winearls | marcellawinearls@gmail.com

First off, I was so happy to see so many folks at the 10 year reunion!

In 2016, Nyasha Foy was appointed to the 2016–2018 Wesleyan Alumni Association Executive Committee as vice chair (along with Joseph B. McElligott IV). She is continuing her role as the chair of the Black Alumni Council. She also joined Vice Media as the associate director of legal affairs in January 2016.

Gabriel Knight lives in West Hartford, Conn., with his wife, Patrice, and 2-year-old daughter, Juliette (who attended her first Wes homecoming game this past November). He is a senior environmental scientist at AECOM. He also brews his own beer and plans to enter some competitions very soon.

Lily Whitsitt, a Princess Grace Foundation-USA Works-in-Progress Resident Artist, and her Door 10 collaborators are developing a new theater performance through a residency at the Baryshnikov Arts Center. This Is the Color Described by the Time, adapted from an early Gertrude Stein play, is inspired by the language and experience of radio plays. The audience wears wireless headphones throughout the performance as live sound and pre-recorded tracks are mixed in real time. Sign up for Door 10’s mailing list to stay in the loop about future iterations of the project: door10.org.

After several years in the nonprofit space and receiving her MBA from the Kellogg School of Management in 2012, Hannah Gay recently launched out as an independent consultant with her company malinaSI Social Impact Consulting. She focuses on helping mission-driven organizations with metrics and evaluation.

Smith Louis lives in Cambridge, Mass. and works at Spotify testing and figure out ways to help artists better understand their audience and acquire more revenue. He is also going to graduate school at Tufts to purse a Master’s degree in engineering management.

Sarah Gunther is the director of programs at the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, which makes grants to LGBTQI activists and artists around the world. After 10 years in NYC, she and her wife, Amy Krosch, moved to Ithaca for Amy’s new assistant professor post at Cornell.

Jennifer Low and her husband Sean opened their very own cake shop called The Frosted Fox Cake Shop in Northwest Philadelphia. They created the wedding cake for Anna Moench’s wedding! Please look them up at frostedfoxcakeshop.com for more information! Also in the culinary sphere, congratulations to Josh Saffer who is the banquet chef at Del Posto Restaurant in New York City.

Stephen Siperstein received his PhD in English from the University of Oregon and teaches at Choate in Wallingford, Conn. He and his wife, Jemma Braun ’05, are excited to be so close to Wesleyan! His edited collection, Teaching Climate Change in the Humanities, is now out, so pick it up!

Jesse Young had a blast reuniting with Nat Webb and Russell Barlow as their college-era garage rock band The Stanky Panthers for a Friday night show at Eclectic during reunion! Ingrid Aravena is working at the Girl Scouts as the Manager of Urban Day Camps. She is also continuing to work on her side project CinemaKidz, where she teaches movie-making and STEAM activities to young kids.

Burke Giordano has been living in Taipei, Taiwan for the past year. He is developing his magic show, teaching English and learning Chinese. Adam Bernier got engaged to Virginia Aloi at a My Morning Jacket concert in May 2015. Adam lives in Westchester County, N.Y., and works as a producer, educator, and small business owner.

In May 2016, David Bartlett Bates completed a residency in radiology at Boston University Medical Center and is now at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston for a one year fellowship. Melanie McCrea lives with her roommate Tracy Honhart in Oakland, Calif. Melanie is a proposal writer for the Sierra Club, a college mentor with ScholarMatch, and a member of the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights.

Julie Mathis has spent the past five years moving around the United States. She now lives in the Greater Seattle area. Since 2011, she has worked for Kaplan Medical, where she was promoted to associate director of advising and sales. In the summer of 2016, she wed her long time love Sean Monts.

Congratulations to Lucy Harper O’Connell, who wed Michael Iain McPherson Robertson in October 2015! The couple met four years in San Francisco, where they still live.

Sarah Montgomery wed Tao Wang in May 2015! Wes alum in attendance include Anna Pinkert, Liz Fortune, Julia Kleinman Horowitz, Allison Hughes, Amy Rosen ’07, Victoria Pinsky ’07, and Brendan Dolan-Gavitt, who referred to himself as the “bride’s servant.”

In October, Kingston Wong married his partner of five years in Copenhagen. Kingston lives in London and works in a strategy role at British Telecom.

