Greetings! I hope at this point folks are on their way out of the winter doldrums and well into spring. Jumping right in, I have news that, “For the second year the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs sponsored a contest written by a foreign journalist about ‘the Best of France.’ The judges came from Le Figaro, Radio France, Le Montagne and the Associated Press.” This year’s prize was awarded to Corinne Labalme, who has been a journalist in France for more than 20 years, for an article written about an obscure chateau in the Loire Valley. It was published in English in France Revisited. Congratulations to Corinne.

The College also received news that, “Scott Simons, founder of Scott Simons Architects in Portland, Maine, has been elevated to the College of Fellows of the American Institute of Architects for making a significant contribution to design excellence in the profession at both the state and national level. One of only three fellows in Maine and only the seventh in the state’s history to receive this honor, Simons has practiced architecture for more than 30 years. His firm created the award-winning design for the Portland Public Library, Casco Bay Ferry Terminal and Waynflete Arts Center.” Scott was a founder and president of the Portland Society of Architects and is a member of the board of Maine American Institute of Architects (AIA). A resident of Freeport, Maine, Scott will be honored in Philadelphia in May at the national AIA convention. Congratulations, Simz. Based on your Facebook posts, it also looks like you may be attacking the 4,000-footers in New England.

I also received news that, “The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority board of directors appointed Monica Hargrove the airports authority’s vice president and secretary.” She joined the airports authority in 2013 as deputy general counsel. A veteran aviation attorney, she previously served as general counsel at Airports Council International, North America, and associate counsel at US Airways Inc. Prior to that she was a trial attorney in the antitrust division at the U.S. Department of Justice. Hargrove chairs the forum on air and space law of the American Bar Association. The press release went on to report that, “The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority operates Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Washington Dulles International Airport, the Dulles Airport Access Highway and the Dulles Toll Road and also manages construction of the Silver Line project, a 23-mile extension of the Washington region’s Metrorail public transit system through Fairfax County and into Loudoun County, Virginia. More than 44 million passengers a year pass through the two airports. The airports authority generates more than 387,000 jobs in the national capital region.” Congratulations to Monica.

If you haven’t taken a look, go onto the class of ’76 Facebook page to keep up with classmates. The information there is more current than what you get to see in the DAM, given the lead time necessary here. You never know what is going to turn up there. Check it out.

—Jay Josselyn, 2006 Golden Belt Parkway, Durham, NC 27703; (919) 452-3928; jayjosselyn@hotmail.com