Class Note 2007. I caught up with Amy (Rolfvondenbaumen) Dance after seeing her 40th birthday pictures, and she shared triumphant news about her struggle with cancer. In October 2023, while living in London with her husband and three kids and working in human resources for a bank, Amy was diagnosed with breast cancer. She had two surgeries followed by 16 rounds of chemotherapy and 10 sessions of radiotherapy. Since being diagnosed, Amy has spent significant time with the U.K. charity Breast Cancer Now as a member of its “Voices” committee, which supports the development of breast cancer knowledge and resources by providing important patient perspectives. Amy most recently supported the development of a new pamphlet to be distributed throughout National Health Service hospitals on the skincare recommendations to follow during breast radiotherapy treatment. Amy is currently on a career break but recently walked as a model in a charity fashion show for a local breast cancer charity and has volunteered as an alumni interviewer in London, with which she hopes to help again soon! She encourages all Dartmouth alumni to be body aware and get any unusual symptoms checked as soon as possible as early detection is so important to successful cancer treatment. You can see photos of Amy’s life and story on our Instagram page, @Dartmouth2007s.
In sadder news, our class lost a member to cancer last June. Robert Manning passed away peacefully on Tuesday, April 29, at the age of 40. At Dartmouth Robert majored in linguistics, a field that suited his love of language and communication, and was a member of Alpha Theta, where he brought quiet geniality in his role as house manager and in social settings, whether playing board games or sharing deep discussion on philosophy or an interesting TV show. His Dartmouth friends and community remember him as unfailingly kind and going out of his way to make conversation easy for friends and strangers alike in settings large or intimate. You can find Robert’s full obituary at dartmouthalumnimagazine.com/obits. The ’07 compassion committee has sent a donation in Robert’s name to his church, the St. James AME Zion Church in Ithaca, New York.
And in an inspiring story about two ’07s uniting professionally: Dylan Gee and Mirelle Phillips wrote in with some awesome collaboration news. Dylan wrote, “It has been one of the most exciting joys in my life during the last few years to collaborate with Mirelle in the professional realm. As you probably know, Mirelle is doing groundbreaking work as the founder of Studio Elsewhere, using bio-experiential design to support health. I’m a professor of psychology at Yale, directing a developmental neuroscience lab that studies how the developing brain adapts to its environment to inform interventions for youth and families. (See page 49.) In 2022 Mirelle reached out to ask if my lab and I would be up for consulting on the design of a new childcare center at NorthPoint in Minneapolis.
“Exactly 20 years after we first met as freshmen at Dartmouth, it was a joy to bring together our complementary expertise to contribute to the now-launched center designed with the specific lens of supporting the brain and mental health needs of children. We have since had the chance to present our work on Capitol Hill and launched exciting upcoming collaborations!” Mirelle echoed, “It’s been such a dream come true to collaborate this way! With Dylan’s partnership we’ve developed an interactive multisensory intervention called Flourish that is being used in pediatric behavioral health for children and families. Our freshmen selves would be nerding out about this!”
—Sam Routhier, 543 W 122nd St., Apt. 25B, New York, NY 10027; samrouthier@gmail.com