Class Notes 1995

So, I’m on a quest to track down the ’95 empty-nesters to hear what your lives are like these days. I was inspired by Greg Hoffmeister ’93, who, with his wife, Michelle, has opened a beachside taproom in a neighboring town, Hull, Massachusetts, now that they are (mostly) empty-nesters. Check out Doctor’s Island if you’re in the area (but not until the weather warms up, they close for the winter!) My husband, Dan, and I have two high-schoolers and are definitely curious about life after carpools and softball games. It’s great to hear how some of our classmates are marking this new chapter.

Newlywed Matthew Riley’s son recently turned 21 and moved out last summer. “My husband and I are enjoying the empty-nest life! We just got back from our honeymoon in Spain, Morocco, and Gibraltar. We are exploring all of the speakeasies, cocktail bars, and taphouses in the Portland, Oregon, metro area. Also, we are looking to live out our midcentury fantasy and deciding whether to ‘love it’ or ‘list it’ with our current house.”

Jamie Moyer writes,“In September I took my youngest to college, left my job, and am pivoting my focus to a new direction that has been calling me for a while—the nonprofit sector. I’ve kicked off this journey by taking classes toward a certificate in nonprofit management from the Harvard Kennedy School, including a class with professor Arthur Brooks (author of From Strength to Strength), which has been very inspiring as I start this next chapter!”

Elizabeth Truong,aka Thahn,sent a stunning photo on a sailboat and reports: “My husband, Dan Garcia-Diaz, and I have managed to raise a sensible son (25) and charismatic daughter (22) who are both very busy with their own lives. Meanwhile, I’m racing in sailing regattas twice a week and Dan plays golf with his buddies. While we have separate hobbies, it’s fun to compare notes once we come together for a nice, quiet evening sans afterschool activities. Still, we miss those mischievous kids with all our hearts!”

Another ’95 couple Becky (Gayman) Wiese and Brian Wiese have been empty-nesters for a year. “Our poor dog is suffering under the weight of too much added attention. We’re learning to mountain bike (with comical results), still attending our kids’ college soccer matches, and trying to visit some Dartmouth classmates. We celebrated our 50th birthdays in London with Chris Mitchell, Ali Ruff Mitchell, and Blaine Legere last summer and in Hawaii with Dana Brenner Costello and Jenn Chapman Schindler.

Becky’s also spending some of her free time helping out with our upcoming 30th reunion! We’ll gather in Hanover June 19-22. For early registration and more details, check out our class website at 1995.dartmouth.org. Hope to see you back on campus this summer.

Keep your news coming!

—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA 02043; kaja.k.fickes.95@dartmouth.edu

Are you among the more than 2 million people who have watched Roger Federer’s Commencement speech for the class of 2024? If not, I highly recommend it! He delivered some solid life lessons through tennis metaphors: “Effortless is a myth….It’s only a point. Life is bigger than the court.” I watched it with my teenaged daughters but realized there were lessons in it even for a 50-year-old such as myself. Check it out!

I put feelers out to some classmates for the advice that they might give to graduating seniors heading out into the world. Not a lot of responses, I’m afraid, but Daisy Florin did chime in with advice that has stuck with her for 20 years: “When my youngest was a toddler, we were hanging with another toddler buddy. His mom was trying to lose weight and she told me she was going to start throwing out whatever food he left behind instead of eating it herself. She said, ‘I decided I can be the garbage can or I can let the garbage can be the garbage can.’ ” Words of wisdom indeed.

Evelyn Brady wrote in, not with advice, but with some news. “We are officially empty-nesters! Ashleigh ’21 is currently at Harvard Graduate School of Design studying architecture and now Nicholas will be attending UNC Charlotte to study mechanical engineering with a motor sports concentration. With all my free time I’m becoming more involved with the Delaware Democratic Party and was selected to represent Delaware as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this summer.” After the election Evelyn and her husband, Drew ’96, are looking forward to quieter days. (Anyone want to share their advice for the empty-nest transition? That could be valuable to many of us in the years ahead!)

Congratulations to Alison Cook on the publication of her new book, I Shouldn’t Feel This Way. The book delves into guilt and self-sabotage, providing a path to “untangling conflicting emotions.” A psychotherapist, author, and online educator, Alison has published three books and hosts a weekly podcast, The Best of You.

Sadly, the bells of Baker Tower ring for another of our classmates who has passed away. Gonzalo Lira died in January at the age of 55. May he rest in peace.

—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA 02043; kaja.k.fickes.95@dartmouth.edu

I recently checked in with our classmates living “’round the girdled earth” and heard back from a couple of folks across the pond in Great Britain. Dan Glazer joked that his wife, two daughters, and he go to “family boarding school in London,” where Dan is the founding and managing partner of William Sonsini’s London office.

“We moved to London from the New Jersey suburbs of N.Y.C. in 2018 but we keep a place back in the United States at the Jersey Shore to stay close to our extended family. After remote working became more prevalent during the pandemic, we adopted a schedule of living in London during the school year and at the Jersey Shore during the summer and December holidays—pretty much the same arrangement as when I was Dartmouth (but with a lot less snow!).”

Dan became a dual citizen last year. In keeping with that merged identity, he led William Sonsini’s partnership with the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. In honor of the partnership, the firm’s new London office is decked out with official reproductions of more than 30 photos from the museum’s collection. Nice to know that you have some Americana with you overseas, Dan.

Deborah Smith now lives in Kent, England, with her husband and three children: Alexander (8) and Theodore and Penelope (both 6). “We absolutely love the British countryside (when it isn’t raining!). I commute up to work in London, where I work for Goldman Sachs. After 23 years of being a lawyer I have just moved over to working on the business side and now manage a team focused on legal documentation data capture and analytics. I’m still in close contact with a few London Dartmouth folks—most notably Mark Hammarskjold ’94 and Mike Bienenfeld, who is a law firm partner and now has five gorgeous children of his own!”

After 18 years in Cambridge, United Kingdom, Melissa Norton moved to the West Hartford area of Connecticut in July of 2023 with her two boys, William (12) and Thomas (10). “Where does the time go? I’m working for the American Association for the Advancement of Science as senior editor on its journal Science Translational Medicine. I love the work, the science is so interesting, and it gives me the flexibility to manage running after two crazy kids all the time, for which I’m grateful. The only downside is the remote working, so if you know of anyone in the area, put me in touch!” In addition to the College alumni directory, our digital 25th reunion book is a great place to track down fellow ’95s in your area. Take a look at dartmouth.brightcrowd.com/1995 and reach out if you need help getting access.

Congratulations to Rebecca Slisz, who recently was appointed interim executive director of the Network for Social Justice in Winchester, Massachusetts. I caught up with Rebecca this winter at her son’s bar mitzvah (mazel tov!) and she’s delighted to make this move into the nonprofit sector with an organization she cares about deeply. Rebecca has volunteered with the Network for a number of years, notably having co-chaired the Network’s Indigenous Peoples Advocacy Committee and launched Winchester’s annual Indigenous Peoples Day Family Festival in 2021.

Sadly, the bells of Baker Tower toll for another classmate. Brian Bajari passed away in February in Carmel, California, where he lived as a well-respected and beloved pastor and advocate for the homeless. You will be sorely missed, Brian.

Keep in touch with each other and keep your news coming.

—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA 02043; kaja.k.fickes.95@dartmouth.edu

Congratulations to Caitlin Moyna on her recent marriage. “My husband’s name is Michael Sullivan. We got married in the picturesque Jersey Shore town of Spring Lake, where we met several years ago. We live in Rumson, New Jersey, with our Cavalier King Charles spaniel named Pirate. I’m a partner at Grant and Eisenhofer in their N.Y.C. office. I think that about sums it up!”

Congratulations also go out to Rodrigo Martinez on his new job with Chartis, a healthcare consulting company. Rodrigo is a “physician executive and practicing otolaryngologist with more than 14 years of management consulting and healthcare leadership experience” and he is excited to get back into consulting. When I checked in with Rodrigo, he was in the thick of a big Dartmouth week: “Not only did I have a really fun time last evening at the Washington, D.C., welcoming of President Sian Beilock—where I met up with fellow ’95s Steve Fagell, Scott Thompson, and Mike Kidd—but I’ll be joining Andrew Resnick tomorrow at an onsite event for Chartis, where he serves as chief medical and quality officer!”

Josh Larson recently posted on Facebook, “I’ve discovered what my ‘why’ is,” and I was intrigued. Josh wrote: “I’ve been fortunate to spend most of my career post-Dartmouth working in video games, believing in games as a force of good. My cause found me when our youngest daughter, Reese, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes (T1D) at age 6 in 2016. T1D is an autoimmune disease that requires 24/7 management and has no cure. So in 2020 I felt it was my calling to be the first director of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s (JDRF) Game2Give program, which has raised more than $3 million for critical T1D cure research through in-game integrations, livestream fundraisers, game bundles, and e-sports tournaments.” In September Josh and his fellow founders and leaders of JDRF were honored at the annual JDRF NorCal Hope Gala. “Our heroes are the nearly 9 million individuals globally—including Reese, half her life with T1D—who manage this brutal disease.” Josh would love to hear from other alumni who have a T1D connection and may want to get involved. You can find him on Facebook or in the alumni directory.

Keep your news coming!

—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA 02043; kaja.k.fickes.95@dartmouth.edu

Kieran McNulty reports that he recently “had two research papers published in the journal Science (April 14) that upend our understanding of how early fossil apes evolved and of the habitats that contributed to their adaptations and the adaptations of the first hominins.” This work is based on Kieran’s decade-long Research on East African Catarrhine and Hominoid Evolution (REACHE) collaboration in eastern Africa, an innovative academic experiment that, “in a discipline typically known for territoriality and data hoarding, brought together multiple autonomous paleontological teams to work toward a set of common goals.”

The bells of Baker Tower toll for our classmate, Tony Choe, who died in May from complications related to the strokes he suffered earlier this year. A number of classmates attended funeral services in June and remembered his beautiful singing voice, tendency to wear shorts in all seasons, and above all deep commitment to his family and friends.

To honor Tony’s memory, take a moment this fall to reach out to a ’95 friend—perhaps one you haven’t been in touch with since our last reunion or even since graduation—and reconnect. There’s lots of great contact information in our 25th reunion book at dartmouth.brightcrowd.com/1995 and of course in the alumni directory accessible on the College website.

Keep your news coming!

—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA 02043; kaja.k.fickes.95@dartmouth.edu

Congratulations to Kristian “K.J.” Jhamb! “For my decadal submission to Class Notes, this is certainly a notable update, I’ve gotten hitched! I have found an amazing life partner in my wife, Daniela. We were engaged at the bottom of the Grand Canyon in December 2021 and married in 2022 on Marco Island, Florida, with fellow rowers Alex Morss and Katherine C Taylor ’97 in attendance.” K.J. and Daniela recently moved from Chicago to Naples, Florida. “Please look us up!”

Congratulations also to Kent Dahn. When he turns 50 in June, he’ll be changing diapers on the newest branch of the ’95 tree, baby Whitney Yuna Dahn, born January 1.

Kent also had some difficult news to share. Our classmate Tony Choe suffered two major strokes in 2022 and is in critical condition. “He is completely paralyzed, cannot talk or eat, and at this point is being advised by palliative doctors to sustain comfort levels…but honestly speaking, there is no light at the end of the tunnel or hopes of recovery.” If you would like to help, a gofundme campaign has been set up by several of Tony’s high school classmates—gofundme.com/f/support-tony-choe—to raise funds for his wife, Enju, and their family.

I’m also sorry to report that the bells of Baker Tower ring for another of our classmates. Scott Meacham passed away in January of pancreatic cancer. He lived with his wife, Sarah, and daughter, Camden, in Richmond, Virginia, where he worked as an attorney for the Virginia General Assembly for more than 10 years, drafting legislation and staffing house and senate committees related to natural and historic resources. He had a longtime interest in Dartmouth’s history and architecture and as of October 2022 was still updating his blog, dartmo.com, which he launched as a website in 1995. Scott, you will be missed.

—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA 02043; kaja.k.fickes.95@dartmouth.edu

Happy New Year! It is hard to believe that we are entering the Year of 50 for the majority of our class. Weren’t we just college students? A half century is something to celebrate—what are your plans?

Alex (Lesk) Love is taking her kids to Quebec and then to Scandinavia for some genealogy. “My husband, Paul, is a Finnish gypsy, apparently. I embraced his heritage this Halloween with a Lagertha costume.” Lagertha, for those not in the know (your secretary included) is a 13th-century Viking leader and shieldmaiden. Cool!

Rob McLennan will spend his 50th with 10 or so close friends in a cozy cabin on top of the Continental Divide. “Section House hut is part of the Summit Huts system of backcountry huts. We’ll ski in, spend a couple of nights with plenty of time to explore the surrounding slopes, and ski back out. One of my favorite Colorado activities!

“As I approach 50, I find myself worried less about career, money, etc., and focusing more on spending time doing things I enjoy with people I love, including my three kids, who have all reached an age where travel is easy and fun. At the same time I try to stay young by mixing in new activities so I can experience the joy of being a beginner; for example, earlier this fall I started playing adult-league ice hockey. I do have more of a sense of a window of time closing—whether by my getting old or the worsening climate crisis—and want to make the most of the time I/we have left.”

Pam Quinn happens to share her birthday with the day the Bahamas became an independent nation, so she’s planning a trip there to celebrate their mutual 50th birthday, with “lots of fireworks and partying!” Vil Ramos turned 50 in August and on his 50th birthday was in Costa Rica celebrating with his family. “On the morning of my birthday I was surfing some beautiful waves. I have been learning to surf for the last few months, so it felt like a great achievement to actually surf on my 50th birthday. I would love to continue staying active and continue learning new hobbies, such as surfing in my 50s.”

Candice Jimerson hopes to go to Greece for her 50th. Chris Mitchell and Ali (Ruff) Mitchell are thinking about Greece as well, though they may end up on the Amalfi Coast or in Spain. They haven’t quite decided yet. Chris writes that he and Ali have been married for 22 years, after meeting at the Big Green back in the early 1990s. “Our daughter Haley (18) is now a freshman at NYU. She’s a dance major at the Tisch School of Performing Arts, on her way to becoming a professional dancer and loving being in New York City. Our son Conor (16) is a sophomore at Cold Spring Harbor High School. He’s a great tennis player and enjoying his academics as well. While 50 might be a milestone, I’ve always believed that age is just a number. Stay young at heart and you will quickly forget what number you are!” Love that attitude, Mitch!

Wherever Alex King spends his 50th, it will include diaper changes and late-night feedings. Congratulations to Alex and his wife, Micah, on the birth of the newest branch of our ’95 tree! Their son Victor Harrison (“Harry”) was born on October 11 at a healthy 8 pounds, 3 ounces.

Happy 50th, everyone. And keep your news coming!

