CLASS OF 1996 | 2026 | FALL ISSUE

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We’ll start with a summary of Reunion weekend from our reunion ambassadors, Topher Bellavia, Koyalee Chanda, Cayetana Navarro, Sam Effron, and Chung Ma: “It was so great seeing so many of you! Now we’ve set the Wesleyan attendance record for a 20th and 30th Reunion! We found familiar faces on campus; danced to DJ Javaid Khan not one but two nights; we wandered old buildings; explored new ones; and even crammed into a single dorm room to drink Pabst out of cans (thanks Sam Effron!). But most importantly, we connected. We hugged and laughed and maybe even cried at moments. So grateful for this stellar class of humans. How lucky are we?”

Dacque Tirado writes in that he was so sad to miss all his classmates at Reunion as he had graduation activities to attend back in Maryland. He sends heartfelt gratitude to all those who had a hand in organizing the great event and all who attended. Superb job. 

June was quite busy for him as he took students on a service immersion trip to the Eastern Shore of Virginia to build houses with Habitat for Humanity; then he got to see two World Cup Games (Uruguay versus Saudi Arabia in Miami and France versus Paraguay in Philadelphia); and then spent 12 days touring Portugal (Porto, Douro Valley, Coimbra, Evora, Lagos, Lisbon) with his mom for her 80th birthday. He even met a Wes alum in a cafe in the Algavre region of Portugal—Wes Cardinals everywhere! He hopes to attend more Wes DMV events when they take place this fall and winter.

Nina Erlich-Williams shares, “Although I wasn’t able to make it to Reunion due to a family obligation, I took some inspiration from all the emails and managed to reconnect with some folks after the fact. Merry Weaver and I had a long-distance Zoom (from her home base in Geneva, Switzerland, to mine in Corvallis, Oregon), where I heard all about the fun times I missed. Merry then graciously hosted my 18-year-old son and his friend, who had their first international travel adventure without parents a few weeks later. It’s so great to have these connections thanks to Wes! And so fun for me to think about my kiddo meeting Merry and her family, even though I wasn’t there. I also had a terrific time catching up with Nikki Lewis in Oakland in June. We had a lot of laughs, and it was like no time had passed.”

Congratulations go out to Aaron Steinhauer, who was promoted to SUNY distinguished teaching professor at SUNY Geneseo and will be chair of the physics and astronomy department. One of his two daughters works as a lawyer in nearby Rochester, New York, and the other is farther afield, serving in the Peace Corps in Peru.

Bill Macomber recently met up with Anuj Desai and Dave Roberts when Dave was in LA visiting his sister. He’s also been hiking LA’s historic sidewalk stairs with Ben Bell, Billy Kheel, and Anuj and reports that they are a good way through the 40-plus walks that cover all of them.

Another way to stay connected between issues of the Class Notes is to join the Class of ’96 WhatsApp group. Come share a memory, an update, or just a quick hello! Join at https://chat.whatsapp.com/KmzUhmfJi5i2qltoGbdYTC?s=cl&p=i&ilr=4.