With 2023 coming to its end and a new year on the horizon, we reflect on what has transpired over the last year. For the class of 1996, this most recent trip around the sun has been marked by remarkable personal growth, amazing professional achievement, and important familial events. With these concluding notes for the year and (for many) the last in our 40s, we salute a few of our bold classmates tackling new challenges this year.

Many ’96s were literally making great strides as they dedicated themselves to distance runs across the country. In early October Katie (Shutzer) Brennan completed the “51st Annual LBI Commemorative 18-Mile Run” in Long Beach Township, New Jersey (reportedly with the “best team” cheering for her along the way). That same week Drew Brady finished his first triathlon in Rock Hall, Maryland. Inga (Fisk) Stenta completed the Chicago Marathon; she indicated that this her 10th marathon was a “spectacular event” and offered thanks to “her dearest and oldest friends, Margie (Block) and Kevin Stineman, for hosting and shuttling and making pasta reservations and dealing with my crazy pre-marathon rituals.” In mid-October brothers-in-law Tom Shea and Chad Northrup ran the Baystate Marathon in Lowell, Massachusetts; according to Chad, it is “always great being out there with Tom,” and he was “very thankful to my family for supporting me in this craziness, especially my nephew [and Tom’s son], Cooper, who met us at the finish line.” And, lastly, Devon Carew and Laura Bright were part of a Dartmouth Club of Oregon team that completed a 196-mile relay run from Mount Hood to the Oregon coast; they ran with 10 other alums (from a ’69 all the way to recent ’23 grads) and the team completed the event in 32 hours, placing in the top half of its division despite the intent of “simply having a good time.”

Not to be outdone, several ’96s were also “winning” in the workplace. K.C. Danzansky relayed her “very last day as a General Mills employee! More than half my life (27 freaking years!) working for the company that gave me so much, including my incredible husband. Lots of gratitude for the growth, experience, and friendships—on to new adventures with Ecolab!” Shannon Smith-Bernardin announced with a “Woohoo baby!” that she had been promoted to associate professor at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Nursing. Oliver Will started a new position as research scientist at Oracle after nearly three years in research and development at Cerner Enviza. Jessica Schopp shared that she started a new position as head of global treasury management technical sales at US Bank (in her second year at the bank and after a previous 15 years of progressive product management positions at JPMorgan Chase). And Thomas “T.C.” Clarke posted that a work from his photography project on yoga was accepted to the De Young Museum’s 2023 Open for local artists; his portrait titled Triangle will be featured in the Sunnyvale, California, museum’s exhibit from September 30 to January 6.

A few of our alumni couples were also celebrating major life milestones this fall. In October Daphnie Monie and Devin Morgan were able to (finally) make it to their 20th wedding anniversary trip to Italy (postponed from 2020 by Covid); the couple saw much of the country, including Rome, Pompeii, Capri, Assisi, Venice, Tuscany, Pisa, Florence, and San Gimignano. Also celebrating were Stephanie (Brown) Scales and her husband, Webb ’86, who marked their 25th anniversary with a two-week trip across Scotland.

—Garrett Gil de Rubio, 1062 Middlebrooke Drive, Canton, GA 30115; ggdr@alum.dartmouth.org