—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA 02043; kaja.k.fickes.95@dartmouth.edu

Our 25th reunion certainly was worth the wait! Thank you so much to our class president and reunion chair, Alyse (Kornfeld) Streicher, and the entire reunion committee for putting together a great weekend. Highlights included remarks from both President Phil Hanlon and incoming President Sian Beilock; a panel on Dartmouth today featuring Alumni Council president Laurie Shapiro, Dartmouth trustee Erica Ruliffson Schultz, ’21 parent Evelyn (Waters) Brady, ’24 and ’25 parents Steve and Phyllis (Steinberg) Fagel and their son, Ben Fagel ’24; a panel of our Empathos Committee, led by chair Ray Wadlow; and a touching memorial service for our 20 classmates who are no longer with us. The tent was lively with conversation, laughter, and music reminiscent of fraternity parties past (“Jump Jump,” “Oh What a Night,” “Freedom”—you get the idea). On Saturday many of us spent the afternoon at the river canoeing, kayaking, swimming, and paddle boarding (a few inner tubes were even spotted, harkening back to our July 1993 Tubestock). The best part, of course, was just getting to reconnect with all of our amazing classmates. As Natalie Herring said, “What a great group to grow old with!”

So many great conversations! Sarah Kim is Massachusetts’ interim cannabis control commissioner (or, as Lou Spelios preferred to call her, the state’s drug czar)! Sarah previously served as deputy treasurer and general counsel for the Office of the Massachusetts State Treasurer and Receiver. Ben Hirokawa and Cory Fleming Hirokawa run Blue Goblin, an innovative company out of Atlanta offering environmentally sound recycling and disposal strategies for Styrofoam and other hard-to-recycle plastic foams. Natalie Herring has relocated to Vallejo, California, where she is the director of admissions and associate vice president for enrollment management for California State University Maritime Academy. She’s loving life by the water. Christina Miyake has left California and is now living in Houston with her husband, Robert, and their three kids. She is a pediatric electrophysiologist at Texas Children’s Hospital, where she also serves as director of the cardiovascular genetics arrhythmia program. Wendy (Jastremski) Smith is the Lego Robotics program director at Glastonbury Public Schools in Connecticut and is the president and cofounder of the Glastonbury Robotics and Engineering Club. Dan Glazer is loving the flexibility that has come with remote work. He established Wilson Sonsini’s London office a few years ago (and had fun hosting a 200-person Fourth of July party in the middle of London this year) but spends much of July and August and the holidays working from his home on the Jersey shore.

Andrew Slesinger checked in a couple of weeks before reunions. He owns and operates Rough Diamond World, a diamond company in New York City that sells rough and polished diamonds. “Recently I finished writing Ruff’s Diamond World, which is available on Amazon and other online outlets. It is a kids book for adults in which we animated our rough diamond collection as animals to tell the story of diamond diversity! We are currently working on books two and three, the first of which talks about synthetic vs. natural diamonds and where diamonds come from and the second of which will highlight famous diamonds throughout history. I have also been doing some work with Gemstones TV channel on YouTube. Our first collaboration aired this past April on YouTube under the name ‘Unboxing Rough Diamonds.’ We have filmed another episode on sapphires that I hope will air in September. I’m putting that drama major to good use finally!”

Check out reunion photos in our reunion book at http://bitly.ws/t2f3 and keep your news coming!

—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA 02043; kaja.k.fickes.95@dartmouth.edu

Time to celebrate two new limbs on the ’95 family tree. Michelle Butler, husband James, and big brother Joey welcomed Lila Rose to the world January 28. Thomas Lipson became a big brother on January 22, when Adam Lipson and his wife, Alexis, welcomed Julian Stephen. Congratulations!

I hope we’ll get to meet the babies at our 25th(ish) reunion, which is coming up July 22-24! The timing got us thinking about our Sophomore Summer. Here are a few memories.

From Itir Clarke: “Getting my engineering books wet when diving into the river to swim, dating a hottie, biking over to this breakfast place with homemade jam with my bestie—need I say more? I have very fond memories of that summer. I’m grateful for every classmate who made Dartmouth such a special place.”

Alexandra Love recalls “Greek Mythology!”

Vil Ramos recalls: “Renting canoes from Ledyard and paddling over to the rope swings on the river! Spending time outside on the Green or the Gold Coast.”

Aviva Siegel recalls “Ledyard pancake paddles with Brigg Noyes, and Lauren Schlesinger enjoyed water ski club with Becky Bishop.”

Jennifer Lien recalls, “Walks by the golf course and the Connecticut River, swing dancing, late nights at Ben & Jerry’s, and a surprise 21st birthday party for me. Best summer ever!”

Jason Kitteridge worked at Baker Library in the circulation department and helped coordinate the Baker Tower tours. “For anyone who hasn’t done a Baker Tower tour, you essentially climb up a bunch of steep stairs to get to the narrow balcony around the bell tower. The campus views are spectacular and particularly impressive in the fall with the surrounding foliage. “If I recall correctly, Tower tours were usually staffed in two-hour shifts. These were pretty quiet, although you might have 10 to 15 visitors an hour, there were seldom more than two or three people at a time. I ended up spending my (very quiet and lonely) shift atop Baker with a ream of copy paper making paper airplanes and seeing how far they would sail across the Green.”

Claire Unis remembers summer thundershowers: “Coming from southern California, I had never experienced so much summertime rain—nor had to plan outfits to make sure they would not become transparent when wet! And jumping off the bridge—that was terrifying and yet, it seemed, a rite of passage.” Claire lives in Auburn, California, where she works as a pediatrician. “When the pandemic started I seized the opportunity to start a literature in medicine program with my medical group. I now teach writing workshops and literature classes as well as lead a book club and a writing group for other clinicians. I live with a husband, two kids, two dogs, a horse, two burros, 10 chickens, and a pet conure. I am not bored!” Claire’s first book, Balance, Pedal Breathe: A Journey through Medical School came out in March. See more at www.claireunis.net.

Amy (Reed) Morel has given us another great reason to gather in the Upper Valley this July. “I just checked our reunion dates and realized that they coincide with the opening of my solo show of painted steel sculptures at Ava Gallery in Lebanon, New Hampshire. The opening is 5-7 p.m. on July 22. The show will also be open that Saturday 11 a.m.-5 p.m. and through August 20.” Apart from art making, Amy and her husband, Joseph Morel, have been holding it down in Barnard, Vermont, on Eastman Farm (http://eastmanfarmvt.com), where they raise grass-fed beef, pastured pork, “and our three kids: Hugo (20), now at Bates College, Genevieve (18), and Horace (15).”

Keep your news coming!

—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA 02043; kaja.k.fickes.95@dartmouth.edu

Ben Means is a law professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law and was recently given the John T. Campbell Chair in Business and Professional Ethics. “The chair is of particular significance for me because its previous occupant, John Freeman, was the father of our classmate, Gretchen Freeman Cappio. John passed away on October 21, 2021. His death was significant enough to merit a full article in our local newspaper, The State.” Gretchen also is an attorney, practicing at Keller Rohrback LLP, where she is a partner in the firm’s nationally recognized complex litigation group. Gretchen is board chair of the Global Justice Center and helped found the Mother Attorney Mentoring Association. Her daughter is a Dartmouth ’24.

Lisa Catmull is a self-published Kindle author, a pursuit she took up in earnest during the pandemic. The books are the Victorian Grand Tour Series, and she has established a trademark in the United States, China, Australia, and a couple of other countries so far. The second book takes place in Mainz and is dedicated to Susanne and Half Zantop.

Catherine Bednar is living in Ipswich, Massachusetts, where her son, Desmond, entered kindergarten this year. “We have been very grateful for walks and hikes at Crane Beach and Appleton Farms throughout the pandemic. I’m a litigation partner in Boston, and the pace has been picking back up in the city. Court cases are starting to move faster and traffic, unfortunately, seems to be back to normal. Time to get back on the commuter rail again!”

James Budd writes with very happy news: “My son, James Jr., finished his chemotherapy on August 22, 2021—and got to ‘ring the bell’ at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta on September 9, 2021, signifying that he has beaten his leukemia. He was diagnosed on April 23, 2018 (at the age of 3) with high-risk, B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. After his three-and-a-half-year battle, he has come out on top. He will still have his blood monitored at monthly visits to the lab for the next three years, but he is officially in remission and well on his way to being considered a ‘cure.’ We are feeling very grateful and very blessed!”

Gigi (Widham) Freeman says hello from Manchester, Vermont: “We left Brooklyn Heights in June 2020 and my husband, Ion, and our boys, Brooks and Gordon, have adjusted quickly to rural life. It has always been my dream to live in Vermont, and with companies being more flexible with respect to remote work, it allowed us to take the plunge. If any fellow classmates make it up to ski at Bromley or Stratton, give me a shout! On the work front, I have been in sales in business-to-business software as a service for the last five years and am currently with an enterprise video platform company called Qumu. Looking forward to spending more time in Hanover since we live much closer now.”

I hope all of us are looking forward to time in Hanover at our 25th(ish) reunion this July! Keep an eye out for more details and make your plans to return to Dartmouth July 22-24 to celebrate with our classmates and the ’96s. In the meantime, keep your news coming!

—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA 02043; kaja.k.fickes.95@dartmouth.edu

I caught up with Aviva Bender at one of the great ’95 Zoom mini-reunions recently. Aviva’s first volume of poetry, Feet Tucked Under, came out this summer. Congratulations, Aviva! Aviva is an award-winning poet, and her work has been published in Brain Child Magazine, Limehawk Literary Review, and the Ithaca Literary Review. She lives in Denver with her husband and children, several chickens, and a cat. She says, “I find myself saying ridiculous things like, ‘Please pick up the zucchini in the middle of the living room floor’ and ‘Yes, underwear is a necessity.’ ”

Matt Witherell was there too and reports that he’s lived in more than 10 cities since Dartmouth. “After stints in consulting and banking, I settled into the world of beverages. First big beverage: selling beer at MillerCoors for 13 years (who says Dartmouth isn’t a vocational school?) and then energy drinks for Red Bull. I now work for a much smaller and faster-growing company, Humm Kombucha. Finally, beverages that my girls enjoy drinking! My wife, Kirsten, and I met at Stanford’s graduate school of business, and we live with our three girls (pair of 16s and a 14) in Manhattan Beach, California. The girls play lacrosse and tennis while I commute to Bend, Oregon, for work. Come visit—would love to catch up for a beach night in California or mountain biking, hiking, or skiing in Bend. Hope to see you soon!”

As much as I’ve loved our Zoom gatherings and the opportunity to see classmates from all over the country in one sitting, it is a treat to get to see classmates in person too. Alex “Sasha” King and his family recently moved to Hingham, Massachusetts, the town I’ve called home for about nine years.With his move, there are now 10 ’95s living in Hingham, including John Alexander and Amanda Sutton. John writes: “Amanda and I celebrated our 22nd anniversary this July. We have been in Hingham since 2005. Time flies. Amanda enjoyed her first anniversary at Scorpion Therapeutics this summer. The company is located in the heart of Boston’s financial district. She is employee 20 and should be on site more often as the year progresses.” John and Amanda have twin 10th-graders, both of whom sail, and a son, Eric, who was able to return like many of our kids to sleep-away camp this summer. “Very odd to leave a child with strangers.”

Mark your calendars! Our 25th(ish) reunion is now scheduled for July 22-24, 2022, in Hanover. Make your reservations, practice your pong skills, and get ready for a gathering two years in the making and well worth the wait. We’re going to keep our class reunion book going as well, so take a look, add some photos, and contribute your personal page at https://dartmouth.brightcrowd.com/1995. Hope to see you in Hanover and, in the meantime, keep your news coming!

—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA 02043; kaja.k.fickes.95@dartmouth.edu

Calling all ’95s! It is time to add your entry to our 25th reunion book, available at dartmouth.brighcrowd.com/1995. We may not be able to gather in person but we are able to catch up with each other through this valuable compendium. About a quarter of our class has contributed so far and we’d love to get as close to 100-percent participation as possible! Here’s a sampling of what you’ll find there about our classmates from across the country and beyond.

Michael Shoemaker-Moyle is an academic nephrologist at the University of Missouri and fondly remembers afternoon cookouts and pong at Bones Gate, swimming in the Connecticut River Sophomore Summer, and ice skating on Occom in the winter. He gives a shoutout to his phenomenal professors in the chemistry department: Drs. Lemal, Ditchfield, and Cantor.

Jen Lien and her family live in Duluth, Minnesota, where she is an adjunct voice instructor at the College of Saint Scholastica. She was active in both the Glee Club and Summerphonics, foundational to her career in music. Jim Mahoney is a college counselor and English teacher at the Blake School, where he also spent 10 years as the dean of students. He remains the proud 1991 Topliff-New Hamp ping pong champion and remembers spending his winnings—a $50 EBA’s gift card—in a single delicious order.

Kieran McNulty is a professor of anthropology at the University of Minnesota and writes, “Little did I know—as I slogged through my classes at Dartmouth—the level of commitment and dedication it takes to be a college professor. But if I had the choice to do it all again, I wouldn’t change a thing! I get to teach amazing students and conduct fascinating research (okay, fascinating to me.) Let’s face it, I dig up fossils for a living. What’s not to love?” A few years ago Kieran and his family started a nonprofit organization to support orphaned and vulnerable children at his field site in Rusinga Island, Kenya. “This has added a critical new dimension to my work that has made life much more meaningful and engaging.”

In Atlanta, Nicole Haig is an emergency medicine physician and is busy with her husband, Rohan McFarlane, raising their four amazing kids, the eldest of whom is at Stanford. Chris Foley is also in Atlanta with his wife, Courtney, and sons Eamonn and baby Winslow, as is Candice Jimerson-Johnson, director of the Adventure Center, offering Christian-based after-school enrichment and summer camp programs.

And perhaps our winner for longest-distance entry is Robert Milbourne, who lives in Brisbane City, Australia, where he is a consultant advising clients in the global mining sector. “I am now working on perhaps the largest deposit in the world of the battery metals needed for electric vehicles, a deposit in international waters and regulated by the UN. It is fascinating indeed and combines much of my prior experience in the global mining and resources sector and project finance and operations.” Robert’s favorite memories include Alpha Theta, the World Music Ensemble, making Chinese dumplings with his professor, designing jewelry in the studio, and working through the night at Kiewit with wonderful friends changing mainframe computing backups.

The reunion book will close July 1. Get your news in soon and be sure to contribute to the photo albums too!

Unfortunately, I close this column with the news of two classmates’ recent passing. The bells of Baker Tower toll for Vuyi Radebe, who died in January in South Africa after a long battle with ALS, and James Rourke, an Alpha Chi brother and longtime San Francisco resident. They both will be missed.

—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA 02043; kaja.k.fickes.95@dartmouth.edu

I’m pleased to announce a new branch on the ’95 tree! Congratulations to Alex (Sasha) King and his wife, Micah, on the birth of their beautiful baby girl, Eleanor, in June. Ellie will be playing polo with you before you know it, Sasha. Enjoy every minute!

Congratulations also to Lauren Lieberman and her husband, Stephen Sanchez, on their recent purchase of the Copperhood Retreat and Spa (www.copperhood.com.) If you’re looking for a beautiful getaway in the Catskills, this is the place to go! Because of Covid, they’re only doing partial or full resort buyouts right now, so perhaps a New Year’s Eve to remember or an epic ’95 mini-reunion?