Jonathan Harbison married his longtime boyfriend Thomas Senn in a ceremony in Maui. Wes alums in attendance were Jesse Greenspan, Alexandra Loh, Natasha McLeod, Rebecca Morse, Charlotte Page, and Matthew Gregory ’07.

Gabe Tabak and Ruth Brown welcomed baby Liora (who will hopefully be part of the class of 2038) to the world in January 2016! They’re enjoying life with a newborn, and WesUncles Aaron Tabak ’08 and Jeremy Brown ’08 and WesAunt Kara Schnoes ’07 are thrilled to have a niece to spoil. When not changing diapers, Gabe practices energy and environmental law on weekdays and brews halfway-decent beer on weekends.

Nick Bullard and Emily Frost welcomed Henry Frost Bullard into the world May 9, 2016. Baby Henry is doing great and has already memorized the Wesleyan fight song. Dan Lee and Soo Jung Kim welcomed their first child, Madeline Lee, into the world on Nov. 24, 2015. Congratulations!

I am working as a freelance editor and performing stand-up all around the city. I co-host a monthly comedy and music show at The LGBT Center in New York where the proceeds go towards helping LGBT youth of color.

Calvin Cato | catocals@gmail.com

Victoria writes: One more year until our 10th Reunion and a lot of excitement already brewing for the class of 2007! The careers of ’07ers are filled with excitement:

After finally receiving her dual Italian-American citizenship, Tess Amodeo-Vickery has been taking advantage of her open borders by touring her first studio album, Soul Whisperer, across Europe and North America, “collaborating with local artists to rediscover my music and my image as part of her Soul Voyager concept tour (soulvoyagertour.com).” For Wes alumni in the Boston area, she played Club Passim’s Campfire Festival on May 27 before continuing on to Montreal!

After spending his 20s on Capitol Hill advising members of Congress, like Rep. John Lewis (Ga.) (and becoming a 2015 defending Jeopardy! Champion), Will Anderson is headed back home to Atlanta. After a brief stint in corporate relations, Will returned to public service as communications director for the City of Atlanta’s Office of Sustainability. He’s focused on making his hometown a greener, stronger, and more sustainable place for everyone to live, work, and play. He encourages fellow civic-minded folk to reach out!

Jeffrey Petrusek graduated from Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine in May and will be starting an otolaryngology residency at Loyola Medical Center in July.

Vlad Gutkovich is living in Oakland, Calif., with wife Nicole Tirado-Strayer, who is finishing up a PhD in education. Vlad works at an education technology startup (Schoolzilla, PBC), and at a recent show in Oakland personally handed a copy of his Wesleyan thesis on Parliament Funkadelic to George Clinton.

Christopher Dieck will be starting his PhD in astrophysics at the Catholic University of America while continuing in his job monitoring the wobble of the earth at the US Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C. Also, he and his wife, Jacqueline Chapman ’08, will be celebrating their second wedding anniversary this September.

There have also been a number of mini Wesleyan reunions among friends happening across the country: Part of Hew X ’07 enjoyed a great dinner in Boston in April. Mariel Pina and her partner, Eva, were in from New York, along with Jon King to see Danny Silva, Julia Perciasepe, and Tory Masterson. We missed the little Masterson, Miles, but hope to see him and all our ’07 classmates at our 10th Reunion next May!”

In October 2015, Nicholaus Norvell married Adam Renteria in San Diego. Wes friends attending the nuptials included Victoria Santoro, Rob Mitchell ’06, Ellen Werble, and Andrew Bleeker.

We also have another new baby to welcome: Shelby Thurston Marscher and her husband recently welcomed baby girl Inara to their family. Shelby is also working on her thesis for her doctorate in school psychology.

Megan Harrington | megan.kretz@gmail.com

Victoria Pinsky | victoriapinsky@gmail.com

Lots to report for the international Class of ’08. Chenelle Tanglao writes, “After spending the last eight years in New York after graduation, I just moved to the other side of the world to Sydney, Australia! I’m all set up in Bondi Beach—really can’t complain, the relentless sunshine and Pacific Ocean views are a huge change from New York winters! If anyone is ever in the Southern Hemisphere, give me a holler—need more Wes folks around here!”

Karla Hargrave worked as a trekking guide in Torres del Paine National Park in Chile for six months, collecting research material for her next theatrical creation: a world traveling multimedia experience about climate change, the things that we don’t want to change, and how to push for the solutions that we need. She is seeking a team of artists, scientists, lawyers, engineers, administrators and, of course, funders: karla.hargrave@gmail.com. Home base: Oakland, Calif.

