CLASS OF 2007 | 2014 | ISSUE 2

The last several months have brought weddings, exciting career changes, and cross-country and global relocations for the class of 2007. Tory Molnar was married this past summer (Sept. 1). In attendance were Julia Perciasepe, Danny Silva, Eric Altneu, and Mariel Pina! It took place in Ipswich, Mass. In spite of the 100-year floods that washed out the roads to her wedding site a week beforehand, Abby Bader still managed to marry Jonathan Bullock in Denver on Sept. 21st. Antonietta Kies ’06 was Abby’s maid of honor, Cassye Dunkhase ’06 played the cello, and Annie Park, Gian Ishino, Patrick Meaney, and Brendan Dolan-Gavitt ’06 attended! Good times were had by all. Abby also changed jobs in the past year, and is now the manager of software engineering at Spectraseis, Inc.

From moving to the Dominican Republic and teaching, to now-married-for-six-years and living in Inwood, NYC, with her husband and 4-year-old son, every year brings wonderful transitions to Yokasta Tineo. Yokasta recently graduated from the Swedish Institute and is now a licensed massage therapist and Reiki practitioner, who will also soon be a certified personal trainer and certified doula. She has also joined the board of the Brotherhood-Sistersol, a nonprofit which she has been part of since 2002 and is her second family. 2014 has been a year of accomplishments and new beginnings, and she looks forward to sharing all of this with her Wesleyan community.

The class of 2007 also has several new attorneys to welcome to the mix. In May Nicholaus Norvell graduated from the University of San Diego School of Law and will be starting in September as a public law associate at the Sacramento office of Meyers Nave Riback Silver & Wilson. Simon Au is a fresh-faced yet cynical attorney at Mayer Brown.

Other ’07ers have been working on starting their own companies and projects. Andrea Silenzi ’07 has started her own radio show on WFMU in Jersey City, N.J., called Why Oh Why. The show recently featured an interview between Holly Wood ’08 and Avery Trufelman ’13 discussing why dudes never want to be our boyfriends and adulthood is a social construct. It’s only a matter of time before they are asked to join the writing cast of HBO’s Girls. Judith Klausner co-founded the smallest art museum in the world, The Mµseum (check it out online at themicromuseum.com!).

Chris Krovatin continues pouring time and money into the ever-widening gyre of his adult life. By day, he works at Random House; by night, he writes children’s horror novels. His band, Flaming Tusk, is wrapping up the recording of their second full-length album. He can be heard hosting the show Invisible Oranges on Tuesday nights at 10 p.m., on East Village Radio, where he broadcasts under his journalistic pen name Scab Casserole. After 10 years in the US, which started with coming to Wesleyan, Kerem Alper moved back to Istanbul to start a design and innovation hub. You can find out more at atolyeistanbul.co. Kerem is excited to be back home. Himanshu Suri has also traveled a long way and is on self-imposed exile in India.

Others have only traveled cross-country. Vlad Gutkovich is living in the San Francisco Bay Area with his now fiancée, Nicole Tirado Strayer. He’s working with a B-Corp education technology startup in Oakland. Ian MacLeod is also enjoying his new home in beautiful California. He has been mountaineering, backcountry skiing, and plans to move to Sacramento for a new job! Visitors encouraged.

Victoria Belyavsky and Jesse Bardo
wesleyan2007@gmail.com

NOAH L. SIMRING ’07

NOAH L. SIMRING, a talented musician who had been on leave from Wesleyan for two years, died July 29, 2006, his 21st birthday. Described as multi-talented and highly creative by family and friends, he is survived by his parents and a sister.

BRENDAN R. O’REILLY ’07

BRENDAN R. O’REILLY died Sept. 5, 2005, of injuries sustained in a biking accident in Prescott, Ariz. He was 20. At Wesleyan he studied chemistry and French and was the recipient of the CRC Award for outstanding work in chemistry during his freshman year. Survivors include his parents, Brian and Gail O’Reilly, a brother, and a sister.

Class of 2007 | 2014 | Issue 1

This time around we tried to do something a little different for the class of 2007. As the call for class notes came out around Thanksgiving, I asked my fellow ’07ers what they were thankful for over the last year. We got great responses, but far too few of them! Next time around I look forward to knocking it out of the park.

To start, I am thankful for my beautiful wife and family. I am thankful that my friend Thomas Bendon is getting married this summer and was fortunate to see Hooter Glidden, Jared Ashe, Julian Canzoneri, and several others during travels the last few weeks.

Deirdre Salsich has had a great year and is thankful for a number of things “1) I passed the New York Bar Exam; 2) I have a fabulous job with New York State United Teachers, the public school teachers’ union as a labor and employment attorney; and 3) I love my neighborhood in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, and that so many Wesleyan people are nearby! Last but not least, I am so thankful that my sister, Mairead Salsich Viegas ’04, married a wonderful guy, Bob Viegas, on Nov. 23.”

Grace Nowakoski is thankful for America’s interstate highways which allowed her and her fiance, Jeff Diteman, to switch coasts this October, trading Portland, Ore., for her hometown of Putney, Vermont; for four good years in Portland, the wonderful community of people they left behind, and the friends they’ll always keep; for snow, and stacked firewood and a woodstove to burn it in; for Thanksgiving with her family.

Tess Amodeo-Vickery is thankful for finding her true passion in song writing and the Wesleyan music mafia (she plans on giving you all a call when the time is right).

Doug Rubenstein sent this my way “I’m thankful for my lovely wife, my family, my cool kick ass dog, my health, my amazing friends and my new pilot that I shot.” Best of luck with the pilot, Doug!

Lauren Smith scored an invitation to the White House Harry Truman bowling alley—and was kind enough to invite her pals Jesse Young ’06, Seth Samuels ’06, Molly Gaebe, and Margaret Dickson. The final score of the game remains unknown…but they are all winners.

Thanks again to all who wrote. I can’t wait to see what 2014 has in store for Wes 07!

Victoria Belyavsky and Jesse Bardo
wesleyan2007@gmail.com