And speaking of mini-reunions, thanks go out to our mini-reunion chairs, Tara Gulla and Jared Sprole, for planning such a great lineup of Dartmouth campus-inspired mini-reunions this fall. I enjoyed visiting with classmates “at the Hop” and hope many of you were able to participate in one or more of these fun Zoom gatherings. We have a long winter ahead, so if you’re interested in organizing a ’tails and tales mini-reunion of classmates generally or of a specific group—perhaps your senior society, a cappellagroup, or foreign study program?—Jared and Tara can help make that happen. You can reach them and other class officers at our class website, 1995.dartmouth.org.

Wishing all of you a happy (happier?) new year! May it include our much-anticipated reunion in Hanover and many blessings. I hope wherever you are reading this column, you are doing well and staying healthy and safe. The year 2020 has been rough to be sure but I hope it held some silver linings for you and yours (and if it did, I would love to hear from you for a future column)! A highlight for my family was a visit to Hanover in October for what we decided to call “Not-Homecoming.” The Green was quiet and foggy on Friday night and it was surreal to see students walking the campus in masks, but the Baker bells still ring on the hour and Lou’s maple crullers are just as delicious as ever. Plus the new alumna-owned bookstore, Still North Books, is warm and welcoming (and ships, if you’d like to support a Hanover business). It felt good to be home.

Be well and keep your news coming!

—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA 02043; kaja.k.fickes.95@dartmouth.edu

Congratulations to our new class officers! Alyse (Kornfeld) Streicher, our senior class president, will be our class president for the next five years. She lives in Westchester County, New York, with her husband, David, and their three kids (10, 11, and 13.) Alyse is doing some private investing after having run a nonprofit for three years, before which she was with Accenture for about 20 years. “It’s an honor to be class president and I look forward to working with and connecting with many of you. I hope to see you at our reunion next June!”

Kate Chamberlain, Teru Clavel, and Jonathan Weinberger are our newsletter editors. Terulives in New York City with her two teenage boys and a ’tween girl. Her first book, World Class, was a bestseller and the paperback is coming out with some amazing endorsements, including from Arne Duncan, secretary of education under President Obama; Sen. Richard Blumenthal; and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Andreas Schleicher. Teru recently appeared on Fareed Zakaria’s Global Public Square on CNN, discussing her education findings, “which are even more relevant now: equity, teacher preparation, education funding, and governance, community, parent involvement all through a global lens. Working on my next two projects—hope some good news about those soon. Fingers crossed!”

Two years ago Kate bought her family’s Hanover home in the neighborhood behind Chase Field. “My parents moved to Lebanon [New Hampshire], and a year later my brother moved to Pike, so we’re close together geographically for the first time since our move in 1991, when I came to Dartmouth and they went to Munich.” Kate is a senior director of development at Memorial Sloan Kettering, working to use data to inform strategy and investment in the hospital’s fundraising operation. “Hanover has been an interesting vantage point for this dramatic year. The town without students is such a different place, yet the Baker bells are still ringing. I’m singing with the Handel Society again (or will be when it’s safe to do so) fighting invasive species in my yard, and learning about the local N.H. political scene. At the moment we’re mobilizing to ensure everyone will be able to vote in the fall.”

Steve Fagell is joining Lou Spelios as co-head agent. Steve lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with his wife, Phyllis (Steinberg) Fagell, and their three children. “We’re very excited that my oldest, Ben, will be a Dartmouth ’24 in the fall! I work in Washington, D.C., at the law firm Covington & Burling LLP, where I serve as global co-chair of the white collar defense and investigations practice group. Phyllis is the author of Middle School Matters (Hachette, 2019), regularly contributes to The Washington Post and other national publications on parenting issues, and serves as the counselor at the K-8 Sheridan School.”

Our treasurer, Rose Mitchell, lives in Hillsborough, New Jersey, not far from Princeton, with her husband of two years, Jeff, and their rescue dogs Marty and Amelia. Rose is a pediatric optometrist at University Children’s Eye Center, where she’s worked for the past 13 years. Rose will do double-duty, since she decided to run for class treasurer while serving as our reunion treasurer, which is still needed since we haven’t had our reunion yet!

And speaking of reunions, our class reunion book online will be kept open through next summer, so please start or update your page anytime. If you have questions about it, drop me a line. More from our other new officers in the next issue. In the meantime, keep your news coming!

—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA 02043; kaja.k.fickes.95@dartmouth.edu

Reunion is right around the corner! Here’s a note from our reunion chairs, Rebecca Slisz and Candice Jimerson: “Our programming committee—Lisa McGill, Steve Tseng, Kent Dahn, Howie Rumjahn, Julie Kanarowski Turner—has outdone itself designing an amazing schedule to mark our 25th reunion. Natalie Herring will relive her admissions office days and take us on a tour of “Dartmouth Then and Now.” If a walk in the woods is more your style, join Dan Foster for a hike up Velvet Rocks. Trustee Erica Ruliffson Schultz will update us on current campus topics. And bring your family to check out the newly renovated Hood Museum of Art and create your own work of art to take home.

“In the true spirit of our theme—“Oh, the Stories We’ll Share!”—many classmates have offered to recount significant moments of their postgraduation journeys. Panelists and moderators include Brian Bajari, Nadia Bowers, Susan Boyd, Teru Clavel, Jaha Cummings, Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, Chris Foley, Shara Frase, Dave Jones, Jeremy Katz, Ann Marshall, Allison Markin Powell, Daneen Ransaw, Sally Rosenthal, Joe Santos, Lou Spelios, Kenji Sugahara, Louis Tucker, Ray Wadlow,and Diana Whitney.

“Registration is open. Visit alumni.dartmouth.edu/engage/reunions to find out more and register. Housing is separate; on-campus housing is limited and preference will be given to those who register early for reunion.

“Thanks to the ongoing generosity of our classmates, we have been able to keep reunion registration costs low. However, if you need financial assistance, please email us at dart95reunion25@gmail.com. We want as many classmates as possible to come to our reunion. We look forward to seeing everyone!”

Have you browsed our 25th reunion class book yet? Here are a few highlights from some of our early contributors.

Kenji Sugahara is the chief pilot and co-owner of a drone company that films for major car companies, Netflix, and other studios. He writes: “I’ve been fortunate enough to be a delegate to Japan with the 2018 Oregon governor’s trade mission to Asia. I’m also excited as we’ve been a key player in securing and funding the 2021 International Amateur Athletic Federation Track and Field World Championships in Eugene, Oregon.”

From Len Lantz: “After my wife, Krista David, and I completed our medical training in psychiatry, we moved to Helena, Montana. We have a 14-year-old daughter, Lucy, and she is wonderful. Also, I recently started a blog (kungfupsychiatry.com) that is kind of cool.”

Rose (Hughes) Mitchell posted a beautiful photo from her 2018 marriage to Jeffrey Mitchell. “He retired from the Air Force as a master sergeant after 20-plus years and now works as a helicopter mechanic. I am a pediatric optometrist. One of the first things that we connected on is our love of Germany! I was a German major at Dartmouth and he was stationed in Germany for eight years, so we both speak the language. We have taken two trips there together so far to visit friends.”

For Aseem Chawla, travel and adventure have been a huge part of the past 25 years. “I finished my dental degree from Tufts dental school in 2000, opened my own dental private practice in Las Vegas, and participated in volunteer dental trips to both Guatemala and Sri Lanka. My passion for travel has led me to exotic places, from Easter Island to Tibet and even climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in 2017.” Aseem recently visited his 70th country, Belize, and plans to climb his second of the seven summits, Mount Elbrus in Russia, this summer.

Is your interest piqued? If you need help getting access to the book, contact me anytime. Keep your news coming and see you in Hanover!

—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA 02043; kaja.k.fickes.95@dartmouth.edu

The Dartmouth, our college’s daily paper, recently published The Dartmouth: Through the Ages, “a curated collection of the newspaper’s archives from 1900 to the present…that capturesthe monumental events both in the world and the College from the lens of The Dartmouth’s reporting and coverage.” I checked in with some of the members of our class’ editorial team to see what they’ve been up to and what they remember about the many hours they devoted to bringing us the news five days a week.

Managing editor Steve Hoffman writes: “Working for The D was definitely the highlight of my Dartmouth experience. It was really fun, had a meaningful impact, and connected me with the school and the community. It also taught me a ton about people skills, leadership, critical thinking, and time management, although I didn’t fully appreciate this at the time.

“My favorite memory is my first story freshman year, about Billy Joel coming to campus. Tickets went on sale at 10 a.m. on the day the story ran and were sold out by the time I got to the box office at 10:30 a.m. I was quite disappointed until I realized that my story was the only publicity about the show. Although it wasn’t a significant news event, it was an ‘aha moment’ that demonstrated the potential power of the press. I was hooked.

“I ultimately chose a career in law over journalism, but I might give journalism a try later in life. I recently joined Mintz in Boston after spending about 12 years as an in-house lawyer at Wellington Management. My biggest challenge right now, however, is teaching my daughter how to drive.”

Daisy (Alpert) Florin, “Gazette” editor, recalls writing an article in 1994 about this new-fangled thing called the Internet: “I remember sitting in Kiewit, stunned that you could actually see art from the Louvre online! The resulting article was, clearly, a thing of beauty.”

Daisy’s first job was as a reporter at the Utica, New York, Observer-Dispatch. “I quickly realized small town life was not for me, so I hightailed it back to New York City and worked in book publishing and teaching. Now I’m a writer, working on my first novel, so always writing; always words, always, always.” Daisy is also raising three kids, “fighting the good fight, in bed every night by 9.”

Joe Berger was the editorial page editor and recalls: “Some of my favorite memories of working for The Dartmouth include covering candidate visits during the Democratic primary campaign in 1991-92 and interviewing Dartmouth alumnus Robert Reich ’68 shortly after he was nominated for the position of U.S. secretary of labor. I also enjoyed reporting on scientific discoveries by Dartmouth professors and gained an appreciation for Dartmouth through the articles I wrote.

“When I started my position as editorial page editor for The D, I received encouragement from my dad, who was an editorial writer for The Baltimore Sun. As a lawyer today, I regularly write articles on subjects in my field of government contracts, which keeps me in touch with current developments.

“The field of journalism has changed profoundly since we went to Dartmouth and since my dad retired from The Sun, and I think that professional journalism is more important than ever. It is good that there are many Dartmouth graduates in the field.

“I recently visited the Newseum in Washington, D.C., which presents interesting reminders of the unique role of journalism in U.S. history and also that the press is less free in many parts of the world.

As Daisy put it: “Journalists are heroes. Please save us!”

Keep your news coming.

—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA 02043; kaja.k.fickes.95@dartmouth.edu

A belated thanks to all of our classmates who organized great gatherings for the 95th Day of the Year across the country. Alicia Lisowski co-hosted in Chicago with Brian Novelline and wrote in: “Lots of good stuff to report! My 9-year-old daughter, Jane, and I live in Chicago in a 130-year-old historical house in a fun city neighborhood—we absolutely love it. Work is also a blast. I’m consulting with multiple companies in the startup innovation tech space, and I’ve recently picked up my painting and photography again. I’ve gotten to see Gillian MacLean Growdon, Melissa Trumbull Mitchell, and Jen Evers Shakeshaft a bunch recently as well as reconnected with Brian Novelline and met his awesome wife, Kristen. Always enjoy seeing Dartmouth friends—hit me up at alicia.m.lisowski@gmail.com if you’re coming through town. (I know all the best places to eat!)” Brian added, “J.W. Beard and I are now living in the same town, and his son, Aidan, was the top scorer on my hockey team last winter. Also, the Beards took their two boys over to India in April to adopt a little girl from there.”

I’m delighted to report that there are two new branches on the ’95 tree. Congratulations to Shara Frase, who welcomed her second son, Shane, into the world this May, and to Michelle Butler, who had her first baby, Joey, in March. If you need a lift on a dreary day, I recommend getting a dose of joy on Shara’s and Michelle’s Facebook pages, where cute baby pictures abound!

Did you know that Tetris was invented 35 years ago? That game was a fixture in my freshman dorm room, and I remember John Jones admitting that he started seeing Tetris game pieces in the shower tiles. I asked for more Tetris memories on our class Facebook page, and Grant Czerny wrote, “When I went back to New York City my brain was trying to move buildings to make them fit in place. It was quite a phenomenon. My freshman year Mac Classic still works and still plays Tetris—and runs BlitzMail.” Talk about a blast from the past!

I’ll close with a note from our reunion co-chairs, Rebecca Slisz and Candice Jimerson: “We are excited to embark on this reunion co-chairing adventure together! Where are we now? For those familiar with Sweet Honey in the Rock, we’d say we are ‘still on the journey’—the journey of figuring out what we want to do (is it too late to start those history Ph.D.s?!) and where we want to be, having spent time since graduation in the Midwest, Northeast, and Southeast United States. We are sure of two things: We are grateful to still be on the journey of a friendship forged as first-year roommates in a Fayerweather triple (along with Shaela Cruz), and we want you all to think about making the journey back to Hanover June 18-21 for our 25th reunion in 2020. If you’re interested in joining us in the planning efforts, please reach out to us at rebeccaslisz@gmail.com or cjimerson2004@yahoo.com.”

Where are you now? Keep your news coming and get your plans in order for our big 25th next summer! Hope to see you there.

—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA 02043; kaja.k.fickes.95@dartmouth.edu

As promised, Peter Jolicoeur and Michael Chen checked in from Asia. Michaelheaded there after graduation for a career in sales and trading. “I originally wanted to come out to Hong Kong to see the handover to China and ended up staying here all this time! I’m married and have two kids who, if they are lucky with admission rates these days, may end up at the College on the Hill. We did a tour of the Northeast and Canada last summer and stayed in Hanover for a weekend. It was my first time back since I left the Hanover Plain. It was great to see all the upgrades to the campus! Hard to recognize Baker and the areas behind it, as Kiewit is no longer there and some other buildings have been massively changed! I’ve connected with a few alums through the years, including Keith Li, who is no longer with us; I attended his funeral in Hong Kong.”

Pete has lived in China for more than a dozen years, the past decade in Shanghai. “I initially was sent to Beijing to set up an office and have remained here ever since. My business is aviation development, so there is a great deal of work underway in the region. My busiest projects are in Xi’an and Beijing, China, and Bangalore, India—all airports expecting more than 100,000,000 annual passengers. Certainly China is a country that’s in the news a lot, so it is interesting living here and comparing daily life with what gets reported in the United States. My least favorite conversation by far is the one about what is going on with the current U.S. administration, especially since I have been out of the country for so long that I have the same question! However, for the time being the United States is still seen as the premier destination for advanced education, and several of my clients have children studying there. We receive a flood of applications for Dartmouth, and there is no way we can interview them all. The Dartmouth Club of China is active, with one ’95 living in town, Gen Kanai. And there’s an annual Niseko Green weekend, where alumni from all over Asia gather in northern Japan for a Big Green weekend of skiing.”

