Class Note 2014

Hello again, ’14s.

Happy new year and welcome back to another edition of updates from the class of 2014! However, given our class’s general lack of enthusiasm for sending in updates, this note might be more aptly titled, “George’s musings after scrolling through social media for three hours.” Thank you all for giving my Internet addiction and God-given talent for procrastination a productive and creative outlet, but in the future please send me updates! Not only will they be much appreciated, but they will also prevent me from reporting any fake news, which, entering 2020, is more important than ever before.

Starting off this issue’s edition of “Weddings, Engagements, & Other Romantic Activities,” Isa Francisco and Nate Reznicek got married this October in Boston. Meanwhile over in the vastly superior city of Chicago, Kalon Stephen and Ellen Daily got engaged on the shores of Lake Michigan. I know I have missed many other engagements and weddings, but one in particular was the wedding of Alison Levens and Dong Zhao who got married in St. Louis, Missouri, in July. Speaking of St. Louis, going back into the Class Notes archives, it also seems as though my predecessor as secretary never announced the engagement of Meg Guard and Mark Andriola. Congrats everyone!

The only actual update I received for this edition comes from Dan Harnish, who writes, “There were 12 ’14s inducted into the Dartmouth Athletic Hall of Fame during Homecoming.” Upon further investigation, Nathan Utterback, Peter Horak, Stuart Ghafoor, Scott Brookes, Ivan Antoniv, and Gabby Stern joined the Wearers of the Green this fall for outstanding years fencing at Dartmouth. Additionally, Victoria Rackohn, Kristen Nehls, Maria Sperduto, Iris Yu, and Jojo Miller were honored for their accomplishments on the ice while figure skating at Thompson Arena. What Dan somehow failed to mention was that he also was inducted into this illustrious group for putting his ridiculously long limbs to use as goalie for the water polo team. While some may think Dan was just being humble and deferential to his classmates, I would definitely put this update in the category of “subtle self-call.” Well done, Dan.

In terms of professional accomplishments, our fellow classmate Ben Nguyen won this year’s Milken Educator Award for his work teaching students robotics at Sunrise Mountain High School in Las Vegas. This year Ben was one of only 40 teachers in the country to win this award, dubbed as “Oscar of Teaching” by Teacher magazine.

Finally, Clifton Lyons recently moved into a new apartment, started a new job in Chicago, and is generally thriving. Since graduation Clifton has been a co-creator and executive producer of the web series Velvet, which premiered in March 2018 and is obviously still worth checking out if you haven’t already. More recently, Clifton writes in that they have rebranded as “sporty” and can be found in their free time watching The Game.

—George Helding, 1216 W. Addison St., Apt. 2, Chicago, IL 60613; georgehelding92@gmail.com