Class Note 2021. As you’re reading this column, your class executive council is likely in deep reunion mode—refreshing group chats, double-checking spreadsheets, and wondering how it’s already been five years since we packed up our dorm rooms for the last time. Somehow Hanover is already calling us back to campus. This time we get to do it properly, without any masks, social distancing, or other barriers to stand in the way of our celebrations. I hope you are all as eager as I am to be back in the Upper Valley, retracing old steps and reconnecting with familiar faces. If getting a coffee from King Arthur Flour is on your personal reunion to-do list, consider me your unofficial driver.
A heartfelt and well-earned thank you goes out to our class executive council—Stephanie Rivera-Ithier, Cindy Shen, Marina Liot, Arun Maganti, and me—who’ve been working behind the scenes to make the magic happen. When you see them on campus in July, please give them your gratitude (or maybe a Molly’s margarita).
If a fifth reunion feels like a milestone, here’s a gentle reality check: Many of us are also approaching our 10th high school reunion next year. Time has somehow both sprinted and strolled since those days, and I’m especially looking forward to seeing Natalia Henry and Megan Hudspeth in Dallas when that rolls around. Megan, for one, has been busy. She’s traded years of grueling work at Spencer Stuart for a new role in its legal, compliance, and government affairs group, escaped the gravitational pull of her post-grad West Village apartment, and even hard launched a significant other to Instagram (arguably an equally important modern rite of passage). On the other side of the country, Lauren Pinchuk has given up the snowy peaks of Vail, Colorado, for the sunny shores of California. When she’s not practicing yoga at the beach (an expert after completing her certification in Thailand), she’s working on the next great American novel. I expect to see her musings on store shelves soon.
These are the kind of updates that make you pause and think since when did we all grow up? I’m looking forward to hearing everyone else’s version of these stories come July.
On the celebrations front, congratulations to Sophia Ludwig and Davis Brief ’20 on their engagement! There’s something especially nostalgic about a Dartmouth couple making it official—it’s exciting to see people you know go from walking on the Green to walking down the aisle. Plenty of other classmates have also shared engagements and weddings recently, and I’m eagerly awaiting more news so we can keep these updates coming in future columns.
It’s already been such a joy reconnecting with many of you in the lead-up to reunions. Soon enough, we’ll all be back in Hanover, swapping stories, revisiting old haunts, and wondering how it all went by so quickly. See you there soon!
—Marina Liot, 10 Liberty St., New York, NY 10005; marina.liot@outlook.com