To the Caribbean, where Angela (Hall) D’Antonio took part in her third medical mission in January: “I traveled with the nonprofit organization, At Home and Afar to Barahona, Dominican Republic. In five days of clinic we saw about 1,000 patients. We had a team of nurses, nurse practitioners, one pediatrician, an EMT, and seven volunteers who provided activities for children and clinic support. We also worked with an amazing group of Dominican volunteers who provided transportation, coordination of the clinics, and interpreter services. At Home and Afar has funded the building of two wells in the barrios around the city since I was last there. This has had a huge impact on health, with significantly fewer complaints of parasitic intestinal illness. I am hoping to bring my kids, Lila and Charles, with me next year—they will both be teenagers by then! Volunteering supports my professional goal of providing healthcare to underserved populations. Since becoming a nurse practitioner in 2000 I have worked in a clinic at a women’s homeless shelter, spent 11 years in prison healthcare, worked at University of Massachusetts and Beth Israel in liver transplantation and hepatology clinics, and for the past three years have been at Tewksbury State Hospital, where I provide care to patients with acute medical issues directly related to substance use disorder.”

Keep your news coming!

—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA 02043; kaja.k.fickes.95@dartmouth.edu

Though ’round the girdled earth we roam, her spell on us remains. Warren Valdmanis and Adam Dixon proved the truth of this in September when they traveled to Cape Town, South Africa, to compete in a marathon and raise money for ALS in honor of Vuyi Radebe, who lives in Johannesburg with his wife and two children. Warren reported: “We had a great experience running the marathon (inspiring place to do it—the pacesetters had drums and were singing the whole way!). We completed in a respectable 4:24, mostly thinking of Vuyi to get us through. He is doing amazingly well spiritually and appreciated all the support he has had from his friends at Dartmouth, especially rugby and the ’95 class more generally. Anyone who wants to support can contribute to Compassionate Care ALS. Thanks for your help!”

From elsewhere ’round the girdled earth, Alex Lesk writes: “I’ve just started a new job at my high school alma mater, having returned to Vancouver with my family seven years ago to be close to my parents. It is wonderful and strange to have come full circle: teaching high school English and journalism, coaching sports in my old gym, scolding girls for mis-wearing the same uniform I once wore, and teaching alongside my former teachers from 30 years ago! My family is thriving. Seb is almost as tall as me and just started high school. Spencer is audacious and full of questions I can’t answer. Paul is loving the flexibility of his job at UBC as the director of the clean energy research center and as an independent energy consultant.”

Andrea Wetzler left the United States in 2001 after graduating from Wharton to pursue a position with Accenture’s strategy department in London. “I ended up meeting a Frenchman while there and moved to Toulouse, France, when we got married. I continue to work as a strategy consultant and travel throughout Europe to see clients. My travels take me to beautiful and diverse cities such as Dublin, Geneva, Zürich, Frankfurt, and Copenhagen. I have four kids, so I try to avoid cross-continental client work. Daily life is less convenient than in the United States but rich in experience. For instance, food shopping is an almost daily venture and consists of going to local markets where there are different stands for fish, poultry, beef, cheeses, and produce. Everything is fresh and sourced locally, so food in general is delicious and not as taxing on the environment. I keep in touch with classmates, but there are not many alumni opportunities for me in Toulouse.

Julie Erikson writes: “We moved in December 2010 to Christchurch, New Zealand, for six weeks. We had planned for everything…except for a devastating earthquake that reduced the city and our house to rubble. Fortunately, the container ship with our belongings was a few days from arriving at port so we simply redirected it back to the States. After recovering from that experience, we applied for permanent residency in Australia and moved to Melbourne in 2014. We’ve lived here for the past five years and are in the final stages of Australian citizenship. Our motivation for moving overseas wasn’t the pull of a job or family or a push to leave the political climate of the United States, but simply a desire to try something new and expose our son, Ethan, to new places, people, and culture. Ethan is now exploring the possibility of returning to the States for his undergraduate years, since there is no NCAA in Australia.”

More from our international classmates in the next issue. Keep your news coming!

—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA 02043; kaja.k.fickes.95@dartmouth.edu

From coast to coast, we have new branches on the ’95 tree! In New York, Brooke Sophia was born in May to Joe Santos and his wife, Lauren Geer, joining big brother Joe Jr. In Chicago, Melissa (Trumbull) Mitchell and her husband, Duncan, welcomed darling daughter Victoria Lyn to the world. And in San Francisco, Catrina and Jason Duty and their daughter, Jayla, celebrated the birth of beautiful Spencer in May. Congratulations, everyone!

Congratulations also to Alison Cook, who recently published her first book. Coauthored with Kimberly Miller, Boundaries for Your Soul draws on clinical psychology and spiritual practice to guide readers from “doubt and conflict to confidence and peace.” Alison is a counselor and specializes in the integration of faith and psychology. She holds an M.A. in counseling from Denver Seminary and a Ph.D. in religion and psychology from the University of Denver. Alison and her family live in Boston. Boundaries is available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and beyond. Check it out!

This summer Dan Glazer opened the London office for the law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. According to the firm’s press release, Dan “is a fellow at Tech Nation (formerly Tech City UK), an organization he has collaborated with since 2012, including on the development of a U.S. expansion and fundraising online library. He was appointed a GlobalScot trade advisor by the Scottish government, and worked with the U.S. Department of Commerce to develop its SelectUSA Tech program to support non-U.S. technology companies with U.S. expansion. Glazer partners with Silicon Valley Comes to the UK, London Stock Exchange Elite, Tech Nation Future Fifty, Entrepreneur First, RocketSpace, ICE, Seedcamp, the mayor of London’s international business program, TechHub, the London Co-Investment Fund, Techstars, and similar organizations to support U.S. expansion and fundraising efforts by U.K. companies. Glazer has been recognized by The American Lawyer as its Transatlantic Innovator of the Year” and identified as one of London’s top ‘International Connectors’ by UK Tech News.”

Keep your news coming!

—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA 02043; kaja.k.fickes.95@dartmouth.edu

Have you heard about Empathos? Read on for more from our guest columnist, Empathos co-chair, Brenda Almaraz. “Though we generally read this column to share our successes and celebrate our wins, I have no doubt that if we listed our 23-plus years of personal and professional experiences we may surprise ourselves to learn how many roads less traveled we’ve taken, and not by our choice! The ’95 Empathos Network started as a result of a few classmates motivated to do something for a fellow ’95 in need. When I first heard about Empathos I knew I wanted to be involved. Our focus is to connect and provide resources to classmates needing help or dealing with difficult situations. We recognize that by this stage in life, though our paths significantly have differed, we may have experienced similar hardships and be able to help each other, as classmates and friends.

“How can you help? Please consider becoming an Empathos Network volunteer. Our goal is to establish a diverse database to call upon and leverage our collective strengths when needed, especially as we get older. The time commitment is as flexible as you want it to be. Candidly, we recognize we won’t have a resource for every situation. However, extending the simplest gesture will let our classmates know they are not alone. Assistance will vary based on the situation. Trust me when I say the very simplest of gestures can be most impactful to someone; I know this from my own personal experience.

“On May 6, 2001, my son was born and died the same day from complications related to Down syndrome. He lived for three hours. During his funeral, I ran a slight fever, which progressively worsened. My family rushed me to the hospital and were informed to prepare for the worst: The cesarean delivery caused an infection, sepsis and pneumonia, and my organs were beginning to shut down from hypoxia. I was intubated and placed in a drug-induced coma for four weeks to let my body heal. The diagnosis was adult respiratory distress syndrome, which was brought on by the infection from surgery. After seven weeks, I was finally well enough to go home. It was all so surreal!

“Thereafter, there were countless hours of physical therapy, counseling and support groups. My family and I met wonderful people along the way. There were so many simple gestures of support from my community—without a doubt, these were the most impactful during my recovery. If anything, I was reminded that I wasn’t alone.

“Since leaving Dartmouth, perhaps we’ve shared more challenges in common than we realize. Certainly not to the degree which I just shared, but I’m sure we’ve each experienced a whole host of other unmentionables. I’ve since dealt with divorce, infertility, aging parents, career setback, loss of a business, the state’s foster care and legal systems, adoption of three young children, one of whom, with a heavy heart, we had to un-adopt last year. If there is any insight, support or advice I can impart from some lessons learned, I am willing and happy to do so, as are many of our classmates.

“I share the above not to garner sympathy but to tell you I can empathize. If you find yourself in a position to offer support or need help yourself, please connect via empathos1995@gmail.com. Only Ray Wadlow (fellow co-chair) and I can access this account. If you wish to connect anonymously, please do. We review each request and commit to confidentiality. Please visit www.1995.dartmouth.org/empathos to access the Empathos volunteer and intake forms or email us for more information. Thank you.”

—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA 02043; kaja.k.fickes.95@dartmouth.edu

This is an amazing and complicated time in American healthcare. Where do you see the most hope or opportunity? What’s your greatest concern? Shameem Abbasy and Jonathan Lind wrote together in response to these questions. They are proud to work at Swedish Covenant Hospital, an independent community hospital in Chicago. Shameem is a urogynecologist and serves as medical group director and department chair of obstetrics and gynecology. Jonathan is the health system’s chief operating officer. They never knew each other at Dartmouth, although Jonathan may have delivered EBAs to Shameem a time or two. They wrote, “We have seen the new insurance co-ops fold due to inadequate funding and a riskier patient population than expected. The state’s inability to pass a budget has held up state Medicaid payments, expanded under the ACA in Illinois. Declining reimbursement makes for little cushion in the budget. Repealing the ACA could result in large numbers of uninsured or underinsured patients again. It’s a challenging time, and that’s an understatement.”

Shameem wrote, “I don’t see as many patients with neglected medical problems since the ACA was implemented. I really do not want to go back to practicing medicine in that era. Patients are also nervous. There’s been a surge of women coming in to get intrauterine devices for long-acting contraception or the Pap test done early because they don’t know what the future holds. The rising cost of care remains a problem, especially for those who gained access to care through the ACA. I see patients making the decision not to proceed with medically indicated, elective surgery due to the high cost of their deductibles.”

They went on to write, “We think our focus should be on fixing what is wrong with the current system, rather than repealing the ACA. There is much to lose by starting from scratch and it’s unconscionable to abandon the vulnerable on the margins of our communities without an alternative. Short-term political ‘gains’ are of no value when they come at the expense of quality care for the sick, prevention and wellness for communities, and the long-term stability of any community.”

Andrew Resnick, now the chief medical officer at Froedtert and the Medical College of Wisconsin and formerly chief quality officer at Penn State, writes: “There was certainly ‘enough’ going on up until the 2016 election. Ratcheting up of the at-risk reimbursement and transitioning Medicare to a new system, pushing for large-population health models, all while increasing the number of mandatory bundles (rather than fee-for-service) resulted in tremendous activity and anxiety everywhere. Just when everyone was maxed out, the election happened and the current administration has moved in the opposite direction, getting rid of mandatory bundles and dismantling the ACA however it can. Without getting political, the direction changes have created even more uncertainty and anxiety in healthcare. Certainly, there aren’t any healthcare organizations that want to see millions more uninsured Americans again.

“Increased regulatory compliance, decreased reimbursement rates, loss of autonomy and uncertainty has created a huge physician burnout problem. Despite so many positive advances in healthcare (wonder drugs for cancer, robots for surgery, etc.), burnout outweighs all of this. No other profession has lost so much control and so much financial reward over the past few decades. The problem of physician burnout, including the fact that the equivalent of an entire medical school worth of physicians commits suicide each year, is an issue that needs much more attention nationally.”

More on healthcare from these and other medical professionals in our class in our next newsletter and future columns. What’s your take? Join the conversation and keep your news coming!

—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA 02043; kaja.k.fickes.95@dartmouth.edu

Drum roll, please: It’s official, we have our first ’95 baby heading to Dartmouth as a first-year student this fall! Ashleigh Brady, daughter of Evelyn Brady and Dr. Drew Brady ’96, has been accepted in the class of 2021. She plans to study a combination of art and engineering and has been an avid volleyball player through high school. Congratulations!

While on the subject of ’95 babies, we have a new one in the family. Congratulations to Kristen Foord and her husband, Peter on the birth of their daughter, Mia Caroline Capozzoli, in March. There are other ’95 babies on their way, so stay tuned for more updates as our class family continues to grow. Ashleigh, you can look forward to babysitting opportunities in 2020 at our next reunion if you’re interested!

In other congratulations, a belated one for Rabbi Owen Gottlieb, who married Abby Bellows of Vienna, Virginia, in the company of many Dartmouth friends in October 2015. Owen is assistant professor of interactive games and media at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he is also the founder and lead researcher of the initiative of religion, culture and policy for the institute’s research laboratory and game studio, the Magic Center. In 2010 Owen founded ConverJent: Jewish Games for Learning. Owen’s mobile augmented reality game, Jewish Time Jump: New Yorkwas nominated for “Most Innovative Game” at the 10th Annual Games for Change Festival in 2013.

Alyse (Kornfeld) Streicher gets a shout-out for her new job as CEO of Romemu, a Jewish community in New York that, according to its website, is “a welcoming, experiential, irreverently pious, intergenerational Jewish community that elevates and transforms individuals and communities into more compassionate human beings.” Sounds like a perfect fit for our senior class president! Alyse is also president-elect of the board of the Junior League of Central Westchester and actively involved with Dartmouth’s Alumni Council.

I’ve been on an advice kick lately (midlife soul-searching perhaps?). As we mark 25 years since the end of our freshman year, I wonder what advice we’d give our 19-year-old selves if we could. Kathryn Ross would say: “Don’t take astronomy. No matter how pretty the telescope looks, this is not the class for you!” while Jennifer Lien would advise her younger self not to take an unchallenging class: “I ended up getting a C my freshman fall for math I had done before, thinking it would be easy (and thus checking out). Big lesson for me!”

Zobediah Gonzalez has lots of counsel that still rings true today: “Don’t waste time trying to become who you think others want you to be or trying to live up to other people’s expectations. Have the courage to find the things you love to do and pursue them, no matter how impractical they seem. The time to be practical will come, this is the time to take risks. Don’t be afraid to go after what you want because you fear failure. Everyone’s definition of success is different. Decide what yours looks like and let that be your compass.”

And Linda (Albers) Serotta shared the following reflection: “When I was in law school I had tickets to meet Roy Lichtenstein at Ohio State University. I did not go because the coursework weighed down on me like a ton of bricks. Roy died shortly and suddenly afterward. I have spent 20 years chasing his paintings around the country. My advice is to meet Roy Lichtenstein. There will never be another chance. There’s a time to leave the library and to experience life.”

Keep your news coming!

—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA 02043; kaja.k.fickes.95@dartmouth.edu; Natalie Herring, 1911 Rex Ave., #41, Joplin, MO 64801; (417) 553-7419; 1995dcn@gmail.com

Cheers to Brian Cremins for his new book, Their Mighty American Hero, published by the University Press of Mississippi. Brian’s book tells the story of the controversial superhero, Captain Marvel and the writers and artists who created his adventures. Brian is an associate professor of English at Harper College and his essays have appeared in the International Journal of Comic Art, Studies in American Humor, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Alter Ego and in the edited collection, Comics and the U.S. South.

