Class Note 1995. My oldest, Elise, started at San Diego State this fall. It was great to be back in California—my first time there since my parents moved from the Bay Area in 2020—so I decided to reach out to our classmates on the left coast to hear what’s up.
Laurie Sedillos Vander Veen writes: “Thanks for the California love. After a three-year sojourn on our farm in the Central Valley, during which time we lost our permanent home in the Pacific Palisades fire, our family has moved to Hermosa Beach. Our daughter Grace graduated from UCLA last June, and our son Jake started at UC Santa Barbara in September—so we’re empty nesters! I hope I can start teaching again, but traveling to visit out-of-state friends is at the top of my to-do list.”
Tia Maggini moved out to L.A. from New York City in 2001 and has been working in film and TV ever since. “I spent 10-plus years overseeing scripted programming as an executive for Lifetime and made more than 100 movies with the network. I left in 2025 to go independent and spend more time traveling, and I am currently writing in from Almaty, Kazakhstan. I’m still loving life in California and no matter where I travel, I definitely see myself always coming back to L.A. as a home base.”
Maggie Essman landed at San Francisco International Airport on New Year’s Eve 1998, following a three-year stint in Beijing and three months of backpacking around Europe and Southeast Asia with her then boyfriend, now husband, Julian. “We met in Beijing; he had come back after studying abroad there through UC San Diego. I was there because I needed to escape—I’d bailed on medical school and declined offers to teach and coach. It helped that my parents were living there at the time. I thought I’d ‘check out’ China for six weeks and come back to the United States with a clearer head and a career plan. I ended up finding an amazing job, amassing a collection of incredible local and expat friends, meeting my partner for life, and staying to experience a China that was exploding with change. I 10 out of 10 recommend living abroad when you don’t have a clue what you want to be when you grow up.
“Fast forward to January 1999: We scored a bright, reasonably priced apartment nestled between Golden Gate Park and the Presidio. About six months after our Sonoma [California] wedding, we bought a 1910 Craftsman bungalow in Alameda and have been there ever since. Our daughter Fiona started college in Seattle this fall, rendering us empty nesters. Aside from a short stint at a PR agency and six months as an entrepreneur, I’ve spent my career in healthcare and am currently a strategy consultant for Kaiser Permanente’s health plan. I’ve run into several alums—and former soccer teammates—around the Bay Area. Fiona played against two ’97 teammates’ daughters, which was super fun. I still play soccer and travel globally for tournaments and camps.”
—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA 02043; kaja.k.fickes.95@dartmouth.edu; Beth Webster, c/o DAM, 7 Lebanon St., Suite 107, Hanover, NH 03755; websterew@gmail.com