Tag: 2019

Hey, Class of 2019! I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy (and inside!) amidst the global pandemic we are facing. Here are some updates from our peers:

Jackie Leete is living in Washington, D.C., and working in a lab at the National Institutes of Health investigating traumatic brain injury and sleep disturbances (although currently, she is working from home!). She plans on applying to PhD programs this fall with a focus on sleep research.

Shana Laski is moving to D.C. this summer to start a position at Mosaic Theatre Company as their resident dramaturgy fellow.

Rebecca Goldfarb Terry is living in Philadelphia with her dear friend and fellow Cardinal, Carina Flaherty. She spends most of her time working at Temple University Hospital as a Community Engagement Representative with the Office of Patient Experience. When she’s not at the hospital, she’s hanging out with her dog Emmie or playing frisbee.

Anna Knes just finished Wesleyan’s BA/MA Program in late April and will soon start a summer internship at the Connecticut State Crime Lab. In the fall, she will move to Amsterdam to start a two-year master’s in forensic science (coronavirus-permitting, of course).

Aaron Cheung hopes that the Class of 2019 and their families remain safe. Aaron is working, as part of his pro bono project, with the ACLU of Northern California on surveillance and privacy issues. It is important for everyone to pay attention to COVID-19 tracking, as it may leave unwanted precedent for future unconsented privacy invasions. Dom Vazquez and Aaron have also moved. They are living together again, for the third year in a row. Dom is still teaching seventh-grade world history and science in Oakland, Calif., remotely now, and has been accepted to a teacher credentialing program, which will keep him busy over the next two years. He’s doing much less hiking and much more Netflix binge-watching.

Jennifer Gagne is finishing her first year in the classroom as a Kindergarten and ENL teacher. Her district has recognized her and her team for their distance learning efforts that are low-tech. She is also finishing her first year of her master’s in urban childhood education and TESOL program.

Andrea Weires was working as a peace corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic until COVID-19 hit. She was evacuated from her community in less than 24 hours. She now lives in Minneapolis, Minn., and recently started working as a paralegal at an immigration law firm. She wishes health and safety for the Class of 2019!

Allison Quintana just finished her post-baccalaureate year at Smith College in their math and statistics department. And she was also sent home several weeks ago, along with every other student across the country, to finish her last semester. Her plan for the fall is to go to grad school at the Brown University School of Public Health to get her ScM (master’s degree) in biostatistics. Assuming Brown will allow for in-person classes, she is currently looking for apartments in Providence. She says, “It’s a very interesting time to be entering the world of biostatistics and public health.”

After graduating, Fred Willis moved to Bangalore, India, and started working full-time as a business consultant/data analyst, partnering with various Fortune 500 companies on projects to improve their business processes. During his time abroad, he had the opportunity to travel all over India and parts of Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Nepal. He even met up with several Wes alumni and current students, which was comforting to connect with familiar faces amidst so many unknowns! Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, he has since returned to NYC where he continues to work from home as he waits out his move to Dallas, Texas, for his current project with Citigroup. He hopes everyone is keeping safe and doing well.

Joy Adedokun is finishing up her accelerated program for a Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) degree from Mercy College of Health Sciences in Des Moines, Iowa. Upon completion, she looks forward to joining “the most trusted profession” on the frontlines. She hopes everyone is healthy, staying connected, and still has a reason to smile in these peculiar times.

Rosanne Ng had a fantastic year in the San Francisco Bay Area, working in LinkedIn’s Strategy and Analytics Program. She recently moved to Dublin, Ireland, to continue working in LinkedIn’s EMEA headquarters (where they call it the Strategy and Analytics Programme).

Daniel Gordon is working for Google as a part of the software engineering residency program, where he works (remotely at the moment) with a variety of different teams in the NYC Google office.

Thank you again to everyone who shared! Look out for an email from me about the next edition of the alumni magazine soon.

Justin Campos | jxcampos@wesleyan.edu

Hey, Class of 2019! Hope everyone is doing well. Here are some updates. George Poulos is working on his YouTube channel and clothing brand, Arrow Skate Co, in NYC. He is rooming with Maddy Paull and Izzy Creavin this year.

Kati Young is living in NYC where she studies DNA repair as a lab manager for Professor Lorraine Symington at Columbia University.

My favorite former housemate, Dom Vazquez, has moved to Berkeley, Calif., and is roommates with Aaron Cheung (again). He is teaching seventh-grade world history and science at a public charter school in Oakland, and he is looking into starting a teacher credential program in the summer, though he’s not sure where yet. He is enjoying life by the Bay and is filling his free time with hiking and SAT/ACT tutoring. Meanwhile, Aaron is still in law school. He sends his regards to the class of 2019.

