Class Notes

Hi Class of 2014!

We hope that 2025 is treating you and your loved ones well so far and that peace, joy, and connection continue to find you all as the year goes on.—Best, Christopher and Chelsie

Julia “Jay” Benedith writes, “In addition to running my business, J. Benedith Coaching Services, I am the director of Alumni and Network Engagement at Teach For America, and I am a career advisor at George Mason University. On a personal note, my fiancé, Ben, and I are getting married on June 28, 2025, in Washington, D.C.!”

In October Alyssa Bonneau married Frank Fineis ’13 in downtown Chicago, officiated by Jana Keaton (née Heaton). They were joined in their celebrations by Will Feinstein ’13, Charlotte Cottier ’12, Gus Spelman ’11, Kristen Raddatz ’13, Carlo Francisco ’11, Molly Stern, Lindsay Schapiro, Madalene Smith-Huemer, Sam McAllister, Adam Brudnick ’13, Jacob Eichengreen ’13, Nate Jacobs ’13, Ross Gormley ’13, Max Bevilacqua ’12, Sam Barth ’13, and Justin Pottle ’13. Not in attendance was the couple’s perfect Westie puppy, Lauda, who was not allowed in the building.

Shortly after their 10th wedding anniversary, Maureen Gorman and her husband, Aurélien, celebrated the arrival of their son, Frédéric Gabriel Grèzes Gorman, November 25, 2024, in Paris.

Clemence Kim writes, “Hi all. First time updating (I think) and like a lot of people, life has been wild the past 10 years with many events (both good and bad). But I am doing great these days working as an attorney in D.C., living in a lovely Eastern Market townhome with Emily Hilton ’18 and the legendary black cat of 202 Cross, Gweng. Yes, Gweng is alive and well. She has beaten cancer (twice) and is turning 13.  

            “I dunno how many Wes alums would come to D.C. over the next four years, but please let me know if you are in the area and want to hang or need a couch to crash in.

            “Speaking of which, I will be in France with Emily, who will be attending INSEAD, from August 2025 until June 2026. Feel free to ping if you are in the area during that time period and want to hang.”

Leslie Lai writes, “This fall, my humble abode transformed into party central as I got together with Marianna Silva Ilagan ’15, Xian Hui Ang ’15, Michael Leung ’15, David Mai ’15, Ka Ya Lee ’13, Reese Sy ’13, Angela (née Lo), and Paul Hanakata. The seed for this shindig was planted way back when I visited Marianna in San Francisco (good times!) Next thing I know, the universe worked its magic and brought our amazing friend Xian Hui back to the U.S.—and right here in Boston! It was too much laughter and food; it was the perfect way to reconnect and make new Wes memories.”

Please write to your class secretary.

Greetings, Class of 2012!

Please enjoy the following updates from your classmates:

Raghu Appasani writes, “I’ve been living in San Francisco since 2022, running my own concierge integrative and addiction psychiatry practice, [and] continuing to support mental health initiatives like MINDS Foundation. Recently launched a new start-up and raised a successful pre-seed round that is focused on helping teens and families flourish in the digital world.”

Miriam Berger has been based in Jerusalem with The Washington Post covering the Israel-Gaza war since October 2023.

Emily Gershen is living in Detroit with her husband, Dion, her two toddlers, Milo and Naomi (Wesleyan Classes ’43 and ’44), and her two dogs. Life is typically chaos but is almost always fun. In her free time, she’s working in e-commerce consulting for interior design and home brands.

It has been great to visit with Wesleyan friends like Adam Fishman, Lizzy Steiner ’14, and Brigitta Glunk when they’ve come to town and she was overjoyed to celebrate the wedding of Victoria Garcia and Terrence Word ’11 in Colorado a few years back alongside many fellow Wes alums! If you come through Detroit, feel free to reach out!

Marjorie Romeyn-Sanabria writes “I graduated from law school in May, and I am currently clerking for a state judge in New Jersey. I’m learning a lot and looking forward to joining this profession!”

Sarah Schorr married her partner, Eric, in April in Pasadena, California, after three cross-country moves and almost a decade of dating. The wedding was awesome and attended by Alex Kinney, Emily Steck, Francesca Buzzi, Adrienne Leach, Haley Baron, John Snyder, Lowell Wood, and Caroline Fox. Everyone is even hotter and cooler than they were in college. Sarah lives and works in Pasadena as a mental health therapist and Pilates instructor.

Sarah Wolfe and Chip Gianfagna welcomed Charlie Alfred Wolfe to their family in September. He joins big brother Emmett (age three) in their household in Watertown, New York, where they are enjoying paddling on all the beautiful lakes and rivers in the area.

I’m happy to share that this past January I got married to my now-husband Travis at a beautiful ceremony in Westlake Village, California. We met in our MBA program at USC, which we’re excited to be finishing up later this year. We had an amazing time and got to celebrate with family and friends, including Ashley Garrett.