Amanda Krentzman, meanwhile, is now working at Netflix in TV development on the International Originals team. She is working on making TV programs in countries all around the world, in the native language of that country, with storytellers from there, and then releasing worldwide on Netflix. Her first show was Club De Cuervos (A Mexican Original) and her second one was Marseille (French Original). A lot more shows to come soon!

Meanwhile, stateside, Lynn Favin booked her first national theater tour and will be performing the role of Ophelia in Hamlet all over the country. She also recently voice-acted in multiple episodes of Robot Chicken (created by Matt Senreich ‘96) and had the honor of working directly with Baz Luhrmann as a back-up singer for his upcoming Netflix series The Get Down.

Jeremy Brown and Kara Schnoes ’07 are moving to Eugene, Ore., this summer, where Jeremy will begin practicing emergency medicine after completing his residency. They are expecting their first child in August and have purchased land with long-term plans for goats, chickens, farming, and building a home. He writes, “Come visit if you are driving through the area on I-5!”

Annalisa Kelly and Hunter King were hallmates freshman year in Clark. On April 16th they got married in Hunter’s hometown of New Orleans.

Maggie Mitchell Siddiqi is graduating in May from Hartford Seminary with a master of arts in Islam and Christian-Muslim relations and a graduate certificate in Islamic chaplaincy.

Betty Kolod finished medical school at SUNY Downstate in Brooklyn and is starting a residency at Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, studying primary care and social internal medicine.

Janie Stolar is thrilled to announce that her Facebook posts finally seem to be receiving the number of likes they deserve.

Finally, in inspiring fashion, Jonno Boyer-Dry writes, “Three weeks after I got engaged to Allison Towle (Tufts ’08—keepin’ it all in the NESCAC) in September 2014 I was diagnosed with stage 2B or 4A Hodgkin’s lymphoma. My treatment involved six months of AVBD outpatient chemo, starting in September 2014, that killed most but not all of the disease, followed by four months of IGEV in-patient salvage chemo (April–July 2015), leading up to an autologous stem cell transplant (three-week hospitalization with very powerful chemo for six days in a row) in August and now I’m halfway through 16 cycles of “just in case” antibody therapy that I receive via infusion every three weeks, called brentuximab vendotin. But now my scans are clean, which is a miracle! I’m now feeling great and life is largely back to normal. Most important, our wedding is finally happening at the end of May in Park City, Utah! It’s been a long, grueling ride but it was worth every bit of pain. Life is such a gift. Hope you’re all well and happy!”!

Alicia Collen Zeidan | acollen@wesleyan.edu

Greetings class of 2009! We have some exciting updates from our classmates!

Brian Studwell graduated with a master of human-computer interaction and design from the University of Washington and jumped down the coast to work at Ravel Law, a Bay Area startup building tools for legal research. Having spent several years in the Pacific Northwest and originally hailing from New York, he has yet to come to grips with Californians’ general cheerfulness.

Aviva Tevah just graduated with an MPA from the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania, and is working for the City of Philadelphia, coordinating the Philadelphia Reentry Coalition, which brings stakeholders together to share information and resources and develop city-wide systems solutions to reduce recidivism. Aviva is hoping to see a lot more of Elana Baurer now that she is done with school!

Katie Shelly and Jean Willoughby ’08 write in with exciting news of their forthcoming book from Chronicle Books, due out in bookstores later this year (but is already available for pre-order online). Titled Nature’s Remedies: An Illustrated Guide to Healing Herbs, the book was written by Jean, who has studied and grown medicinal plants for several years, and illustrated by Katie, whose previous book, Picture Cook, is an eclectic cookbook whose recipes are explained with pictures instead of words.

In the meantime, Katie will complete her MA in experience design at Hyper Island in the UK this summer. She’s planning her next career adventure in design thinking and innovation consulting. Jean has worked for the past four years at the Rural Advancement Foundation International (RAFI) as a project director and was recently promoted to communications manager. She looks forward to finishing up an advanced herbal medicine program at the Herbal Academy of New England, premiering a new documentary film that she is co-producing called Under Contract, and growing lots of medicinal and culinary herbs in her garden this year.

Seth Halpern recently founded 1healthy.world, an angel-backed HealthTech venture developing mHealth solutions like chatbots for medicine.