Natalie Herring has left Cottey College to become an associate vice president at the University of Baltimore. Geoffrey Willison has completed the sale of Valore, a venture backed e-commerce company, and is now chief financial officer of Continuum, an IT software company. Geoffrey’s wife, Susan Willison, is enjoying her fifth year as a fourth-grade teacher in Hingham, Massachusetts, where, Geoff writes: “Life is fun and busy, supporting our daughters, Cara (16) and Morgan (14), in their athletic and artistic pursuits.”

Pam (Brockmeier) Armstrong wrote from her winter hibernation in Newburyport, Massachusetts: “I am plotting my reemergence with spring. The weather has been warm recently and it’s leading to boisterous feelings of happiness and hope! I am wiping the snow off my surfboard (am I supposed to store that thing indoors?) and planning to actually use it this year. It’s mostly been fence decoration. My kids are old enough that I think I can safely leave them on the beach while I paddle out to the waves. Oh, wait, I still have a 4-year-old. Nope, can’t do that yet. We’ll be boogie boarding again. Which is awesome, too.” 

At my request, Pam also shared a bit of advice from classmates: “There are so many wonderful tidbits and words of wisdom that stick with me. But I can’t remember a single one right now. Okay, how about this: Go to bed, Pam. That came from my engineering project group as we entered the wee hours of an all-nighter. It was clear to them I was useless at that point, and I still love them for recognizing it and releasing me. I never tried to pull an all-nighter again.”

What advice do you recall from a classmate? I remember Jen Chapman (now Schindler) as my sorority house manager counseling that any task you need to execute becomes easier when you think through how much (or how little) time it will take to complete. Jill Wesley recalls Alex Nikas (or was it Jon Belk?) telling her not to mix bleach with ammonia. “Very important. I have shared this info with others.” Linda (Albers) Serotta credits Deborah Healy with advising her to wear good walking shoes in New York or Chicago and that exceptional pizza is worth the walk: “We would walk to Foodees. The entire pizza adventure took three hours. Then we’d watch Thursday night must-see TV.” Chris Hamner’s sage words—“always put yourself in a position to win”—have stuck with Lou Spelios, and Corey (Fleming) Hirokawa still thanks Jill Wesley for giving her the best advice ever, to give Ben Hirokawa a chance: “Guess it worked out!”

There are two initiatives underway in our class: First, mini-reunions are on for the 95th Day of the Year, April 5. Join the fun in person or with a post on our class Facebook page. Second is #D95ActOfKindness: a movement to celebrate our collective acts of public service. Pam and her family help cook and assemble meals to bring to families who need them once a month. What are you doing to help others and make the world a better place?

—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA 02043; kaja.k.fickes.95@dartmouth.edu; Natalie Herring, 1911 Rex Ave., #41, Joplin, MO 64801; (417) 553-7419; 1995dcn@gmail.com

James Budd got in touch this month to flesh out some of the shout-outs he’s had in recent columns, courtesy of my Facebook trawling. “On June 10 my wife, Kelly, and I welcomed our first child into the world—a baby boy named James Jr. He will (I hope) be a member of the Dartmouth College class of 2036! He is happy and healthy and big for his age. Perhaps he has a future on the Big Green football team. Other than that, things are good down here in Atlanta. Last month I started a new job with the law firm Hartman, Simons and Wood, LLP, where I will head up the real estate finance practice group. Needless to say, 2016 has delivered a busy, exciting and tiring summer in the Budd household! Oh—and our wedding was on June 23 of 2012. We had our reception at the Georgia Aquarium (to the extent anyone would find that interesting). I would be thrilled to be included in the class notes. (I really should have sent a note along earlier about my wedding—that is my bad.)

No problem, James! Now, for some more Facebook highlights. Congratulations to Cheryl Flick on the birth of her daughter, Eleanor Anna, in August. She joins big brother Adam at their home in San Francisco, where Cheryl works at KPMG Consulting. Justin Wells is also in the Bay Area. He is an associate research director at Stanford University’s School of Education and this summer co-facilitated two workshops in Beijing and Chongqing, China. Belated best wishes to Michelle Butler,who was married in November 2013 to James McKay. They live in Arlington, Virginia, but as I write this they are vacationing in Hawaii, so life truly is paradise! Alie (Mann) Vanoy can help you plan your next vacation, Michelle. She now is with Cruise Planners out of her home in Annapolis, Maryland. Alie recently celebrated her eighth wedding anniversary and is busy raising her adorable son and daughter. Marie Weis Berg posted some great shots of her triumphant completion of the Ironman 70.3 Timberman this summer in New Hampshire. Congratulations! Marie is a neonatologist at the University of Vermont and lives in Charlotte, Vermont, with her husband, Chris, and their daughters, Madeleine and Catie.

Marie is also co-chairing with Jen (Sopko) Hee our 20th reunion, an Ironman in its own right; I hope not nearly as exhausting but equally rewarding! In just a few months we will gather in Hanover to celebrate, reminisce and catch up. Save the date and make your travel plans for June 19-21, 2017. To make this the best reunion yet, I encourage you to crack open your Aegis and think about that guy from “Bio 3” or the group you went tubing with Sophomore Summer, the women from your rugby team or the crew you rowed the Connecticut River with—naked. Then access our alumni directory online, start typing those emails (or searching Facebook!) and encourage friends, past and present, to get to Hanover for our reunion. Is there someone in particular with whom you’ve fallen out of touch but would love to see? Let me know and I’ll see if they will contribute a few sentences to our next column. While you’re at it, send your own reminiscences and keep your news coming!

—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA 02043; kaja.k.fickes.95@dartmouth.edu; Natalie Herring, 1911 Rex Ave., #41, Joplin, MO 64801; (417) 553-7419; 1995dcn@gmail.com

Notes overflow this time, so thank you and keep the updates coming! Shamyune Truman Jones offers that her life is hectic and blessed. She is the Pennsylvania Convention Center general counsel; in 2012 her board appointed her vice president of legal affairs. With one huge event over (the papal visit) and one to come (the Democratic National Convention), personally she juggles active 7- and 12-year-old boys who won both the YMCA championship and all-star games and traveled for three weeks to Chile and Peru with the Keystone State Boychoir sans their parents!

Deborah Smith shares her first Class Notes entry: “After several nomadic years of living in Berlin, New York, London, Paris and Dubai, I’ve settled down back in London and work as legal counsel to the investment banking division of Goldman Sachs. I got married a couple years ago to Stuart, who I met when I sat next to him on night three of the BBC Proms production of Wagner’s ‘Ring Cycle.’ After six hours of sitting next to each other, you’re bound to start chatting at some point! We now have a gorgeous 9-month-old son, Alexander, who much to our dismay seems to only want to boogie to Burl Ives’ rendition of ‘Froggie Went a Courtin’ ’ or to ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun’ by Cyndi Lauper. We were really hoping he would have more refined taste in music!”

Andrea Useem writes: “I’ve just become a registered nurse, after earning my bachelor of science in nursing at George Washington University. It was a little crazy to go back for another bachelor’s, I know, but totally worth it. There was another Dartmouth alumnus in my class, Andrew Pierce ’05, and I reconnected with Sarah Inwood, who too is becoming a nurse! I’m an ICU nurse at Virginia Hospital Center and serve on the board of the local chapter of the American Association of Critical-care Nurses. Many Dartmouth friends encouraged me on this career-change journey (from journalism) and I’m grateful for their constant support!”

Tim Rodenberger offers: “Life in Andover, Massachusetts, with my wife, Diana, and our two daughters, Isabel and Julia, is good. I am general counsel at American Dental Partners Inc., with about 300 clinics around the country. I coach both of my girls in soccer and was elected to the board of directors of the Andover Soccer Association. My wife is from Mexico, so we frequently travel south of the border and we made our first family trip to Europe (two and a half weeks) this past summer, visiting Germany (including our family’s ancestral home in Rothenburg), Austria, Belgium and France. It was a fantastic time and the kids loved it.”

Hosea Harvey shares: “I’m serving on the board of visitors of what we used to know as the Tucker Center as it divides into two centers: The Tucker Center for Spiritual Life and the Dartmouth Center for Service,” which he describes as “a fascinating transition.”

Finally, Dr. Clifford Weiss presented his work, “Bariatric Embolization of Arteries for the Treatment of Obesity (BEAT Obesity),” at the April Society for Interventional Radiology meeting. Cliff worked with fellow Johns Hopkins colleagues as well as others at Icahn Med School at Mount Sinai and Piedmont Healthcare. Cliff shared in EurekAlert! of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, “Obesity is a highly prevalent, detrimental and costly disease in the United States and abroad. We will be able to gain more insight into the role interventional radiology can play in the critical battle against obesity.”

—Natalie Herring, 1911 Rex Ave., #41, Joplin, MO 64801; (417) 553-7419; 1995dcn@gmail.com; Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA 02043; kaja.k.fickes.95@dartmouth.edu

As I write this column, 2015 is coming to a close and I am enjoying seeing all of our classmates’ photos of family and friends on Facebook celebrating the holiday season. Whether Adam Lipson and Alexander (Sasha) King playing polo, Alex Nikas’ family playing a front foyer brass quartet that would do the Dartmouth wind symphony proud or Tamara Busch’s beautiful new baby girl, Tatiana Lushear (congratulations, Tammy!), it is great to see that ’95s are out there embracing life and having fun.

By the time you read this column it will be spring, the time of mud season and finals in Hanover, when Dartmouth students are counting the days to spring break. I asked classmates to share their favorite spring break memories on Facebook (mine include post-foreign study program travels in Paris and an amazing Chamber Singers tour to Spain.) For Cynthia Kelmenson it was the “rugby tour to England!” and for Malika Ra, “floating in the turquoise waters of Turks and Caicos, paddle boarding and being able to see stingrays below this past spring.” Alexandra (Lesk) Love writes: “Gleek (a.k.a. Glee Club) tour, but not the part where I had to get stitches in Georgia and that medical bill ruined my credit rating for seven years.” Yikes!

Now let’s have fun off Facebook and find time to get together face to face! April 4 marks the 95th day of the year and it’s a great excuse to reconnect. Kisha (Teaney) Weiser,Alexandrawould especially like to connect with you, both for the 95th day and as an early April 5 birthday present!) We’ve made it a tradition in Boston to gather for a mini-reunion dinner somewhere—stay tuned to our Facebook group for more details—and if you’d be interested in reaching out to one classmate or to a whole region’s worth for a 95th day of the year celebration, contact me, our class mini-reunion chair Tara Gulla or our president Jen Hee and we will help you make that happen.

Unfortunately, I end this column with news of another classmate’s passing. The bells of Baker Library toll for Matthew J. Fornari, who died last fall and is survived by his wife, Kim, and their beloved dog, Angel. You will be missed, Matt.

—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA 02043; kaja.k.fickes.95@dartmouth.edu
 

This summer we had a small but mighty pop-up mini-reunion in Walnut Creek, California. Sara (Wasserbauer) Carlson, Craig Sakowitz ’93, Geoffrey Dolan and I met up and talked late into the night over beers and apps (the analog, edible kind) and had a great time. If you’d like to plan an impromptu gathering—a.k.a. pop-up mini—in your area, please contact our new mini-reunion chair, Tara Gulla, at taraleighgulla@gmail.com and she can get you set up. Let’s keep the momentum of our 20th reunion going!

The next time you fly a kite, think about Geoff Dolan. At our pop-up mini he talked about his fascinating work at Makani Power, a company developing airborne wind turbines or “energy kites” that operate at higher altitudes and use more cost-effective materials than windmills. Makani’s goal, per the company website, is “to make energy kites and widespread clean energy a commercial reality.” Really cool stuff! Makani Power was founded in 2006 and acquired by Google [x] in 2013. Perhaps someday we’ll all have these energy kites flying over our homes and businesses and powering our lives. Check out Geoff’s company website at www.google.com/makani.

I recently started a new job at WGBH, directing the PBS station’s major annual giving program. The work we do in public media and education is amazing and I feel so fortunate to be building my career at this diverse, dynamic place. Downton Abbey fans, I don’t have any spoilers to share but I will say that we’re throwing a heck of a party for the sixth and final season on December 5 at our Boston headquarters if anyone’s interested in meeting some talent from the series (Mr. Carson may be there…). I also owe heartfelt thanks to Natalie Herring, Lauren Lieberman, Rebecca (Slisz) Blank and Alyse (Kornfeld) Streicher. The conversations I had with you at our reunion about this opportunity—and how I might make my case to take on the role with the part-time schedule that would allow me to be home for the school bus—made all the difference. Onward!

Because of my new role and the proverbial fire hose from which I currently am drinking, this column deadline snuck up on me, so I’m sorry that the content is rather spare. For future columns, I offer this: In my job I work closely with our remarkable board members who dedicate so much of their time and talent to WGBH’s mission, and I would love to celebrate our classmates’ nonprofit service in upcoming columns. Where are you volunteering? What causes are meaningful to you? Please write in with your thoughts and let’s spread the word about the organizations we support that help make the world a better place. And of course, keep your news coming!

—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA 02043; kaja.k.fickes.95@dartmouth.edu

Did you know that more than 10 percent of our class is in the education field? My daughters might have Susan (a.k.a. Mrs.) Willison for fourth grade, if they’re lucky! While school’s out for summer, here’s news from some of the teachers, professors, administrators and policy makers among us. 


Todd Scanlon is an associate professor in the University of Virginia’s environmental sciences department. He lives outside of Charlottesville, Virginia, with his wife and four kids. “The best part of my job is that I occasionally get to work outdoors. I’m involved in research projects in southern Africa and Shenandoah National Park. Looking back I couldn’t have picked a better major than earth sciences at Dartmouth to prepare me for an academic career as an environmental scientist!” 


Phyllis Fagell initially worked as a magazine editor and writer, but went back to school to get licensed as a mental health therapist and now works as a middle school counselor in Bethesda, Maryland. She loves working with children, and as the parent of three kids, including a sixth- grader and a seventh-grader, is fully immersed in the middle school life. Michelle Webb is in Chicago and has been an elementary school teacher for 15 years. She currently teaches second grade and loves it. Michelle also sells curriculum that she creates. Check out her e-store at www.teachingideasforthosewholoveteaching.net. Alex Lesk chimed in to say that she just gave a talk to her old high school about “taking the road less traveled about my circuitous career that has landed me as a grade seven teacher!”


Ben Means writes from the University of South Carolina Law School: “After practicing law for several years in New York I had an opportunity to move into legal academia and am very glad that I did. I really enjoy teaching and scholarship. As a law professor I teach primarily in the area of business law and I write about family-owned businesses. Moving to Columbia, South Carolina, was the right decision for other reasons as well. I met my wife, Susan Kuo, who is also on the law faculty. Our son, Ezra, will be 4 years old just in time for the 20th reunion this June.”


