Class Notes

We received this news about Connor Gregoire, who is a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps: Connor Gregoire graduated from the Basic School at the U.S. Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Virginia, on May 19, 2023. Connor will continue his training in his first choice of military occupational specialty as an infantry officer. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in August 2022 upon completion of Officer Candidate School as part of the USMC platoon leaders class program. Connor will continue onto the USMC Infantry Officer Course, also located in Quantico, with an anticipated graduation of October 2023. Upon completion of his professional training, he will be assigned to the fleet as a platoon commander.

Greetings from your new Class Secretary! My name is Jane Zhang, a BA ’21, MA ’22 graduate from Wesleyan and a 2L at University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School. I double majored in philosophy and physics at Wesleyan. As a law student, I continue to explore the intersection of law, business, and technology. This summer I completed an internship with the Legal & Compliance Department at Lindsay Goldberg LLC in New York. In my free time, I love taking ballet classes (a hobby that I started by taking classes with Professor Patricia Beaman), visiting museums, and traveling to different countries. I deeply cherish the people that I got to know during my Wesleyan years. By taking up this volunteer position with Class Notes, I hope to foster new connections within the Wesleyan community. Please feel free to email me with notes and updates that you wish to share.

Here are some updates from the Class of 2021:

Xinyue Zhang has lived in New Haven, Connecticut, for the past two years where she completed a master’s degree in East Asian studies at Yale University. One of the perks of living in Connecticut is staying close to the Wesleyan campus and being able to reconnect with Wes friends whenever they come back to visit! This summer she spent two months in Japan attending a language program in Yokohama and also traveling around the country. She greatly enjoyed eating Japanese hot pots, petting capybaras, and relaxing at local onsen (Japanese hot spring). In the fall she will be starting her PhD in history at Yale, focusing on modern Chinese history as well as the history of science and environmental history. She first discovered her passion for historical research while writing a senior thesis at Wesleyan.

Congratulations to Bryan Chong for starting a new position! Bryan officially joined the labor movement in Connecticut as staff of AFSCME Council 4—the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees is the largest public sector union in the country and represents 30,000 public service workers in Connecticut.

Fengbeiling Wang shared with us her new home, recent career shift, and passions in life: “A lot of changes are happening this bright summer! I just relocated to a hot and easy-living place where crepe myrtle are blooming under the sun—Dallas, it is! While not fully understanding my early career shift from consulting to finance, I am really enjoying the fast pace and data intensity of my job at Goldman Sachs. It is a company with full momentum, efficiency, and diversity. New things happen every day. Meanwhile, I don’t forget about my English literature major at Wesleyan and try to read more and write every week. I also keep learning Japanese with a new teacher twice a week. I cook three meals a day . . .  but I am still not a fan [of] or pro at baking and need more tips on how to make cookies not crumble easily.”

Sarah Lucente wrote: “I am psyched to say that I completed my first year at the Bread Loaf School of English in Vermont this summer! Lots of Wes alumni to find there. :)” Congrats to Sarah!

I appreciate everyone who submitted a note. Please feel free to send me updates throughout the year and look out for new submission requests.

See you next time.

From Clara Babbot-Ward: “I weaseled my way in to creating and running a music curriculum for a school that has never had music before! It turns out sometimes asking for what you want and advocating for what you know could enhance community can work out. I start in the fall— wish me luck!”

From Kush Patel: “I am a few months away from graduating from the Tufts PA program with plans to start a job in dermatology! I hope to travel a bit after I take my boards in January.”

From Lau Maquedano: “It’s been a year since I moved from LA to Madrid and started life from scratch. It was difficult to get my foot in the film industry here at first, and be far from my Wes friends, but I have recently started working at a post house and am loving it. In the meantime, I’m working on an indie short. I’m grateful it was selected in two labs and have attached a production company to help fund it. Looking forward to hopefully shoot it next year!”

From Gabby Bennett: “I’m doing the Chicago Wes Alumni spotlight feature for the Wes Alumni Instagram page.”

From Livia Wallick: “I’ve just accepted a new position at Wesleyan as a major gifts officer! If anyone in our class is ever on campus, please let me know!”