Thanks to those who contributed and feel free to pass along notes at any time!

Please write to your class secretary.

Greetings, Wesleyan community!  Please enjoy the following updates from the Class of 2010:

Aaron Freedman andNikole Yingerhad their first baby, Ishai W. Freedman, and got some great hand-me-downs from Zeke and Dame (children of Sarice Greenstein and Erica Rome, respectively). They are looking forward to entering the Class of 2046 together. 

D’or Seifer and Eoin Callery MA ’10 live in Limerick, Ireland. D’or’s first poetry collection, On Being Un/Able to Walk Through Walls (with cover by Eoin) was published by Revival Press in February. D’or’s website can be visited at www.dorseifer.com.

Finally, Jon Killeen and his wife, Alisha, welcomed their second daughter, Meredith Jane Killeen, on December 26, 2024!

Thanks, as always, to those who contributed, and if members of the Class of 2010 ever have a note to share, please pass it along to DavidALayne@gmail.com.

Please write to your class secretary.

The Class of 2008 has started 2025 in an exciting way! Johnathan Thayer has been awarded tenure and promoted to Associate Professor at Queens College, CUNY, where he teaches classes in archival studies and public history. He is the author of Citizenship, Subversion, and Surveillance in U.S. Ports: Sailors Ashore (Palgrave Macmillan, 2023) and co-editor of Negotiating Masculinities and Modernity in the Maritime World, 1815–1940 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021).

Matt Haywood writes, “Thought it would be fun to mention that I met Chloe Jeng ’15 while playing pickleball in D.C. I was wearing some Wesleyan joggers and she recognized the logo. We’ve since gone on to play in a league together and wound up winning the whole thing!” He submitted a photo as well and notes that the “third woman pictured is Marissa Daftary. [She] and Chloe met through mutual friends Emily Garvin ’15 and Jasmine Masand ’15.”

Lauren Goldman was married to David Cooper in November 2024 and also admitted to the New York Bar that same month. She says, “I am currently working as an eviction defense lawyer in the Bronx.”

Maya Bass is the program director for a brand-new family medicine residency program at Cooper University Hospital in Camden, New Jersey. This program will create 10 new family docs each year. Building it has included opening up two new family medicine offices in downtown Camden. She writes, “2025 is a big year as I will be graduating my first class! Our mission is to foster the growth of compassionate, innovative, and highly skilled family physicians. We strive to provide inclusive and evidence-based medical care, with an emphasis on empowering our community through health and education.”

Cheers!

Victoria writes:

Hello, Class of 2007—I can’t believe we are already in 2025. A new year brings exciting news all around. I ran the New York City Marathon in November, which was an amazing experience. I also started a new job and now run the tax legal group at Ameriprise Financial. My co-class notes editor, Megan Harrington, reports that there was a mini-Wes reunion at the Indianapolis marathon in November. She was able to run a few miles with Allison Torpey and celebrated afterward with former track teammates Brittany Morse ’08 and Steph O’Brien ’08.

In the spirit of Wes classmates getting together, Deirdre Salsich stays in touch with Acacia Stevens Marinello, Johanna Goetzel, her sister, Mairead Salsich Viegas ’04, Felicia Appenteng, Jennifer Timm (Latin American studies majors represent), and loves hearing from Estrella Lopez and Eugene Dayanghirang. She is delighted as all get out that women’s crew earned the silver (!) medal at NCAAs in 2024 and is so proud of the athletes and Coach Pat Tynan. She mentors Wes students whenever she can, especially scholarship/financial-aid recipients but will talk to anyone who would like help with navigating career search/exploration. Career coaching has been one of the best investments, personally, over the years. She still misses Professor Ann Wightman; may she rest in power and peace.

Whitney Matthews recently switched jobs and is now the deputy inspector general/director of investigations at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Meanwhile, Eric Altneu had his second kid, Miles, this summer, and Simon Au has started to believe in the power of karma as seen through the tireless antics of his four-year-old son.

Sara Cohen Schmidt and Justin Schmidt write, “In June, we celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary. Weeks later, we embarked upon a yearlong family sabbatical and are currently traveling around the world with our three children (12, 9, and 5). While this decision surprised even us, we are enjoying immersing ourselves in different cultures as we prioritize finding educational experiences, pushing outside our comfort zones, and eating copious amounts of delicious food. We will return home to Kirkland, Washington, in July 2025, where in our ‘regular lives’ Sara works as a clinical psychologist in private practice, and Justin is a music publicist. We hope to see many of our Wes friends at our 20th (ack) Reunion next spring!”

Christopher Rodriguez shares, “So, this year was big for me and the family. I completed my MSN in nursing (AGACNP, adult gerontology acute care nurse practitioner), received my APN license, and I am just starting as an infectious disease nurse practitioner. I’ve caught up to my amazing wife, who is also a nurse practitioner, and we are raising four awesome boys!”