Rachel Williams is starting her second semester as an English teaching assistant in Segovia, Spain, where she works with primary school kids from second to sixth grade. She will be in Spain at least until June and potentially for another school year after that before making her return stateside.

Adam Wells has started working as a content manager at a digital music distribution company called AudioSalad in Dumbo, Brooklyn.

Nikolas Ortega has been living in Ann Arbor, Mich., since July working full time as a business consultant at Google. Through his work, Nikolas partners with countless small to medium-sized businesses throughout the U.S. to fuel their long-term growth—via Google’s products and solutions. He’s been making the most of living in the Midwest.

Jordan Legaspi has been spreading Christmas cheer in Taipei, Taiwan, where he is teaching English as part of his Fulbright Grant with Fulbright Taiwan. He shared with us a photo of a very tender moment where he sang the song “Silent Night” in English while his students responded singing “Silent Night” in Chinese.

Big thanks to everyone who chose to share their life updates with us! Watch for my next email for the next edition of the alumni magazine.

Justin Campos | jxcampos@wesleyan.edu

Hey, class of 2019. Hope you all are doing well and had a great summer. Here are some updates:

Steven Fields is staying at Wesleyan for another year, finishing up the BA/MA program in psychology. He’s excited to have the opportunity to continue his education at Wes.

At the beginning of August, Michelle Fisher moved to Madison, Wis., to start a new job at Epic, working as a technical services engineer.

Carina Flaherty moved back to her hometown of Philadelphia, where she is a clinical research assistant at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, specializing in asthma care.

Zachary Obstfeld is working at Tufts’ Fletcher School doing data analysis and visualization for a publication called Econofact that focuses on the dissemination of economic news and research.

Hannah Bolotin is living in Boston where she works as a research lab manager for Professor Katherine McAuliffe’s social and developmental psychology lab at Boston College.

Sahil Shah is working full-time at a mid-market private equity firm called CX Partners in New Delhi, India.

Maya Dorn has been working part-time as a barista at Uncommon Grounds Coffee & Bagels and just started as a laboratory assistant at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals in Rensselaer, N.Y. She tells us, “Upstate New York is where it’s at!”

Rhoen Fiutak has started a position as a math teacher at Northfield Mount Hermon. During this time, she will also be working towards a master’s degree in education from the University of Pennsylvania as a part of their independent boarding school fellowship program. She is looking forward to this new journey in Western Mass!

Aaron Cheung has started at Berkeley Law School.

Amabel Jeon moved to LA to start her first year as a PhD student in social psychology at the University of Southern California. Her research focus will be mainly on the role of culture on cognition through understanding the consequences of cultural fluency and honor.

Yahya Ladiwala has started working at a charter high school in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, and is teaching AP U.S. government to high school seniors. He has relocated to New York and is living with Josh Lane. He also wants to give a shout out to his amazing girlfriend, Cassie Morales ’20, who is about to start her senior year at Wesleyan.

Jennifer Gagne is living in Buffalo, N.Y., pursuing a master’s in urban childhood education with a specialization in TESOL (Teaching English as a New Language) while teaching ENL (English as a New Language) in Buffalo Public Schools.

Andrew Jacono is heading to Lyon for TAPIF (teaching assistant program in France) for the next seven months. He plans to do a lot of writing there to get a jumpstart on his writing career. He’ll be searching for a permanent job while abroad for when he returns in May 2020.

Sydney Riddick is pursuing a Sc.M. in biotechnology from Brown.

Devon Cooper moved to Worcester, Mass., where she is working as a laboratory research assistant in the department of molecular medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. She is helping to conduct research on a specific chemoreceptor and its potential role in microglial activation as involved in the progression of neurodegenerative disorders.

As for me, I just relocated to New York City, where I work as a paralegal for the Urban Justice Center. There I am an advocate for low-income folks who struggle with mental illnesses, helping them get the help and health care that they deserve.

And last but not least, Erin Angell and Max Wimer have gotten engaged and are set to have their wedding in May of next year!

Special thanks to everyone who reached out with their life updates.

Justin Campos | jxcampos@wesleyan.edu

Congrats again, Class of 2019! I hope you have all had productive and wonderful summers. We have spent the past four years together, and I can’t believe we are now approaching our first post-Wesleyan fall. I’m excited to hear from you all and find out what amazing things our class has been up to. Look out for an e-mail from me for updates to appear in next issue of the magazine.

Justin Campos | jxcampos@wesleyan.edu