Tag: 2013

Happy 2024! Thanks to all my classmates who wrote in!

Anna Swartz is still enjoying life in Boston but was dismayed to see that not a single member of the Class of 2013 wrote in with an update for our last class notes. Hopefully she can rectify this with a small update: she saw the eclipse from her porch last week (partially). She also hopes to plant some herbs this spring and enjoy fresh mint and chives. All the best! Danielle Craig says, “Hey, Wes! I am living in Sacramento, California, (farm-to-fork capital of the world!) where I have been working as a public defender since finishing a clerkship in Anchorage, Alaska, after law school. Life is good and excited to see some Wes peeps at my wedding in June. Hope everyone is doing well!”

Andrew Pfeiffer and Kaya Ceci  got married in McMinnville, Oregon, in front of a beautiful crowd of family and friends, including a wonderful Wesleyan contingent present to celebrate. They are happily settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with their dog, Diego, and cat, Haku. Kaya is working at the Petey Greene Program, a national nonprofit network specializing in carceral education programming, and Andrew is working in student services at a charter school in North Philly and touring with his band, FeelFree. 

Erica Robenalt recently finished her PhD at Newcastle University in media, culture, heritage and has since published her first book, The Queer Museum: Radical Inclusion and Western Museology. It looks at the relationship between museums and LGBTQ+ communities. It is available on Open Access. Nick Orvis graduated from the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale this past May with an MFA in dramaturgy and dramatic criticism and is continuing into the same program’s doctor of fine arts degree. He and Andrea Ruiz-Lopez are living in White Plains with their extremely cute dog, Brego. Evan Carmi is still living in northeast Portland, Oregon, with his partner, dog, and ever- growing urban garden. Recently he’s been enjoying skiing on Mt. Hood, gardening, and growing food, and cultivating creativity in work. Reach out if passing though! 

James Gardner was selected in January 2024 as the diversity, equity, and inclusion–health equity officer for the William S. Middleton Veteran Affairs Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin. He oversees organizational health and development, strategic planning, education, and coordination for the health-care system covering over 40,000 veterans and 3,000 employees. James also oversees metrics to achieve maximum health equity outcomes and reduce health disparities for underserved and historically marginalized veteran populations. James has been at the Madison Veteran Affairs Hospital (VA) for nearly six years now, having led Madison VA’s DEI strategic planning, cultural and organizational transformation, data-driven health-equity projects, DEI Committee, Anti-Racism Action Team, and worked nationally on the LGBTQ+ subgroup to the VA secretary’s Inclusion, Diversity, Equity & Access (I-DEA) Council, for which he received the VA secretary’s Coin of Recognition in June 2023. If you happen to be in the Madison, Wisconsin, area, feel free to connect with him over LinkedIn!

Matt Lichtash and Margot Sidman welcomed their baby boy, Adrien, in July 2023. He is happy and healthy, and Matt is already training him to compete in Wesleyan intramural sports. He has had the pleasure of spending time with many Wes ’13ers and ’14ers, especially David Nam ‘14. Zach Schonfeld recently published his second book, How Coppola Became Cage, a comprehensive study of Nicolas Cage’s early career and rise to fame. The Wall Street Journal described it as “delightful” and noted that “Mr. Schonfeld revels in all manner of minutiae.” Speaking of minutiae, Mr. Schonfeld is also collaborating with several other alums on a project to restore the Wesleying archives, which were destroyed in a tragic accident in January. Tobias Butler started a business making electronics in his Oakland apartment: Tuneshine is a live album art display that automatically shows the artwork for the music you play on streaming services on a tasteful lo-fi LED display. He’s sold more than 250 as of April and is planning on selling about 750 more by the time of his wedding in August. 

Prince Emenalo is now a father of two: a two-year-old son and his soon-to-be one-year -old daughter. Prince has been working in telemedicine since May 2023 and also went skydiving for the first time with a fellow alum, Galimah Baysah, for his 32nd birthday. 

Please send news to your class secretary.

Please send news to your class secretary.

The Class of 2013 is getting ready for our 10-year reunion later this spring! Thanks to my classmates who sent updates in and best wishes to all.

Anna Swartz writes “Happy 10 year! Hard to believe it has already been a decade since we graduated, and yet also somehow hard to believe how just how much has happened in the world since we left Wesleyan. I’m still in Boston, looking forward to the warm spring weather— although, somewhat alarmingly, we’ve barely gotten snow this winter.”

After graduating from dermatology residency, Taryn Murray moved to Houston, Texas, for a prestigious cosmetic dermatology and laser surgery fellowship. Upon completion of the program, she will be joining the Dermatology Department at the Cleveland Clinic. Vivianne and Benjamin Swerdlow (né Abravanel) moved to Lake Forest, Illinois, as of July 2022 so Benjamin could join the Lake Forest College faculty as an assistant professor of psychology. Vivianne is completing her master’s of social work at Simmons University in May and accepted a postgraduate role as a clinician for the Chicago DBT Institute. They live with their three-year- old Husky rescue, Sonic, and their eight-year-old chinchilla rescue, Cashew. Vivianne and Benjamin will be celebrating 10 years of marriage in June!