From Oakland, California, Brian Greenberg reports: “Without ever officially deciding to do so, I ended up devoting the past 20 years of my life to education as a teacher, principal and now chief academic officer. I helped found a high performing school and now get to fund the launch of new schools blending traditional education with technology to create more personalized education for students. I’ve bumped up against the negatives of education—the bureaucracy and entrenched interests—but in general remain incredibly impressed by the vast majority of educators who are working in complex environments tackling hard challenges. That some are succeeding so impressively provides real inspiration.”


Melissa Trumbull Mitchell runs a state-wide advocacy and capacity-building organization focused on community schools, schools that bring together families and the community to mobilize resources and more efficiently and effectively coordinate access to the supports that kids need to succeed in school and beyond. “We advocate for community school partnerships and also do broader state policy work focused on improving academic outcomes, including education funding formula reform, aligning educational systems pre-kindergarten through college and equitable access to learning opportunities.” 


To close, I share the sad news that Alicia (Marti) Pommerening died in March after a long fight with breast cancer. The bells of Baker Tower toll for this devoted mother and friend who fought her disease with tenacity, courage and grace. She will be missed.


—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA 02043; kaja.k.fickes.95@dartmouth.edu


March 15 may mark the Ides of March, but Monday, March 16, begins a special countdown: 95 days to our 20th reunion. Let’s begin the countdown together! Take time that day to post those old college photos, reach out to a friend you haven’t talked to in a while, register for reunions and organize drinks or dinner in your area with classmates.


As you think about reunions, please consider two ’95 opportunities to support current students: the Dartmouth College Fund and our class project. Did you know our class has established a fund to provide stipends for the Rockefeller Center First Year Initiative? Students participating in this program complete an introductory public policy course and a summer fellowship in the public and nonprofit sectors in Washington, D.C. Back at Dartmouth, first-year fellows develop student-initiated and -directed public policy programming for Sophomore Summer. When you pay your class dues, you can support this initiative. The College fund touches all aspects of student life, and our class agents will be in touch about our plans for a class gift in honor of our reunion. Please show your pride and appreciation with your gifts! 


I appreciated seeing ’95s for festivities this holiday season in Walnut Creek, California. Kiyoe Hashimoto, Sara Wasserbauer and Jason Duty are all doing great. Kiyoe works at Stanford University, where she is assistant dean of admissions and works closely with the athletic department (she sported a beautiful NCAA championship ring from the women’s water polo team). Jason works in acoustical engineering at Charles M. Salter Associates Inc. and lives in El Sobrante, California, with his wife, Catrina, and their daughter, Jayla. Sara’s a fellow of the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery and owns a hair transplant clinic in Walnut Creek (she welcomes Dartmouth consults if anyone is interested). Sara and her husband, Erik, live in Benicia, California with their sons, Eliot and Casimir, and daughter, Vivian.


Zobelda Gonzalez is also in the San Francisco area (I’m thinking we need to nickname the Bay Area “Dartmouth West” with all of our classmates who call it home). She welcomed her first child into the world last summer with her boyfriend, Scot. “Evangeline Maya Larsen Gonzalez was born August 3. Our little elf just celebrated her first Christmas.” Congratulations, Zobelda! 


Debbie Rosenbaum looks forward to time with a couple of ’95s later this year. Part of the self-titled SpaHogs, Alison Yobage, Melissa Trumbull Mitchell and Debbie will join friends at Kohler Spa for some rest and relaxation. Debbie reports that she is moving again! “We’re heading to St. Louis, Missouri, for the next—and, I hope, final!—step in my husband’s medical training. Jason and I now have two sons, Max (5) and Bowen (2). I left A.T. Kearney in February after almost 10 years for a sabbatical to focus on my family but I’m hoping to get back to work in St. Louis. I would love to hear from alumni in the area.”


Our gathering this June will also mark a change in the guard for our class leadership. There are lots of opportunities to volunteer. If you would be interested in helping our class stay connected by organizing mini-reunions, managing our class treasury, producing newsletters, writing this column, etc., contact Lou Spelios and throw your hat into the ring. Having volunteered in one way or another since graduation, I will say this is a rewarding way to stay connected to our class and the College. Give it some thought and reach out if you have questions (while you’re at it, I’ll be happy to take your news for our next column too!)


—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA 02043; kaja.k.fickes.95@dartmouth.edu


James Budd got in touch this month to flesh out some of the shout-outs he’s had in recent columns, courtesy of my Facebook trawling. “On June 10 my wife, Kelly, and I welcomed our first child into the world—a baby boy named James Jr. He will (I hope) be a member of the Dartmouth College class of 2036! He is happy and healthy and big for his age. Perhaps he has a future on the Big Green football team. Other than that, things are good down here in Atlanta. Last month I started a new job with the law firm Hartman, Simons and Wood, LLP, where I will head up the real estate finance practice group. Needless to say, 2014 has delivered a busy, exciting and tiring summer in the Budd household! Oh, and our wedding was on June 23 of 2012. We had our reception at the Georgia Aquarium (to the extent anyone would find that interesting.) I would be thrilled to be included in the Class Notes. (I really should have sent a note along earlier about my wedding—that is my bad.)”


No problem, James! Now, for some more Facebook highlights. Congratulations to Cheryl Flick on the birth of her daughter, Eleanor Anna, in August. She joins big brother Adam at their home in San Francisco, where Cheryl works at KPMG Consulting. Justin Wells is also in the Bay Area. He is an associate research director at Stanford University’s school of education and this summer co-facilitated two workshops in Beijing and Chongqing, China. Belated best wishes to Michelle Butler, who was married in November 2013 to James McKay. They live in Arlington, Virginia, but as I write this they are vacationing in Hawaii, so life truly is paradise! Alie (Mann) Vanoy can help you plan your next vacation, Michelle. She now is with Cruise Planners out of her home in Annapolis, Maryland. Alie recently celebrated her eighth wedding anniversary and is busy raising her adorable son and daughter. Marie Weisse Berg posted some great shots of her triumphant completion of the Ironman 70.3 Timberman this summer in New Hampshire. Congratulations! Marie is a neonatologist at the University of Vermont and lives in Charlotte, Vermont, with her husband, Chris, and their daughters, Madeleine and Catie.


Marie is also co-chairing with Jen (Sopko) Hee our 20th reunion, an Ironman in its own right; I hope not nearly as exhausting but equally rewarding! In just a few months we will gather in Hanover to celebrate, reminisce and catch up. Save the date and make your travel plans for June 19-21, 2015. To make this the best reunion yet I encourage you to crack open your Aegis and think about that guy from “Bio 3” or the group you went tubing with sophomore summer, the women from your rugby team or the crew you rowed the Connecticut River with…naked. Then access our alumni directory online, start typing those emails (or searching Facebook!) and encourage friends, past and present, to get to Hanover for our reunion. Is there someone in particular with whom you’ve fallen out of touch but would love to see? Let me know and I’ll see if they will contribute a few sentences to our next column. While you’re at it, send your own reminiscences and keep your news coming!


—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA 02043; kaja.k.fickes.95@dartmouth.edu


The 95th day of the year was celebrated in style in Boston! Dan Stern, Jen (Sopko) Hee, Carol (Gilchrist) McIver, Vil Ramos, Haskins Hobson, Kim Schmitt, Jon Belk and I met up for dinner and had a great time reminiscing and catching up. Mark your calendars now for Sunday, April 5, 2015, for class dinners in Boston and elsewhere. If you’d be interested in coordinating a mini-reunion in April or anytime, contact our mini-reunion chair, Sandy Paul, at sandy.paul@gmail.com.


Sandy’s one of a number of classmates who chimed in on Facebook April 5. He says hello from Arlington, Virginia, where he works as an advisor on commercial real estate projects. Besides volunteering as our mini-reunion chair, he also conducts Dartmouth interviews and helps coach his son’s baseball team. Our esteemed class president, Lou Spelios, wrote from Phoenix, Arizona, where he was meeting with his law partners. Lou lives in Atlanta, where, if he’s not billing hours, odds are he’s working on some project for Dartmouth. Congratulations to Lou, our new Alumni Council president! He writes: “If you ever have any questions, comments or concerns about the College, drop me a line. You will always have my ear.”


Pete Jolicoeur posted from Shanghai, China, where he lives with his wife, Hua, and their son Allen (3). Pete works for a U.S.-based aviation consulting firm and travels throughout Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Hua owns a wholesale shoe business and has been expanding into the fabric industry. Pete writes: “I’m happy to have a chance to travel and visit so many places. Otherwise for fun I try to get in a few running races per year and am scheduled for the Great Wall Marathon.” Jonathan Weinberger wished everyone a happy 95th day and shared that he has moved to London. He looks forward to connecting with classmates “across the pond.” Our Facebook group is a great way to stay in touch and reconnect. If you haven’t been on recently, take a look, and if you haven’t participated, do! Just search “Dartmouth Class of 1995” and ask to join. Our 413 classmates who are already there will be glad you did!


Finally, Brandon Taylor wrote in from southern California: “I am still working at the Carlyle Group out here in Los Angeles and living in sunny and sandy Manhattan Beach, California. My awesome wife, Serena (Wellesley ’96), and I are raising our two sons, who are 5 and 8. I am really looking forward to showing them Dartmouth at our 20th reunion so they will finally believe the place I talk about so much actually exists. I guess the biggest item for me to report since we last emailed is that I was diagnosed 16 months ago with stage-III colon cancer. When I was turning 40 I had an executive physical that caught it. No symptoms at all. So, after chemo and surgery, I am happy to report I am in full remission. Docs at UCLA tell me I should be fine so I’m very encouraged. I wanted to relay this to encourage classmates to follow screening guidelines for colon cancer. I was very lucky in how I caught mine. Anyway, really just wanted to get my story out as early screenings really do save lives with this type of cancer.” Brandon, thank you for sharing your story. It’s a relief to know you are okay. It will be good to see you and your family at our reunion (June 19-21, 2015).


If you haven’t already done so, remember to mark your calendars for our 20th, and keep your news coming!


—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA 02043; kaja@alum.dartmouth.org


And now a word from Natalie Herring, our class president: “As you may know our 15th reunion is coming up next year—Friday, June 18, through Sunday, June 20, 2010. Many thanks go out to Lou Spelios for agreeing to chair the reunion committee. Thank you also to the following classmates who have agreed to serve as committee members: Corey Fleming Hirokawa, Judi Flynn-Echeverria, Cliff Weiss and Anne Hawk LeClercq.


“I have posted several items to the existing Dartmouth class of 1995 Facebook page, which has 195 members. I would encourage all of you who are not in the group (or on Facebook) to get on and to encourage others to get on. Please check the topics on the discussion board and sign up to help if you can. You can reply to me via Facebook or at 1995dc@gmail.com. 


“Current executive committee openings include newsletter editor, Webmaster and nominating committee. If you are interested in one of these positions or in serving as an officer or on the executive committee from 2010-15, just let me know.


“We have also set up monthly conference calls; they are listed on Facebook. Please schedule them into your calendar.


“Please also note that the e-mail account 1995dc@gmail.com or ‘The Great Dartmouth Class of 1995’ is not spam. I sent a brief, fun questionnaire to the entire class and would love to hear from you so we can include your updates in upcoming newsletters. Be sure to update your e-mail address with the College and look for those e-mails.


“Many thanks to Sarah Kim (Boston) and James ‘Trip’ Von Rittmann ’95 (San Francisco) for agreeing to help host mini-reunions in their areas. If anyone in those areas would like to help or if you would like to head up an effort in your area, please let me know.


“If you consider yourself Mr. or Mrs. Popularity, a social butterfly, well-connected and in the know, i.e., you tweet often, are LinkedIn and MySpace is your space, you can help us reach out to our class and drum up interest in our 15th reunion. I would like at least one reunion rouser from Black Alumni of Dartmouth Association; Dartmouth Asian Pacific American Alumni Association; Dartmouth Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Alumni/ae Association; Native American Alumni Association of Dartmouth; and Dartmouth Association of Latino Alumni, among others, to call, e-mail and contact classmates to make sure we hit our attendance goal of 366 classmates. This would be a new record for us and would represent 34 percent of our class. (Thirty-three percent of us attended our fifth and 28 percent of us attended our 10th.)”


Finally, a few personal notes. Congratulations to Yona Billington on her M.S. from Stanford and new post as global marketing manager for Byetta in London for Eli Lilly, to Candace Howell on her new home and to Evelyn (Waters) Brady on her 13th wedding anniversary to Dr. Drew Amin Brady ’96. Hope you all are well. Stay in touch!


—Alex (Morgan) Mareiniss, 100 Lancefield Road, Baltimore, MD 21209; alexmareiniss@yahoo.com


It is with great sadness that I report that Andrew Nicholas Swanson died on June 11 in a mountaineering accident on the West Rib of Denali in Alaska.


Andrew graduated magna cum laude, majoring in biology as he prepared for a career in medicine. He rowed heavyweight crew his freshman year before a love of climbing developed in full. Frequently spending his free time climbing and hiking in the White Mountains and the Shawangunks, Andrew became an expert mountaineer. By the time he was a senior he was president of the Dartmouth Mountaineering Club. His love of climbing and passion for adventures led him across the United States and to South America, including to Peru and Bolivia, on climbing trips and mountaineering expeditions with classmates.


After Dartmouth Andrew deferred medical school for a year to teach at Burke Mountain Academy. He loved teaching and the commitment to helping others was a unifying theme in his life. Andrew had a remarkable dedication to bettering those around him, from high school students to young physicians to mountaineers in danger. Many a friend learned the joys of rock climbing from watching and listening as Andrew patiently explained the use of ropes and other safety equipment and the art of route choice. On Andrew’s first expedition to Denali in 2000 he was awarded the Denali Pro Award for aiding a party of climbers in danger, an honor recognizing the highest standards in the sport for safety, self-sufficiency and assisting fellow mountaineers.


Andrew attended medical school at the University of Chicago, followed by a residency in orthopedic surgery at the prestigious Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City. He subsequently joined his father and brother in practice at the orthopedic and fracture clinic in Mankato, Minnesota, where he was known to go out of his way for patients and co-workers alike. Looking to enrich the lives of those who were less fortunate, Andrew regularly traveled to Ghana to volunteer his time as a surgeon, performing operations on children with severe spinal deformities. His work improved the lives of these children immeasurably.


For all his love of adventure and commitment to being a physician, Andrew was at his core a dedicated son, brother, uncle and friend. Whether it was annual holiday and summer retreats with family, weekends catching up with friends or regular reunions with college classmates Andrew stayed in contact. He became a pilot in part to help him more easily connect with those he loved. When he did gather with others he would always cook. His college specialties included bananas flambé and cherries jubilee. Never afraid of a big fire in a small space he illuminated many a Dartmouth dormitory kitchen as the flaming rum burned off, with the lights out, his tall shadow illuminating the wall as he shook the pan in smiling delight. He lived by one of his favorite sayings, “Go Big!”


Andrew is survived by his parents, Dr. Gene and Eydie Swanson of North Mankato; siblings Molly Britt of Newport Beach, California, Dr. Kyle Swanson of Mankato and Heidi Avedisian of Winnetka, Illinois; brothers-in-law Tim Britt and Vann Avedisian; and adoring nieces and nephews Eliza, Nick, Carter and Lily Britt and Brooke, Luke and Avery Avedisian. 