Nikhil Ghosh is switching coasts to pursue graduate studies in NYC at Columbia after working in the software industry in the San Francisco Bay Area.

From Sonja English: “Hey all! Just adopted my first rescue puppy, Moo Moo, who’s already my work-from-home companion. Also, I’ve just started a new role as chief of staff at Ameelio, where we’re providing communications and education technology for incarcerated people and their loved ones—all for free.”

Aysha Khan, Jonathan D. Harber ’86, and Rick Segal ’75 have embarked on a mission to revolutionize education in New York City through a visionary initiative, Runway Green at Floyd Bennett Field. Nestled within the heart of Brooklyn, Floyd Bennett Field is a national park, holding unique historical significance as New York City’s inaugural airport. Today, Runway Green is poised to transform it into an immersive, experiential learning campus. Harber is also the founding chairman of Launch, an expeditionary learning middle school in Brooklyn, and Aysha recently joined to help manage special projects, including the opening of a Launch high school on the Floyd Bennett Field campus.

As for me, I spent most of the summer enjoying all the sunshine and lake water the Midwest has to offer! I was so lucky to spend some time with my senior house roommates at the beach in Massachusetts and with so many other Wes friends during a quick stop in NYC this summer as well! I hope everyone had a great summer and keep an eye out for more emails from me later in fall and winter.

Hi everyone! Here are some updates from our peers:

Devon Cooper has wrapped up her time as UMass Memorial Health’s first genetic counseling assistant where she had the opportunity to work with an amazing group of genetics professionals and provide care to the central and western Massachusetts communities. This past summer she made the cross-country trek back to California to pursue her master’s degree. And this fall she is joining Keck Graduate Institute’s Class of 2025 in their Master of Business and Science Program. Devon is also excited to be so close to home—she hasn’t lived within driving distance of her parents since starting school at Wesleyan in 2015!

Kati Young is now working in ministry, serving at Grace Lutheran Ministries in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. She also loves her mini-goldendoodle, Boaz!

Nicolas Fernandez currently serves as a sergeant in the U.S. Army. He recently completed the DOD’s 10-month Special Operations Combat Medic course that turns ordinary soldiers into medics, capable of administering lifesaving medicine in austere environments worldwide. The program culminated in a one-month rotation to emergency departments throughout the United States where he used his skills to save and treat real patients.

His current path is that of a civil affairs medical sergeant (38W). As a 38W, he will receive additional training in veterinary care and public health principles (i.e., infectious disease, water, sanitation, hygiene) in order to provide humanitarian assistance to people, local governments, and NGOs in remote regions around the world.

Josh Nodiff graduated from the Columbia Climate School with an MA in climate and society. After researching climate policy and urban design with the mayor of Cartagena, Josh is now assembling a climate arts and storytelling consortium between universities, museums, magazines, and more.

And as for me, I have recently begun a position as a research fellow at the NYU Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy where I study affordable housing and land use policy.

Ryan Dobrin is the associate director on the first Broadway revival of Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along, starring Daniel Radcliffe, Jonathan Groff, and Lindsay Mendez. Come see it at the Hudson Theatre in New York City through March!

Submitted by Nat Warner: Erica Arensman graduated law school from Michigan after winning a whole bunch of awards for oral advocacy and helping lead the law school’s public defense organization. She lived in LA for several months where she got the worst sunburn of her life, watched The Wire for the first time, and saw a million Wesleyan people. She took the bar exam in July and is starting work as a public defender in D.C. for PDS in November. She also got engaged in January!

Over the past couple of years Mark Otdelnov has tried working as a brand manager, product manager, and (of all things) a teacher since he has had a pretty good track record at that from his time at Wesleyan and graduate school (from elsewhere). That said, he does want to get a real industry job so he asked his brother to get him an interview at an investment bank (he’s well connected). Now he’s just sitting tight waiting for an offer to come by (“at my expense, of course, since I have some debt left over from his failed business project, but it’s a whole another story”). Overall, things are good. His family is supporting him and he loves them very much.

