CLASS OF 2016 | 2016 | ISSUE 3
Jackie Freed moved back to LA and got her real estate license a month after graduation. She joined the family business, BKF Properties, and is looking forward to helping fellow Cardinals find a place to land out in Cali!
Trisha Arora just moved to Boston where she is working for Epsilon as a business systems analyst. She also just adopted a kitten named Legolas.
Rachael Metz is moving to Santiago, Chile, with her twin brother (Jordin, Tufts ’16), from September to May to immerse herself in the Spanish language and Chilean culture. Her goal is to be fluent (or close to it) by the time she returns home. They will both get their international certifications to teach English, then will look for jobs in teaching and tutoring English. If any Wes alumni are in Chile, please reach out!
Miranda Haymon has jumped right into rehearsals as the directing fellow at Arena Stage in D.C. If anyone is in D.C. and wants to see a show, let her know!
In August, Abby Gruppuso moved to Taiwan to teach English through the Fulbright program. She is living in Taichung, the third largest city on the island, and is teaching fourth, fifth, and sixth graders. Abby recounts, “Taiwan is beautiful, the food is amazing, my students are unbelievably cute, and my coworkers have been super welcoming.” She is excited for the year ahead.
Instead of spending all of August au pairing in Istanbul as planned, Melissa Leung took up a new German friend’s offer to accompany her to her home in Germany. This spot served as Melissa’s home base for the days she didn’t spend touring Europe. Melissa met up with Wy Ming Lin in Cologne, too! Now Melissa is in East Asia traveling with her two sisters (one a Wes ’10), stopping in Seoul, Taipei, Hong Kong, and Guangzhou. She just signed her lease with Sarah Mi.
Samantha Hellberg has been working as the program coordinator for the Center for Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders at the Massachusetts General Hospital. She has been really enjoying her first few months, even though she started just off the heels of graduation (within less than a week!). She’ll be working there for approximately two years, as she develops her research and clinical skill sets further, and applies to clinical psychology PhD programs.
Caroline Shadle moved to Manhattan to start a new position at the Joyce Theater in Chelsea. She is living in an apartment with two Wes alumni, as well as across the street from two other Wes alumni—reminiscent of Home Avenue.
Nina Channing is pursuing her MFA-2 in interior design at the New York School of Interior Design after spending a fulfilling summer helping with Dylan Fernandes’ successful primary campaign for the state representative seat in Falmouth, Martha’s Vineyard, and Nantucket.
Former housemates Alessandra Cervera and Liyan Yao are having post-grad separation anxiety, and miss each other dearly. Sandi is doing cognitive development research at Yale, and Liyan has been accepted to med school, deferring to January. In the meantime, Liyan plans on taking some time off to spend with friends and family.
Emma Buford moved back to NYC to pursue the arts. She loves being in her hometown and continues to spend time with family and fellow Wes alumni. She will be in a production at the Joyce Theater this October, thanks to a connection made by Caroline Shadle, and will also be singing at a fundraiser in November.
Hannah Sokoloff-Rubin has picked up her stuff and moved across the country to Portland, Ore., to see what the whole “West Coast” thing is all about. She’s working for Planned Parenthood as the community education and outreach coordinator in Washington County and hopes to spend as much time in the outdoors as possible.
Jack Reuter just got a job working at a golf course as “the person who drives around in that little cart picking up balls from the driving range.” Jack reports, “That’s about it. Living at home, job hunting. Life is good.”
Ellen Paik | epaik@wesleyan.edu