Class Note 2002
Issue
After this one there will be just four more Class Notes columns written by yours truly. Start thinking about whether you’re itching to take over this job, as it will be up for grabs at reunion this June! More on that from Vanessa (Green) Sinders, class president, and Phil Mone, vice president: “Mark your calendars: Our ninth reunion is June 17-19, 2011, in Hanover! For every 10th-year reunion Dartmouth clusters graduating years, so we will be on campus a year early—at the same time as the ’01s (celebrating their true 10th reunion) and ’00s (celebrating their 11th!). In addition to seeing all your ’02 friends, this will be a great way to see friends from other graduating classes that you wouldn’t otherwise get to see. We had almost 500 attendees at our fifth reunion back in 2007, and we hope to surpass that total next June! Meanwhile, we’re looking for volunteers to help plan this event! Please e-mail class.of.2002@alum.dartmouth.org!”
Matt Drossos and Katie (Baines) Drossos ’04 welcomed their daughter Madeline Ashcroft Drossos on May 28. They admit to dressing their first born in Dartmouth onesies in the hopes of subtly influencing her future college selection. Regan Murphy wrote in to tell us that Jeff Hafner married Liz Roberts ’00 in Mystic, Connecticut, this spring with many Dartmouth Cords and ’02s in attendance. Apparently there was a rousing rendition of the alma mater at their reception.
Sam Reisner and Mariah Klaneski (Wesleyan ’04) were married October 3, 2009, at Wesleyan University. The ceremony was at Wesleyan’s Memorial Chapel, with dinner and dancing following at the school’s own Fayerweather building, in Beckham Hall. The Dartmouth contingent included Jared Alessandroni ’03, Carl Burnett ’03 and Richie Jay Nussbaum ’03. Mariah and Sam bought a house in Bristol, Connecticut, where Sam works as a senior development engineer at ESPN. Mariah is a graphic designer in Wesleyan’s new media lab.
After 12 fun years Matt Cheney has left the Upper Valley, having finished his M.D./Ph.D. at the med school. He wrote to say: “I’ve moved out to Seattle to do a preliminary year in internal medicine and then will be heading back to Boston to join the Harvard radiation oncology residency program. More importantly, I got married last September to Kate Olson (Middlebury ’05) on Lake Fairlee, Vermont. I’ve been catching up with Frank Yoshida, Jim Hotaling and Andy Brauninger while in Seattle, but would love to see any other Dartmouth folk who are out my way while I’m here!”
Emilia Peraza wrote in with this happy news: “On August 14 I married Christian Warrington (Brown ’01) at Aquinas House on the Dartmouth campus. Our celebrant was Father Francis Belanger ’89, O.P. The reception followed at the Home Hill Inn in Plainfield, New Hampshire. Other Dartmouth alums in attendance were Meg (Cahill) Becker ’01, Todd Becker ’99, Sam Berdinka ’01, Jennifer (Wiehn) Bogue ’01, Dan Casella, Amy Catlin ’03, Geoff Colla ’04, Carrie (Hoverman) Colla ’01, Ashley Dean, Jackie Fuld ’03, Brian Hood, Margot and Pascal Lalonde, Nicole Miritello ’01, Lisa Thomas ’03, Joe Vinci and Kristin (King) Wright. We had an amazing celebration with our wonderful friends and family. Chris and I moved to Hanover from Sun Valley, Idaho, in January of this year and now that life has settled down a bit, we’re able to enjoy living in the greatest town on earth!”
My news is that in the 2011-12 school year I’ll be taking over as principal of Williamsburg Collegiate Charter School, the middle school I helped start five years ago in Brooklyn. I’ve also taken the plunge and bought a place in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. Life is good here in New York, and I hope the same is true in your corners of the world!
—J.T. Leaird, 202 Baltic St., Apt. 4, Brooklyn, NY 11201; jt.leaird@gmail.com
Nov - Dec 2010
After this one there will be just four more Class Notes columns written by yours truly. Start thinking about whether you’re itching to take over this job, as it will be up for grabs at reunion this June! More on that from Vanessa (Green) Sinders, class president, and Phil Mone, vice president: “Mark your calendars: Our ninth reunion is June 17-19, 2011, in Hanover! For every 10th-year reunion Dartmouth clusters graduating years, so we will be on campus a year early—at the same time as the ’01s (celebrating their true 10th reunion) and ’00s (celebrating their 11th!). In addition to seeing all your ’02 friends, this will be a great way to see friends from other graduating classes that you wouldn’t otherwise get to see. We had almost 500 attendees at our fifth reunion back in 2007, and we hope to surpass that total next June! Meanwhile, we’re looking for volunteers to help plan this event! Please e-mail class.of.2002@alum.dartmouth.org!”
Matt Drossos and Katie (Baines) Drossos ’04 welcomed their daughter Madeline Ashcroft Drossos on May 28. They admit to dressing their first born in Dartmouth onesies in the hopes of subtly influencing her future college selection. Regan Murphy wrote in to tell us that Jeff Hafner married Liz Roberts ’00 in Mystic, Connecticut, this spring with many Dartmouth Cords and ’02s in attendance. Apparently there was a rousing rendition of the alma mater at their reception.
Sam Reisner and Mariah Klaneski (Wesleyan ’04) were married October 3, 2009, at Wesleyan University. The ceremony was at Wesleyan’s Memorial Chapel, with dinner and dancing following at the school’s own Fayerweather building, in Beckham Hall. The Dartmouth contingent included Jared Alessandroni ’03, Carl Burnett ’03 and Richie Jay Nussbaum ’03. Mariah and Sam bought a house in Bristol, Connecticut, where Sam works as a senior development engineer at ESPN. Mariah is a graphic designer in Wesleyan’s new media lab.
After 12 fun years Matt Cheney has left the Upper Valley, having finished his M.D./Ph.D. at the med school. He wrote to say: “I’ve moved out to Seattle to do a preliminary year in internal medicine and then will be heading back to Boston to join the Harvard radiation oncology residency program. More importantly, I got married last September to Kate Olson (Middlebury ’05) on Lake Fairlee, Vermont. I’ve been catching up with Frank Yoshida, Jim Hotaling and Andy Brauninger while in Seattle, but would love to see any other Dartmouth folk who are out my way while I’m here!”
Emilia Peraza wrote in with this happy news: “On August 14 I married Christian Warrington (Brown ’01) at Aquinas House on the Dartmouth campus. Our celebrant was Father Francis Belanger ’89, O.P. The reception followed at the Home Hill Inn in Plainfield, New Hampshire. Other Dartmouth alums in attendance were Meg (Cahill) Becker ’01, Todd Becker ’99, Sam Berdinka ’01, Jennifer (Wiehn) Bogue ’01, Dan Casella, Amy Catlin ’03, Geoff Colla ’04, Carrie (Hoverman) Colla ’01, Ashley Dean, Jackie Fuld ’03, Brian Hood, Margot and Pascal Lalonde, Nicole Miritello ’01, Lisa Thomas ’03, Joe Vinci and Kristin (King) Wright. We had an amazing celebration with our wonderful friends and family. Chris and I moved to Hanover from Sun Valley, Idaho, in January of this year and now that life has settled down a bit, we’re able to enjoy living in the greatest town on earth!”
My news is that in the 2011-12 school year I’ll be taking over as principal of Williamsburg Collegiate Charter School, the middle school I helped start five years ago in Brooklyn. I’ve also taken the plunge and bought a place in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. Life is good here in New York, and I hope the same is true in your corners of the world!
—J.T. Leaird, 202 Baltic St., Apt. 4, Brooklyn, NY 11201; jt.leaird@gmail.com