Zach Lambros is currently in Virginia after a brief stint in Arizona. No girlfriend found in either. He’s running out of states.

And ending on this sad note, in between issues of the Class Notes, we received news of the passing of David Schwartz last spring. His obituary said he loved living in California and enjoyed, among other things, piloting drones/aircraft. In 2015 David was featured in a Wesleyan Connection article about founding the Wesleyan Radio Control/Drone Club. Our condolences to his family and classmates.

I hope you are all well! 🙂

Please see updates from our classmates:

After six years living in the San Francisco Bay Area, Matthew Stein has moved to NYC to start a new job as an enigmatologist (yes, that’s real!).

Sadichchha Adhikari is in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, happily living in her new apartment and is glad to be closer to her parents in NYC. As an added perk, she loves being near Wesleyan pals and sees them on a regular basis. She’s also always looking for food/drink/travel recs in and around NYC, so hit her up if you have any!

Tim Israel went to Topgolf in San Jose with Jack Reuter and played Splendor with Emerson Obus recently. Also took a big hike with them and Ella Geismar. All Wesleyan people. Let’s go!

Emily Greenspan has been working as a college counselor and teacher since 2016 (some of her students have been accepted to Wes!) and recently started her own company, Aspire Counseling & Tutoring. She is pursuing her MFA in nonfiction creative writing at Ashland University. She writes about how scuba diving became a balm for her anxiety and about her identity as a granddaughter of Holocaust survivors. You can check out her website: emilygreenspan.com.

What up what up what up?!? Melissa Leung has left Cambrizzy (Cambridge, Massachusetts) for Cali and made a trek to San Diego to visit her parents, Sarah Mi and Taran Carr, and her furry siblings, Remington ’38 and Rosie ’40. She may perhaps find herself tethered to the sunny chill vibes but that’s still to be determined.

Caroline Shadle married Rob Hansen on August 19 at First Unitarian Church in Chicago. Rebecca Brill, Jordan Friedland, Eury German, Greg Goldstone, Joanna Paul ’18, and Lily Taylor shared readings as part of the ceremony and Professor Patricia Beaman, Sara Ben-Ezra, Maya Berkman, Helen Handelman, and Miranda Orbach ’15 were all there to celebrate. There was a lot of dancing.

I have been busy with research and completing my application to ophthalmology residency. Interviews are coming up, so if anyone has any tips/pointers/advice send them my way! I can’t wait to know what next year will look like.

Stay well!

Mariam

Marjahn Finlayson was recently named as a climate change science pioneer by King Charles III in his address to the nation for the 50th Independence of The Bahamas (her home country). She has been working as a climate change specialist for about 10 years. For more information about her work, check out climateedubahamas.com.

Kate Gilpin and Alex Kamisher ’17 got married September 2023 with lots of Wesleyan friends by their side. They are moving from Brooklyn to Long Island (“please still be friends with us!”) so that Kate can start medical school.

Nikki Dodd is helping Lynx Mitchell ’18 raise funds to support her in her fight against ME/CFS (a chronic and debilitating illness), and invites anyone who might want to contribute to reach out to Nikki directly at nikkizdodd@gmail.com.

Camille Casareno and her husband, Gordon Petty, just moved to a new place in Harlem. Gordon had his dissertation defense on August 4, finishing up six years of a PhD in neurobiology at Columbia University.

First off, Chelsie and I wanted to introduce ourselves as the new co-secretaries for the class of 2014. In reality this is just a fancy way to say we will be the ones who beg you all to send in a short note for the class updates section of the alumni magazine . . . . 😊 For those taking to the quill: We want to know what you’re up to AND what you’re into these days. One of the aspects of the Wesleyan community that we miss most is the exposure to such fascinating and passionate people, so we would love to hear what you’re reading, listening to, or learning about. And of course, in typical fashion, we would like to hear about your achievements, your joys, and where you’re at in the world.

Cynthia Tong wrote: “The inhabitants of 72B Home, who have been scattered around the globe since graduation, reunited in Maine this August.”

Go Wes!

Please send news to your class secretary.