Class Note 1988
From Kim Bomar:“ ‘Mama, you know you have a sheep’s brain in your cup holder, right?’ In case I had forgotten, Ayinde, my 10th-grade son, reminded me on the drive home from school, where I’d pick up my eighth-grader, Iyanu, and shuttle him to his French horn lesson. After dinner I get my sons to track practice, squeeze in more client work for my small general corporate practice and prepare to start some variation on this theme the next day. Life is good, mine centers around education, and Dartmouth is still a significant part of it.”
Kim lives in Stanford, California, where her husband, Kunle Olukotun, is a Stanford professor. At Iyanu’s middle school, she co-chairs the Connections Program, a project-based learning program that focuses on hands-on activities, social-emotional learning and collaboration. She also co-chairs Parent Advocates for Student Success, an advocacy group focusing on the needs of historically underrepresented and socioeconomically disadvantaged students in the competitive Palo Alto schools.
“But what about the sheep’s brain? That’s where Dartmouth and I reconnected in the most unexpected of ways. For six years I’ve been program manager for the Greene Scholars Program, a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) enrichment program for children of African descent, which seeks to increase the pipeline of STEM-capable minorities. The preserved sheep’s brain was left over from a middle-school neuroscience lesson. I thought it would make an excellent prize for one of our scholars; Ayinde suggested donuts.
“What’s the Dartmouth connection? This program could not exist without the generous financial and other support of T.J. Rodgers ’70 (founder and director of Cypress Semiconductor) and his wife, Valeta Massey. In fact, because of T.J.’s sponsorship, the Greene Scholars Program has operated without charge in Cypress Semiconductor’s meeting space for 10-plus years.”
Kim is in regular contact with Nicola (McLeod) Pitter. Both have visited Nicola’s parents in Jamaica a number of times and, during Nicola’s annual visits to her brother, Stephen McLeod ’86, in San Francisco, Nicola often tacks on a visit to Kim.
After 25 years in Manhattan, Nicola relocated with her family—husband Calvin, Drew (16) and Nadia (13)—to northern Virginia in 2015. Nicola graduated from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government in 1990, and majored in Spanish and government at Dartmouth, but ended up in healthcare, currently working for a large hospital system. Nicola and Calvin spend most of their free time attending Drew’s varsity and Amateur Athletic Union basketball games all over the United States and accompanying Nadia to her U.S. Tennis Association junior team tennis matches in Virginia. Nicola has visited Dartmouth quite a few times since graduation—but only in good weather!—including to watch Calvin’s niece, Leigh Goulbourne ’17, graduate last June. She looks forward to attending our 30th reunion in June.
Pete Rutledge has lived in Norwich, Vermont, since graduation, except for the three years (1992-95), when he lived in Sonoma, California. He purchased the old Jug Store in 1996, and has operated it as Norwich Wine and Spirits ever since. Pete married Charlotte Bothe in a small ceremony at an Austrian winery in 2013, and they welcomed their first child, Sophie, in July 2016. Pete was a motorcyclist (and delivery driver for EBAs) while at Dartmouth, but has given that up in favor of vintage cars (1980s BMWs and MGs). During the warmer seasons he can often be found sailing on Lake Champlain, and his winter recreation includes snowboarding, plowing his driveway and snowshoeing in the woods with his dog. He travels to Tucson, Arizona, once or twice a year to see fellow ’88s Mike and Carrie (Brennan) Mann.
—Jere Mancini, 34 Wearimus Road, HoHoKus, NJ 07423; d88correspondent@gmail.com
