Happy New Year, ’05s! We trust you all had a great holiday season. The year 2016 ended with a tremendous amount of news for our class, so let’s get to it.

First, our own Ashley (Donnenfeld) Shackelton won the President of the Year Award for Dartmouth classes 25 years out and younger. Ashley’s team-oriented attitude, kind style and unwavering dedication to our class got her the nod. Congratulations, Ashley! Well deserved indeed.

Next, two of our classmates, Maia Josebachvili and Shounak Simlai,are the recipients of the 2016-17 Young Alumni Distinguished Service Award. The award recognizes alumni who have graduated within the prior 15 years for their extraordinary volunteerism on behalf of Dartmouth College. The awards were presented during the Friday evening banquet of the Dartmouth Alumni Council’s 213th meeting October 21, 2016, in Hanover. Congratulations to you both!

Finally, speaking of awards, Matt Heineman and his film Cartel Land took home three Emmys in September. This closed out the awards season for Matt and his highly successful film, so congratulations on the hardware, Matty! He also got engaged to his longtime girlfriend, Sara, shortly thereafter to ensure that I will continue writing about him in 2017.

In terms of other classmate life updates, there was a strong push in the wedding and baby department in the fall of 2016, September to be exact. Katy McCarthy married Jon Weber in Chicago; Leah Skypeck married Matthew Bouteiller in Vermont; Lindsey Pryor married Tom Cesca in Jackson Lake, Wyoming; and Nicole Valco married Kyle Thomas in Napa Valley, California. No surprise that most of these weddings were celebrated by a large Dartmouth contingent.

In terms of babies, ’05s kept them coming. Brooke (Wood) Price, husband Michael and son Parker welcomed a girl, Bryn Alexandra, to the world in August. Kaitlin (Jaxheimer) Descovich and husband Brian upped the ante and had twins, Jack and Amelia, in September. Kelly (Thomason) Self and husband Mike had a girl, Emma, in September. Stephanie (Mathews) Kazantsev and husband Andrey became a family of five in September with new arrival, Mark. Royce Novosel-Johnson and wife Katie welcomed their second son, Cal, into the world in September. Lastly, Alexis Ettinger and Jon Urban became a family of three when son August Reed joined them here in our nation’s capital in October. Congratulations to all the parents, old and new!

That is it. Have a great start to 2017 everyone and keep the updates coming.

—Matt Nicholson, 79 Potomac Ave., SE, #345, Washington, DC 20003; mtnicholson3@gmail.com