Summer is now upon us and the class of ’96 has had a busy 2012 thus far. With successful mini-reunions in the Bay Area, Washington, D.C., and New York, our class has already had a number of great gatherings and we look forward to holding a number of similar events in the future. If you would like to help plan a mini-reunion or have a great idea for one, reach out to our class leadership today!


In the meanwhile, I’ve received a couple of great updates from a few incredible ladies who have not sent updates in a while. Michelle (Brattson) Majors wrote with news that she said has been “a long time coming!” and sends her best wishes to all ’96s. Michelle has been “working hard and living the dream” in Santa Monica, California, where she is raising her son Mitchell (2 1/2) with her husband, Brady, and working as a production manager in the movie industry. She just wrapped her latest project, Star Trek 2, which will be coming out in 2013. (Side note: Another one of our classmates Alexander Panov just finished his work in the art department for the same film!) 


Classmate Genevieve (Jeong) Bennett announced the April 6 arrival of her third son, Finn Rhys, who joins big brothers Ronan (7) and Callum (4). Genevieve and her husband, Christian Bennett ’99, maintain a “full and active house” in Palo Alto, California. She is taking a couple of years away from the working world to spend time raising her growing family. Genevieve also admitted that given the fact that she is way outnumbered at home, she is glad to get an occasional dose of much-needed girl time every now and again with Ashton Kawanishi ’97 and Aya Kamaya ’95!


Jenny Bentwood posted on Facebook earlier this month with news from abroad. Jenny, who is a family medicine resident at the Greater Lawrence Family Health Center in Lawrence, Massachusetts, relayed that she was in Nalerigu, Ghana, working at the Baptist Med Center. She said, “Three days a week we staff the walk-in clinic, which is similar to home—lots of chronic back pain patients, vague physical complaints with no obvious cause. Unlike home, hundreds of patients line up outside the doors at 5 a.m. and wait all day to be seen. The only pain med we have to offer is Tylenol. Sadly, with the poverty and lack of access to preventive care, many people have disease that is far too advanced to do anything about. More often than not we start morning rounds on pediatrics hearing about the child who died during the night. It’s been emotionally exhausting and I admire the docs who are here permanently. I don’t know how they do it.” She was looking forward to catching up with people and sharing more stories, relaying that there many “happy ones” too.


Lastly, Shilyh Warren let me know that she and her family are leaving North Carolina (after 10 happy years there) and are bound for Dallas. Shilyh will be teaching film studies at the University of Texas at Dallas. She said that she and her husband, Daniel, know practically nothing about Dallas (or Texas for that matter), so they would welcome “any suggestions or ideas about how to have a happy move with two kids (ages 8 and 3)” in tow! I also heard recently that April Whitescarver and her family were relocating from the East Coast to Texas, so maybe our area ’96s could host a mini-reunion sometime soon to welcome them Texan style!


—Garrett Gil de Rubio, 1062 Middlebrooke Drive, Canton, GA 30115; ggdr@alum.dartmouth.org