Ross Gormley is finishing up his first year at Boston College’s School of Social Work, focusing on clinical work. He is sad to report that he missed his annual ski trip in Utah with Henry Robertson this year. But the two of them adopted an old Goldendoodle together this winter and split custody over Zoom. Ross is grateful, as well, for the $30 Chipotle birthday e-gift card from Frank Fineis this year. He looks forward to splitting burrito bowls come fall once Jacob Eichengreen moves to Boston. But hold the hot sauce.

After receiving an MBA from Yale School of Management, Evan Okun now works as an impact investor at the Working Capital Fund—a venture capital firm improving conditions for vulnerable workers across global supply chains. The firm invests in early-stage technology start-ups. Outside of work, he’s gotten quite good at volleyball/pickleball and continues to freestyle rap and write spoken word. Katie Schad recently celebrated her bachelorette party in Tulum with Faye Phillips, Laura Volgenau, Jeanne McPhee, Ashley Palmieri, Michelle Kravets ’14, Claire Larson ’15, Brenna Tharnstrom ’16, plus the spouses of Max Rosenman and Jeff Tanenbaum ’12. A real Wesleyan affair!

After several years overseas in China and the UK pursuing career and educational opportunities, Jocelyn Spencer is now back in New York working in regulatory compliance and training for her third marathon. Matt Motta started a new job as an assistant professor of health law, policy, and management at the Boston University School of Public Health. If you’re living in the Boston area, he’d love to meet up for coffee or drinks!

Please send news and updates to your class secretary.

Please send news and updates to your class secretary.

Exciting updates below from the Class of 2013. Thanks to all of you who contributed!

Vivianne and Benjamin Swerdlow (né Abravanel) moved from the San Francisco Bay area to Lebanon, New Hampshire, in the summer of 2021, where Benjamin is completing his clinical psychology internship at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, and Vivianne began her master of social work through Simmons University. They will be moving to Chicago in July so Benjamin can begin his new faculty position at Lake Forest College.

Sarah Chrystler and her husband Noah welcomed their daughter, Penelope Elizabeth, this past August. They are so excited to have a future Cardinal!

Ilana Bondell and Adam Hirschberg got married this past October in Brooklyn, New York, after many COVID delays. It was the 11-year anniversary of when they first started to date, which all began with a night out at Eclectic. You never know where you’ll meet your future husband at Wesleyan!

Sam Walker and his wife Jesse Greenblatt ’12 welcomed their first baby boy on January 6th in their hometown of Washington, DC. They decided to name him Wesley as a homage to the birthplace of their relationship at Wesleyan. Wesley can’t wait to be part of the future graduating Class of 2044.

Ross Gormley is still in Boston, still teaching English, but will attend either a MSW or LMHC program in the fall. He’s in a band with Justin Pottle and Maxwell Bevilacqua and their working band name is Wait for me Henry Robertson. Frank Fineis, Jacob Eichengreen, Nate Jacobs, Maxwell Bevilacqua, and Ross were planning a trip together to North Carolina in March.

We were all heavily impacted by the pandemic, and James Gardner managed to experience it working as the after-hours administrator in the emergency room of his Veterans Administration hospital. The federal government’s response was swift for a heavily bureaucratic agency, but he saw firsthand the toll on patients, their families, and staff alike—the uncertainty, deaths, resistance, PPE shortages, rapid change to policies, etc.—and decided to move away from frontline work. In October, James transitioned into a national VA career program for health care data analysis and informatics, where he—among funding, diversity, equity and inclusion, program analysis and other data projects for the leadership of his facility—oversaw the staff and veteran vaccination data for his facility. He’s happy to better the lives of veterans who trust him with their care in this new capacity.

Anna Swartz and her wife Netta are still camping out in the Boston area where they’ve been since the start of the pandemic. She continues to work remotely as a managing editor for the content section of Policygenius, an insurtech company. She did manage a trip back to Brooklyn in June to catch up with friends in person, including Lila Murphy and Jason Katzenstein. She hopes everyone is adjusting as well as possible to our new reality, and that any breakthrough infections are mild.

Mary Vallo and Bohao Zhou ’14 got married in July 2021 after first meeting at a performance in Crowell Concert Hall eight years ago. They were happy and grateful to celebrate with friends.

Sandy Durosier moved to Mesa, Arizona, to begin her medical education at A.T. Still University–School of Osteopathic Medicine in Arizona. She is very excited to explore the desert and learn medicine. If you’re in the area, feel free to reach out!

Evan Okun recently finished his first year at Yale School of Management. This summer he’s working at Kapor Capital, an Oakland-based venture capital firm investing in racial and economic justice in the United States. Outside sourcing and diligencing early-stage companies, he is responsible for building the firm’s investment approach to the justice sector.

Margot Sidman and Matthew Lichtash are getting married this fall! After going on their first date to Fiore II on Main Street (shoutout to Jonathan Lis for the recommendation and Christian Lalonde for letting Matt borrow his pickup truck) and months of serenading Margot with Taylor Swift piano covers, it was inevitable that this day would come.

Best wishes to my classmates, hope everyone is staying safe and sane.