Brittany Delany is enjoying desert life in Greater Palm Springs, and working in the arts and culture sector: “Excited to be continuing dance collaborations this summer and fall with Sarah Ashkin ’11, Samantha Sherman, Aaron Freedman ’10, Khalia Frazier ’07, Chelsea Smith ’07, and Allison Hurd ’11.”

Alejandro Alvarado | ale.alvarado12@gmail.com

Happy summer, Class of 2010! See below for our classmates’ most recent happenings, but first, a few notes that failed to make it into the last issue:

Rachel Shopper “teaches nature connection and primitive skills in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Western North Carolina. When not building friction fire or foraging for native medicinals, she’s associate poetry editor for Orison Press, which publishes spiritual literature from a variety of perspectives.”

Tara Kelton updated us that the last year has been rather exciting. In August 2015, Tara was promoted to supervising producer at Brave New Films to run the shorts department. In November, BNF asked the shorts department to help finish the feature film they’ve been working on, and Tara co-produced said film, which was released this year and is called Making a Killing: Guns, Greed, and the NRA.

Katherine Kitfield Bascom has a (relatively) new position as the marketing director at Solace New York, a CrossFit and gymnastics training facility in Manhattan. “She’s flying high as an aerial performer, managing other business ventures including a B&B, and volunteering with the IRC.”

As for our more recent updates, Julie Huang graduated from NYIT College of Osteopathic Medicine this May, and she’ll start a residency in internal medicine at Winthrop University Hospital. Before that, however, Julie is taking a trip to Havana.

Chloé Bolton, a first-time class note provider, has this to share: “For the last two years I’ve been working with an ayahuasca shaman and Umbanda priestess in Brazil, healing myself, developing my mediumship, and opening to the incredible wisdom and light of ayahuasca. Now I am becoming a therapist within the group, helping people from Brazil and all over the world. We will soon be starting the construction of our eco-village and healing center!” Chloé invites all to pay her a visit soon!

Chiara Di Lello recently completed her master’s in childhood general and special education at Bank Street College of Education in NYC. In the fall, Chiara will be teaching third grade at Compass Charter School in Brooklyn.

Craig Ewer adds that he “moved to Brooklyn last year to be with every other Wesleyan graduate.” He still works at Uber.

Greg Hurd earned his PhD in geology at the University of Texas at Austin with a focus on sedimentology and stratigraphy. Greg also got married to the love of his life, Marlo Gawey!

Hilary Burke also has marriage news: “On a sunny day in June, Hilary Burke married AJ Chan ’11 at Wesleyan. The newlyweds enjoyed their big day with a very Wesleyan wedding party including Matt Burke ’07, Steve Cooper, Allie Southam ’11, Tim Morley ’11, and many other Wes attendees. They plan to send their firstborn to Wes, Class of 2041.”

Lonny Blumenthal and Cate Haring took their special day in May to the West Coast, where a beautiful California sunset in Santa Ynez Valley saw them married in front of a diversity of Wes alums including Nick Ajello, Bo Pratt, Colin Campbell, Ram Sivalingam, Gavin Brennan, Gina Yeomans, Nate Green ’09, John Harding, Jon Killeen, Dan O’Brien, and many more (whom I’m sure will let me hear it when they see I left them out of this note). Cate graduated from medical school at George Washington University and will be starting her residency at University of Michigan in otolaryngology—head and neck surgery.

In the beautiful Green Mountains of Vermont, the Cardinal marriage tradition continued, where Matt Ward and Erin Fitzsimmons were married in a beautiful ceremony in Stowe. Fellow Cardinals sharing in the festivities included yours truly, pretty much everyone in attendance at Lonny and Cate’s wedding, Woody Redpath, Eliza Newman, Sarah Hoefle, Anika Fischer, Russ Follansbee ’09, Field Yates ’09, Nick Hayes ’09, Meredith Holmes and Casey Simchik and more.

Jeffrey Beck married his beautiful wife, Caroline Trottier, in a rambunctious ceremony in Montreal. Toasting to the newlyweds, in full black tie garb, were myself, Tim Archibald, Sam Robinson, Tony Christiano, and Beth Kenworthy. Jeff used the exact same dance moves with Caroline on his wedding day that he tried to teach me in Clark Hall freshman year. I guess you just don’t mess with what works!

As always, I hope everyone is doing well. Chime in any time via e-mail or on WesConnect!

David Layne | dlayne@wesleyan.edu