(Thank you to Doug Marple, Scott Porter, Doug White and Andrew’s sister Heidi for writing this memorial column.)


—Alex (Morgan) Mareiniss, 100 Lancefield Road, Baltimore, MD 21209; alexmareiniss@yahoo.com


A glance at your calendar has likely alerted you, possibly somewhat jarringly, to the fact that our 15-year reunion is coming up in June. We’ll be gathering again with the classes of 1994 and 1996, so surely there’s someone you want to see out of all of those people? Information and an intentions list (non-binding preliminary RSVP) can be found on the class Web site, accessible through alum.dartmouth.org. You can also get a preliminary reunion schedule on our class’ Facebook page, “Dartmouth Class of 1995.”


And now the news! Kim Schmitt and Jon Belk got married last year and are expecting their first child this spring. There was a large Dartmouth contingent at the wedding—Pamela (Brockmeier) Armstrong, Marie (Weisse) Berg and Chris Berg ’96, Susan Boyd, Alison (Burrell) Cherpitel, Jason Duty, Judi Flynn-Echeverria and Frederick Echeverria T04, John Jones, Rachel Jordan, Sarah Kim, Kristi Kimball, Marianne (Ruhl) Nikas ’93 and Alex Nikas, Vil Ramos, Rory (Goode) Robinson, Moriah Shilton, Dan Stern, Kim (Barry) Taylor, Julie (Kanarowski) Turner, Jill Wesley, Anne Quinn Young and Brandon Young and yours truly. It was a great wedding!


Brian Radics wrote to say that he and his girlfriend from senior year, Natasha Kindergan, “finally got hitched” in Panama in October 2009. Their wedding was a long time coming for the couple, having dated in college, lived across the street from each other in Boston right after Dartmouth, broken up, reunited in London for two years in 1999, broken up and reunited in spring 2008. They went to the Beijing Olympic games in summer 2008 and re-lit the relationship spark. Brian gives a special shout-out to the couple’s tight group of Dartmouth friends for getting them to the same weddings over the years and ensuring they would stay in touch. The wedding was in the Gamboa Rainforest of Panama and a number of ’95s and ’94s were in attendance. (“Too many to mention, but needless to say it was a blast.”)


Brian and Natasha now live in Manhattan. Natasha works for the United Nations and Brian “markets booze for Diageo,” an arrangement he terms “a good balance.” The couple has their first baby on the way this spring. Brian concludes by saying: “Quite the change from falling for each other in Hanover 15 years ago—it’s been a fun ride.”


Sean McSweeney also e-mailed an update. After leaving Toshiba Medical, where he managed the U.S. CAT scanner business, Sean co-founded Cobalt Health, a healthcare revenue cycle management company. The company does the back-office coding and medical billing for physicians, hospitals, laboratories and imaging centers and now has offices in two states and clients in eight states. On the personal front Sean has a fantastic daughter who is almost 2 years old. If anyone lives in the L.A. area or is visiting, drop him a line at smcsween@yahoo.com. 


I hope you’re having a wonderful spring!


—Alex (Morgan) Mareiniss, 100 Lancefield Road, Baltimore, MD 21209; alexmareiniss@yahoo.com


I hope everyone had a wonderful summer and, for those who attended, a fantastic time at reunion! Speaking of reunion, 440 ’95s and guests registered to attend, including 241 ’95s, which put us nine alumni short of breaking the all-time attendance record for a 15th reunion. All of the credit goes to Lou Spelios, 15th reunion committee chair, and the reunion committee that included Rebecca Slisz, Judi Flynn-Echeverria, Jen Sopko Hee and Corey Fleming Hirokawa. Big thank-yous also go out to Ben Meaning and outgoing class president Natalie Herring. I’ll be mortified if I left out anyone.


In other class news Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes will be taking over as Class Secretary and, therefore, as the author of these Class Notes. You can send updates to her at kaja@alum.dartmouth.org. I’m sad to go, but I know Kaja will do a wonderful job! As for me, I’m switching roles to be newsletter editor, so feel free to continue to send updates and pictures to me at the e-mail address below.


Last, but most certainly not least, I have a classmate update. Alison Mountz recently authored Seeking Asylum: Human Smuggling and Bureaucracy at the Border. She was a senior fellow and is an associate professor of geography at Syracuse (on leave this year at Harvard). Congratulations!


—Alex (Morgan) Mareiniss, 100 Lancefield Road, Baltimore, MD 21209; alexmareiniss@yahoo.com


It was thrilling watching the Winter Olympics and knowing that there were Dartmouth alumni and students among the remarkable competitors. You may not know that we have an Olympian in our own ranks. Rachel Rochat competed in Torino on the Swiss women’s hockey team. She loved cheering on former teammates as they secured the bronze in Sochi: “It was great seeing them win and also to see how far women’s hockey has come in the past few years. There had been talk of dropping women’s hockey from the Olympics but, fortunately, that no longer seems to be the case.” 


Rachel lives in Boston where she works at a startup focused mainly on economic development in American cities. She writes: “I do keep in touch with some Dartmouth friends. We recently had a women’s hockey alumnae weekend in Hanover, so I had a chance to hang out with former teammates there. I saw Erica Puccio a few months ago and just saw my freshman-year roommate Marieke Ott a few weeks ago. She and her husband, Jose, have a rink in their back yard so I had a chance to skate with Jose and their kids (we were also joined briefly by two ’94s: Jason Fortier and Dave Shaff).


Walker Richmond, his wife, Hallie, and their sons Joseph (4) and Tucker (2) live in Charlottesville, Virginia. Walker teaches sixth-grade history at St. Anne’s-Belfield School and coaches the middle school soccer team. His favorite pastimes are gardening, taking walks with his wife and playing tag with his sons.


Any aspiring authors out there? Give Michelle Wolfson a call! She says hello from New York City, where she lives with her husband, whom she met at NYU business school, and their two kids (8 and 5). “I bounced around a lot career-wise after college, but I’ve been a literary agent now for more than 10 years, with my own agency for just more than six, and I really love it. I love helping authors get their books published and helping them manage their careers in an industry that’s facing a lot of changes and challenges. I also hear from Dartmouth writers sometimes. I can’t remember how it happened, but one recently said something that led me to tell her what year I was and it turned out she knows Kiyoe Hashimoto. Small world—how have you been? You always report on everyone else but we never hear about you!”


Thanks for asking, Michelle! Life is treating me well in the suburbs of Boston. I have two daughters, Elise (6) and Kristi (4). My husband, Dan, and I will celebrate our eighth anniversary in May. To the amusement of many who have known me a long time, we met playing softball on a church league in Boston (I should have become a jock years earlier—who knew?). I work in fundraising at WGBH and still sing quite a bit, though in recent months my steady gig has been for a pajama-clad audience nightly around 8 p.m. 


Before I close, a couple of dates for your calendars. First, the 208th meeting of the Alumni Council takes place in Hanover May 15-17. If you have any questions or concerns you’d like our councilor Joe Santos to address, please contact him at ajsantos2000@gmail.com. Second, it’s time to save the date for our—brace yourselves—20th reunion. June 19-21, 2015, we will gather in Hanover to celebrate, reminisce and reconnect. If you’d like to help get this party started, please contact our reunion chair Rebecca Slisz at rebeccaslisz@lycos.com and thanks in advance for volunteering.


Keep your news coming!


—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA, 02043; kaja@alum.dartmouth.org



Okay, Jennifers and Michaels, time to hear from some of our uniquely named classmates. First off, Bryson Coles and his wife, Rachael Flores, were married in October 2010. They have two daughters: Paige (2) and Phoebe (3 months—congratulations)! Bryson is an art director specializing in mobile design for Booz Allen Hamilton in Washington, D.C. “Between bottle feedings and diaper changes I’ve been lucky to catch some quick naps and cram in some (short) runs around our nation’s capitol.”


Nadia Bowers has been acting professionally for the last decade or so since getting her M.F.A. from New York University’s Tisch School. “I am about to close a run of the play Sideways (yes, like the movie) at the La Jolla Playhouse in California. Maybe the show will transfer to New York City—who knows? My home is in Brooklyn, New York, with my boyfriend Corey Stoll, also an actor. I’ve been writing some as well. I co-wrote a short film, a first for me, and am excited that we’ll be shooting it this fall.” 


Brice Brown (bricebrown.com) has a lot of exciting projects going on! “I have a small-scale exhibition opening in New York City at Mixed Greens gallery in January. By small-scale, I mean I’m literally fabricating a 4-inch solid gold suit of armor, among other wacky diminutive objects. On the other end of the scale spectrum, I recently installed a 19-foot-by-24-foot mural on the side of a building in rural Pennsylvania. I’ve been developing a project with dancer Gino Grenek ’94 that will ultimately take the form of a complex video installation. I’m also working on the long-awaited fifth issue of The Sienese Shredder—an arts journal I publish and edit with Trevor Winkfield. In other news, I recently became board president of Visual AIDS, a fantastic nonprofit that uses art to fight HIV/AIDS (the ubiquitous red ribbon was one of our first projects).”


Claire Unis is a pediatrician, practicing part time, and living in Auburn, California, with her husband, Leo and two sons, ages 5 and 3. “Along with our dog and horse, we enjoy the foothills for the opportunities to bike, hike and ski close to home. (Okay, the horse doesn’t ski or bike, but she likes the trails!) Raising two rambunctious little boys fills up most of our free time! Regarding our classmates, I often wonder what happened to Ann Marshall, a ’95 who really made me question my assumptions about gender and race. I’d love to know what she is up to.” 


Done! Ann (Marshall) Thompson writes: “After graduating Dartmouth I went to Harvard Law. I spent a couple of years at corporate firms after I got married and had my son. When 9/11 happened I was stuck in midtown while my son was in daycare on Staten Island. With all of the bridges and tunnels closed I couldn’t get to him. After that I figured if I was going to leave my son for 11 hours a day then it was going to be for something worthwhile. I quit and took a couple of years off. I had twin girls and then decided I wanted to go back to work but only if I could do something that mattered to me. I have been prosecuting crimes of domestic violence, adult sexual assaults and child abuse for the past six years. It is at once the most rewarding and frustrating job but the only one for which I would consider leaving my children.”


Which of our classmates had a special impact on your time at Dartmouth? 


—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA, 02043;kaja@alum.dartmouth.org


Normally seeing our classmates’ names written on a bathroom wall would be cause for concern, but when the bathroom is in EBA’s and the names are on a framed Epsilon Kappa Theta (EKT) “We Will Survive” T-shirt, it becomes the stuff of a column! 


Chantell Dalpe wrote that six of her EKT sisters try to get together every year. Susan Warhover, Jo Cline, Kelli Whealan, Paulette Salmon, Cheryl Flick and Chantelle recently met up in San Diego, California. Kelli lives there with her husband and two kids, ages 10 and 7. “Kelli arranged a surfing lesson for us. None of us, except Kelli, had ever been on a surfboard before. It was so fun! Paulette surprised us with the news that she is pregnant with her first child, a daughter, due in the fall. ‘Flicka’ and her husband and 2-year-old son live in San Francisco, where she works for KPMG. Jo is an attorney, living in Delaware with her 8-year-old daughter. I am an obstetrician-gynecologist living in Syracuse, New York, with my husband and two sons, ages 7 and 9. Despite our geographic separation the friendships we formed during our years at Dartmouth have remained strong. We cherish these times we spend together to catch up, support each other, laugh and play.”


Pam (Brockmeier) Armstrong is living in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and “watching the world go by” with her son James (3). “His sibling is due to greet the world in the next few weeks and will likely be swaddled like a burrito when I sit down to read this issue of DAM. Any other news in my life kind of pales in comparison to that right now.” Laurie (Sedillos) Vander Veen and her husband, Ken, live in Pacific Palisades, California, with their daughter Grace (8) and son Jake (5). “I’m trying to decide if I should get back into teaching now that the kids are both in school full time. I love southern California but I miss my Dartmouth friends!” 


Lisa Mortell wrote from the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, where she was with her husband, Jake ’94, and their sons Will (8) and Owen (6). “My family is still living in Denver and enjoying the Colorado life of skiing in the winter and mountain biking, hiking and camping in the summer. This fall I am launching a practice as an independent fundraising consultant while still working part time at Kent Denver School, where I have been in various capacities since 1998.” Lisa saw Connie (Trumbull) Eyster and her son Birch (2) at the festival; Connie’s husband, Brian Eyster, is the director of marketing for Planet Bluegrass. 


And finally, Vanessa Levesque wrote: “I’m in the midst of studying for my comprehensive exams, which start next week, but this is as good a study break as ever!” After graduation Vanessa spent three years in Uganda as a Peace Corps volunteer, did a quick stint in Papua New Guinea with World Wildlife Fund, got her master’s and has since been working as a natural resources planner. Two years ago she decided to go back for her Ph.D. from the Sustainability Solutions Initiative at the University of Maine: “All research is based on stakeholder-identified problems and is tackled by interdisciplinary teams, with the aim of promoting ecological and economic well-being of the state. It consumes way too much of my time, but I love working on a team-based, solutions-driven effort. And when I’m not being a student I really enjoy living in Portland, Maine, and taking in all that this state has to offer.” 


Keep your news coming!


—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 116 Newbury St., 4th Floor, Boston, MA 02116; kaja@alum.dartmouth.org


We have quite a bit of news this issue from ’95 couples. First, Geoffrey and Susan (LoCurto) Willison have been a wonderful resource for my family in our relocation to the ’burbs. Among e-mails about pediatricians and preschools, Geoffrey shared: “I wanted to let you know that Susan graduated in May with a master’s in education from Lesley University and this fall will be a fourth-grade teacher in Hingham, Massachusetts. We’re very proud of her accomplishment!” Susan, you will be a great teacher—lucky kids!


Then this summer I ran into Courtney (Mottiger) Cole poolside in Weston, Massachusetts. Courtney and her husband, Jason Cole, live in Newton, Massachusetts, with their daughters Caroline (7) and Zoe (5). She followed up on our chat with this news: “In January Tiffany (Brooks) Bernal, Gillian Fraser, Julie (Kanarowski) Turner and I threw a baby shower for Alix (Lessow) Rosa in New York City. It was such a fun weekend and a great chance to catch up. These reunions are rare, as we are spread out all across the country. Tiffany and her husband, Pablo, enjoy life in Seattle, and they keep busy with their children Sammy (4) and Gabby (2). Julie and her husband, Josh, recently relocated from the San Francisco Bay Area to Park City, Utah. They have two kids, Vivian (4) and Sebastian (2), and Julie still works for Electronic Arts. Gillian lives west of Boston, which means I’m lucky enough to see her more often than the others. She keeps busy as a veterinarian and mom to Gavin (7) and Tylia (4). The baby shower guest of honor and her husband, Pete, welcomed adorable Gianna into the world in February. Alix is an otolaryngologist in Manhattan. As for me, Jason and I have lived in the Boston area now for 13 years. Jason is general counsel at Zalicus. I do some freelance consulting work, primarily for nonprofit organizations, but I spend most of my time running around with my kids.”


