Class Note 1989
On a stunning fall day in early October, I drove up a tree-lined Vermont road to the White River Junction farm of our very own Chuck Wooster.
He bought the place in 1998 and has transformed it into my idea of what might lie at the end of a rainbow. On his 98-acre hillside he raises more than 50 varieties of vegetables, as well as sheep, pigs and chickens. Much of his land is wooded, but from about 20 acres of usable farmland he helps feed more than a hundred families through something called Community Supported Agriculture. The farm-to-table movement around the country has convinced many of us to buy at least some of our food, directly from the source. Chuck’s families visit Sunrise Farm weekly in the summer to pick out their edibles and enjoy the farm’s beautiful flowers and long mountain vistas.
As you read this during these cold months Chuck might be sitting at his desk in his restored yellow farmhouse, perhaps writing an article for Northern Woodlands magazine, where he’s an associate editor. Maybe he’s reviewing the seeds he’s starting for the months to come or eyeing his sugaring house, planning for the boiling of the sap from the maple trees as soon as the days begin to warm. You can find a full profile of Chuck and Sunrise Farm on our class website, www.dartmouth89.org, one of a series of occasional profiles that we hope to bring you about the lives of our classmates.
In other news, Mark Filimonov writes from Nevada City, California, north of Sacramento. His new business, www.thegrantfarm.com, helps entrepreneurs, businesses and public agencies apply for public funding for transportation and renewable-energy projects through writing grants. Mark says since early 2009 he’s helped to raise about $15 million for startups and others in the clean transportation and renewable energy sectors. He was also recently engaged to be married and spends his time managing his freelance writing work and raising his two daughters, ages 16 and 11.
Rani Sellers lives in White Plains, New York, with her husband, John and 6-year-old son Spencer. She is in her fifth year as an associate professor in the department of pathology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. She loves her job and says working in the Bronx is quite an experience. I’m a little unsure if that’s why Rani decided to take up tae kwon do, but she is apparently quite good at it, since she has a black belt and is working toward getting to second dan.
Catherine Baggia Duwan writes that since her kids are now in middle school she’s joined the legal department of Princeton, New Jersey-based Church & Dwight, a consumer goods conglomerate best known for Arm & Hammer brands. She sounds quite happy to be back to work and says Professor Rassias would be proud that she’s putting her Spanish, French and Italian to good use writing the fine print for contracts around the world.
Jennifer Byrnes Brower lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with her husband, Dave, and their three kids: Jacob, 12, Cecelia (“Cece”), 10, and Samantha, 7. Jennifer is the executive VP for programs and operations of the International Neuroscience Network Foundation, where she runs brain-related international science projects on Parkinson’s, motor research and other areas. She also does K-12 science outreach—trying to get kids interested in science. And Jennifer is a principal scientist with Prometheus Inc., a small female-owned software and engineering firm that specializes in applied mathematics, where she works on everything from preventing the detonation of improvised explosive devices to finding and identifying cancerous tumors.
—Jennifer Avellino, 5912 Aberdeen Road, Bethesda, MD 20817; javellino@mac.com
