Hello, ’00s.

I got a note from Lifan Shen, who shared, “For the last two years I have been deeply involved in starting a nonprofit middle school called Brooklyn Independent. Our mission is to build an intentionally diverse student body through a unique sliding scale tuition that allows families of all socioeconomic backgrounds to access a rigorous private school education. Located in Fort Greene, we opened our doors to our inaugural sixth-grade class this past fall and are currently enrolling two sixth-grade classes for 2020-21. I now serve as board treasurer.” In his professional life he’s a senior vice president and wealth management advisor at Merrill Lynch in New York City. In January he had a great trip skiing at Alta, Utah, with Ronald Kim, Rishi Sahay, Mark Kim, Mike White, Nick Beckman,and Matt Schlough.

The Big Green is representing well in Larkspur, California, just north of San Francisco. Laura (Adams) Young writes: “Within our preschool class of 14, I’m proud to report there are three mini-greens and five Dartmouth parents. Our daughter, Caroline (3), joins Ned Braun, son of Lucas Braun and Kate (Dallmeyer) Braun ’01, as well as Daphne Hale, daughter of Rob ’07 and Catherine (Haldeman) Hale ’08. On the work front, I’ve loved intersecting lately with multiple Dartmouth folk at Google San Francisco, including Laura (Delaney) Nichol ’04, Craig Rubens ’06, and Tori Miner ’02, who just joined the company in the new year. Last but not least, I’m happy to (belatedly!) share news that my husband, Dave, and I welcomed a son, James, in August 2018 and remain quite smitten with him.”

Thanks for the updates, Lifan and Laura. I hope everyone is having an excellent summer—drop a note to tell me about your adventures!

—Kate (Ryan) Stowe, 91 Waterman Place, St. Louis, MO, 63112; dartmouth2000secretary@gmail.com