Mike Butterfield completed a 200-hour, trauma-informed, yoga instructor course, just got back from Nepal, and is “certifiably stoked!”

Mara Baldwin and her family continue to balance time between Ithaca, New York, and Red Hook, New York, where she and her partner teach at Bard College. Mara has upcoming exhibitions of work on view at SUNY Cortland’s Dowd Gallery (spring), Albany International Airport (summer), and Ithaca College’s Handwerker Gallery (fall). She will be in Charlotte, North Carolina, from June to August as an artist in residence at the McColl Center. She was able to reconnect with Wesleyan friends, Maggie Starr and Sarah Gunther, and to meet newest members of each of their respective families earlier this year. Mara is looking forward to connecting with many more at reunion in 2026!

Nate Baumgart continues to run his food-tour business in Denver, Colorado, and he and his wife welcomed their second daughter, Lena, in April 2024, after more than two years of fertility treatments. He no longer runs the Wes alumni group in Colorado but always has a discount code for Wes grads interested in experiencing Denver’s great food scene. 

Gabe Tabak recently became assistant general counsel at the American Clean Power Association, where he represents the renewable energy industry before agencies and courts. He and his family (wife, Ruth, and their third- and first-grade daughters) live in Eugene, Oregon, down the street from official WesSiblings-in-law, Jeremy Brown ’08 and Kara Schnoes ’07. Aaron Tabak ’08 visits his nieces regularly as well.

Awilda Rivera just released a second edition of her book, Success Math: A Millennial’s Qualitative Approach. Artemis World Travel, her full-service travel company, just celebrated two years of making people’s travel dreams come true. 

After moving out of NYC during COVID, Dan Lee is now in El Dorado Hills, California, and recently traveled to Japan and Korea with his family. He was able to catch up with Dr. Keitaro Nakamoto in Tokyo, and Sunho Hwang ’05 and Jaesung Ryu in Seoul.

Risa (Dubin) Cyr writes, “I’m entering my ninth year as a doctor at Cornell University’s student health center, in my hometown of Ithaca, New York. My most recent hobbies include quilting, raising backyard chickens, and being the number one fan for my 12-year-old son, Atticus, who has gotten into musical theater and recently played Uncle Fester in The Addams Family.”

Nicole Bowen writes, “Hello, fellow classmates: The big 40 can definitely be an intimidating milestone. I know I’m certainly feeling my age and progression to obsolescence. As for what I’ve been up to . . . I’ve been working as a freelance medical writer in oncology, creating content in continuing medical education. The transition to self-employment has definitely, significantly improved my overall health and work-life balance. Have any of y’all made this transition as well? I’d be happy to connect with anyone interested in the field of medical writing or just to catch up. Just hit me up on LinkedIn.”

Kate Thorpe recently completed her PhD in English from Princeton and is currently launching a venture, GradTLC: Graduate Thriving and Learning Connection, to help graduate students learn and thrive. She is currently living in Seattle with her husband, Andre, and three “little-ish” ones, ages 1, 3, and 12. 

Joel Bhuiyan recently started a new job as director of project management at Hunger Solutions New York (HSNY), based in Albany, New York. He now lives in Clifton Park, New York, with his wife, two daughters, and son. If you find yourself in the Capital Region, give him a shout!

Dana Taussig is living in the Adirondacks. She and Lydia Blanchard meet up to cold plunge in Lake Champlain when Lydia isn’t traveling with her family or other women with wanderlust (you can join Lydia, too, at myadventuregang.com!)

Hello, ’05ers! Some news from classmates:

Andréas Ibrahim is part of a collective of artists and curators from Palestine and Gaza that have organized the Gaza Biennale. It is an exceptional event, reinventing the rules of art exhibition and production. It is also a challenge to art institutions worldwide to partner with the Biennale, to present work that engages with the forefront of our collective experience. The project has already received attention all over the world and was reported on by The Guardian, Hyperallergic, Artnet, and many more news outlets. For more information, please email info@gazabiennale.org.

Rachel Schreiber and her husband welcomed their first son, Bailey, into the world in June 2024. He is giggly and curious and has his parents wrapped around his tiny finger. The family lives in Washington, D.C., where Rachel is a fundraiser for the local Planned Parenthood.

Ben Shestakofsky’s book, Behind the Startup: How Venture Capital Shapes Work, Innovation, and Inequality,has been published by the University of California Press. The book has been reviewed in The New York Times and Los Angeles Review of Books.

Finally, Marcella Winearls has retired as your class secretary. Many thanks to Marcella for her work keeping you connected to each other and to Wesleyan. If you would like to volunteer to be your new class secretary, please send an email to classnotes@wesleyan.edu.