Jon Belk and Kim Schmitt welcomed their daughter Elizabeth Schmitt Belk into the world June 12. The happy family lives in San Francisco.


Larry and Leah (Cummings) Breckenridge celebrated the birth of their third child in August. Thomas Geoffrey Breckenridge weighed in at a healthy 9 pounds, 10 ounces and came home to his excited sisters Nora and Julia. I have it on good authority that Tommy’s middle name is in honor of our classmate Geoffrey Dolan. Larry’s Facebook comment: “I kind of have to honor Geoff after putting up with me all these years.” 


Speaking of Facebook, in June James Budd posted: “Last 18 hours of being single. Sorry ladies, this time tomorrow I will officially be off the market.” Congratulations to James on his marriage to Kelly Clark! The couple married in Atlanta and honeymooned in St. Lucia. Alexandra (Lesk) Blomerus and I follow each other’s “mommy” posts. In recent months Alex’s have focused on her family’s move from Great Britain back to her hometown of Vancouver, British Columbia, where she is “happily settled.” Alex has two beautiful boys and teaches English and social studies at West Point Grey Academy. Becky Bishop makes me jealous with all her Facebook photos from fabulous vineyards throughout France. “Bex” has also returned home, in her case to Napa Valley, California, where she studied wine, became a winemaker, and has started her own company called BX of Napa Wines. 


Get in touch with other ’95s and learn about mini-reunions and more on Facebook through our Dartmouth class of 1995 group. Join it! We have 281 members and counting.


Keep your news coming!


—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishop’s Lane, Hingham, MA, 02043-2601; kaja@alum.dartmouth.org


The 40th birthday celebrations continue! I have it on good authority (aka Facebook) that Alex Nikas celebrated his 40th in Vegas. He and his wife, Maryanne Ruhl Nikas ’93, went to the wax museum at the Venetian, met Pete Rose at—where else—a casino and saw Jerry Seinfeld perform at Caesars Palace. Alex posted that this was the best 40th birthday he’s ever had!


Eric Waters writes: “I don’t have anything special planned for my 40th, but you can mention that Michelle and I welcomed our sixth child into the world in March 2012. That brings the total up to two girls (Sophia, 12, and Elizabeth, 10) and four boys (Samuel, 8, David, 6, Jonathan, 3, and Matthew, 1).” Congratulations on your growing family, Eric. It sounds like you and Michelle are busy, busy! 


Eric Eisenhauer and Elsje (Carbone) Eisenhauer are in their fifth year living in Ohio, where they are raising two daughters. They moved to Ohio from New York for Eric’s work as a gynecologic oncologist. As it turns out, they discovered through a previous class column that Eric Waters is the pastor of a large and vibrant church in their community and they recently enjoyed one of his services. Eljie notes that you can hear Eric Waters’ sermons on the church’s website, at www.ualc.org/mrs.


Becky (Gaiman) Wiese was excited to share some news about her husband and classmate, Brian Wiese. “Men’s soccer coach at Georgetown University, Brian was named Division I Coach of the Year by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America at its annual awards banquet in Indianapolis, Indiana. Associate head coach Zach Samol ’98 was named the Northeast Region Assistant Coach of the Year. Brian and Zach are in their seventh season together at the head of a resurgent Hoyas program. The Hoyas put together a historic season, going 19-4-3 and advancing to the national championship, where the team fell, 1-0, to Indiana University. Along the way the squad advanced further than any team in program history, won the Big East Blue Division regular season, reached the Big East Tournament championship and set a new record for wins in a season. Brian arrived at Georgetown after five seasons at Stanford and five at Notre Dame, all spent under the tutelage of his mentor and former coach at Dartmouth, Bobby Clark.” Congratulations, Brian!


In other ’95 spouse shout-outs, Corey (Fleming) Hirokawa posted on Facebook that her husband, Ben Hirokawa,plans to open South Carolina’s first appliance and e-waste recycling facility in 2014, creating 200 new green jobs in Aiken, South Carolina. Gov. Nikki Haley publicly celebrated this news at the state’s RecyclonomicsSC event in February. “We’re excited and proud of this latest venture!” 


Jen Lien had her second baby in January and writes: “Cheong Soon Gan and I are now living in Schenectady, New York, where Cheong Soon is wrapping up a two-year appointment as visiting assistant professor of Asian history at Union College. I’m trying to finish my doctorate in voice from the University of Wisconsin-Madison while raising Olivia, 3, and Paul, born January 25. Where will we end up next in our exciting life of nomadic early academia? We’ll keep you posted.” New baby congratulations also go out to Jackie (Keane) Harvey, Sara (Wasserbauer) Carlson and Staci Wilkes.


Keep your news coming!


—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA, 02043; kaja@alum.dartmouth.org


More class news courtesy of Beth (Wilson) Webster: “Cristy (Nguyen) Humer and her husband, Kristian, recently moved back to New York after a few years living in London. After Dartmouth Cristy got her M.P.H. at Yale, then worked in Atlanta at the Centers for Disease Control. After a stint working in healthcare consulting in D.C., she got her M.B.A. from Duke, where she met Kristian. 


“Becky Lamm Lepage, her husband, Matt, and their daughter Grace live in Wilton, Connecticut. Becky works in a private pediatrics practice, where she’s run into a few Dartmouth folks among her patients’ parents. Becky and Matt met at her sister’s marriage to his college roommate. In a wonderful twist of fate Grace was born Thanksgiving Day 2010, the same day as Christina Miyake Monkmeyer’s daughter Halle. Becky and Christina were both Tri-Delts, both went to medical school at Georgetown and both went into pediatrics.


“Christina and Bob met during her residency in Boston (he’s not in medicine and alas he didn’t go to Dartmouth so Christina has to make up for it by buying Halle more Dartmouth gear to cover up the Yale and Stanford outfits he buys her—he’s Yale undergrad, Stanford business and law). Last year Christina and Bob moved to California, where she took a position as a pediatric electrophysiologist at Stanford. She lives minutes away from Jamie and Laurie (Stucker) Halligan. Laurie was one of Christina’s bridesmaids and Halle loves playing with their daughter Paige. Jamie is an orthopedic surgeon.


“Lynae (Striker) and Hector Canales are living in Corpus Christi, Texas, with their three boys Andrew, Samuel and Benjamin. Lynae is a pediatrician in private practice and Hector is a lawyer. Deb (Healy) Gilmore, her husband Tom Gilmore ’96, and their boys Andrew and Jack are in Newburyport, Massachusetts, where they run a company called Vacation Home Rentals (www.homeaway.com)—a great website to checkout if you are interested in renting a place for vacation.


“Alison (Paris) Posner is married to Steve Posner ’91. Steve is a vascular surgeon working in Orange County, California. They have kids Maddy (5), Ethan (3 1/2) and Caleb (1 1/2). Ali got her Ph.D. at Michigan, where she met Steve, who was in his residency there. She does consulting on how children learn and develop.”


Thanks for all the great updates, Beth! A quick correction from the last issue: Nicole Vines is now director of special markets for Sterling Publishing, a subsidiary of Barnes & Noble. 


In other exciting news Adriana (McGrath) Clancy writes: “Mike and I are thrilled to announce the arrival of Ella “Ellie” Florence Clancy on October 30, 2010. She is a fighter already, having survived her mom’s emergency appendectomy while in utero as well as a Dartmouth reunion. Thanks to many friends she already has a solid Dartmouth jockwear wardrobe!”


I will attend my last Alumni Council session for our class in May. If there are any issues or questions you’d like me to raise, please drop me a line (and while you’re at it, feel free to include some news for this column!) This fall Joe Santos will join the council for a three-year term as our representative. Joe is doing some very cool work in New York. Pursuing his dream of making his own handcrafted spirits, he has launched Brooklyn Gin. As Joe writes on his website: “I cut, pulp and peel all of my citrus fruits. I crack open my juniper berries by hand. After we distill we fill, cork and label the bottles by hand. I go door-to-door to local bars and liquor stores to sample my gin and hand deliver every bottle.” Sounds amazing—good luck, Joe!


—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 345 Commonwealth Ave., No. 8, Boston, MA 02115; kaja@alum.dartmouth.org


Andrew Kim made my day back in November when he wrote: “I saw your Nov/Dec Class Notes. I enjoyed viewing our classmates’ and my artwork online. Since you asked what I’ve been up to, after working in South Korea for several years my wife, Joy, and I returned to the United States. I went back to school to study human-centered design and innovation planning. After I completed my graduate studies, we moved to western Michigan. For the last five and a half years I’ve been working at Steelcase in the WorkSpace Futures group, basically the research and development group for the company. Though I’m not painting and sculpting these days, I’m applying the skills I learned in my studio art classes to designing new environments and experiences for workplaces, classrooms and retail spaces. Beyond work our two daughters, who are 5 years and 10 months old, keep us busy in a good way.” 


Susan (Warhover) Buckheit wrote in from outside of Denver, where she lives with her husband, Mike; their twins, Tanner and Jane, who turned 4 in January; and their baby daughter, Kit, who turned one on Thanksgiving. “I am primarily a stay-at-home mom, although I am doing the slightest bit of freelance editing now and am wondering if I’m really ready to go back (the short answer: no; the long answer: nope). Life is moving way too fast—preschool, baby milestones, last years of our 30s!—but we are happy and healthy and couldn’t ask for more. I am in touch with many Dartmouth friends, but I’ll limit my update to the ’95s in Colorado whom I see regularly: Hillary (Agnew) Cecil is in Denver with her husband, Adam, and kids Calvin (6), Margaret (4) and Everett (18 months). Aviva (Bender) Siegel is also in Denver with her husband, Dan, and kids Alison (11), Mitch (8) and Liam (2.) They are both doing well and I feel so lucky to be in the same state with them. Our blood truly runs green!”


Rachel Wasserstrom writes from Weston, Massachusetts: “My husband, Ken, and I welcomed our son Adam Bernard Scheer on November 2, 2011. Adam’s big sister Lauren is elated with her new sibling. She wakes up very animated each morning, asking for her baby brother. I had Adam at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, which is very convenient for me since I also work in the obstetrics/gynecology department there. I literally walked down the hall for my doctor’s appointments.”


Sophia Cha shares news from her home in New York City’s Battery Park. She has a beautiful 21-month-old son named Sebastian. “He is the light of my life and just the best combination of my husband, Carlo, and myself.” Sophia has been in New York since graduating from Dartmouth. She earned her master’s in architecture from Columbia, where she met Carlo, who is also an architect. They’ve been married since 2004. Sophia practiced architecture until about four years ago, when she left to join the development side, now working as a design director for a commercial real estate firm. 


Tamara Busch recently moved back to the Boston area after several years in New York and Connecticut. She had the good fortune to take four months off between jobs (jealous!) “supposedly to rest and relax, but seems like I’ve booked myself full already with various travels—I just got back from Italy, and have upcoming trips planned to Seattle, Antarctica and Belize.” Tamara practices trust and estate law and has joined Day Pitney’s Boston office. Tammy, I look forward to catching hot chocolate with you at LA Burdick’s soon!


Keep your news coming!


—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 345 Commonwealth Ave., No. 8, Boston, MA 02115; kaja@alum. dartmouth.org


If you weren’t on our class Facebook page on the 95th day of the year, here is some of what you missed. 


Scott Brady says “Hi!” from Tahoe, California, where he was enjoying some spring skiing with his two daughters (3 and 6) and his wife, Brisen. The Bradys live in San Francisco, where Shara Frase now lives and works as a criminal defense attorney. Cynthia Kelmenson lives in Golden, Colorado, with her husband, Steve and their two kids Zoe (6) and Calvin (3). “I am a doctor in Denver and am enjoying teaching the kids to mountain bike and ski in addition to all that reading, writing and math stuff.” Barbra McDonagh Blair is living in Boston and working as an infectious disease doctor. “Trying to balance full-time job with being a mom to two great kids, ages 7 and 4. Luckily I have an incredible husband who does bench research in neurobiology with a more flexible schedule. Happy 95th day!”


Brenda Almaraz sends a shout-out from Texas: “I’m in marketing at Dell, starting my 12th year. I’m the program manager for the U.S. consumer gift card team. Work from home. Love my job. My hubby, Jesse, is an engineer at Samsung—he tells me he plays with robotics all day—he loves his job too! We have three great kids: Daniela is 4, J.D. is 11 and Tony is 9. We officially became a family in 2009 when we adopted all three kiddos. A couple months ago we moved outside of Austin to a ranch home. Our family now includes two dogs, two horses, some chickens and a few guinea pigs that call our place home too. Life is busy, but we wouldn’t have it any other way!”


Sasha Verkh, Joe Dadzie and Gretchen (Freeman) Cappio all live in Washington State. Sasha is a corporate/regulatory lawyer for Farmers Insurance in Bellingham, where she and her husband, Todd Haskell ’96, “are raising two lovely boys. Jordan and Rory are 11 and 7, smart and sporty and keep us on our toes.” Joe lives in Redmond with his three kids and his wife, Miyuki. He is working on a startup and spending most of his time at his son’s soccer games. Gretchen practices law in Seattle, where she lives with her husband, Adam Cappio ’96, daughters Bea (11) and Julia (8) and two yellow Labs.


Scott Thompson and Alicia Lisowski have just started new jobs. Scott is the director of government relations for Samsung and lives with his wonderful wife, Rebecca, and their son Henry (2) in northwest Washington, D.C. Alicia is now the head of MediaCom’s Chicago office, “which is a lot of fun.” Alicia and her husband, Mark, have one daughter, Jane (3). Michelle Webb lives in Chicago as well, where she is a second-grade teacher (lucky kids!). She writes: “I miss you all, and can’t believe how time has flown!”


Melissa Trumbull Mitchell and Alison Yobage took 40 by a storm and traveled to Cuba! Melissa reflects: “Cuba was an amazing, complicated, enlightening and rare experience, perfect for marking a milestone. And we got to know some wonderful fellow alumni, including several women who were among the first at Dartmouth, a professor who helped make coeducation possible and one of the trustees who signed our diplomas—in 1995, when turning 40 seemed like it was light years away.”


Finally, a classmate haiku from Brian Greenberg: 


San Francisco Bay


Love my wife, kids, job and dog


At forty, less hair


For more, join our class Facebook group, “Dartmouth Class of 1995.” And keep your news coming!


—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 2 Bishops Lane, Hingham, MA, 02043; kaja@alum.dartmouth.org


I hope this column finds you sipping lemonade and enjoying a beautiful summer day. Kick back, relax and read up on some of our fellow ’95s. 


After many years in the Upper Valley Kisha Teaney Weiser has moved to Asheville, North Carolina, with her husband, Dan, and their beautiful twin girls Sophie and Emma, who will turn 6 in October. She is practicing medicine with Asheville Gastroenterology Associates and the family is really enjoying life down south. David Shamberger is a new partner at Burns & Levinson LLP in Boston and is a member of the firm’s corporate, finance, life sciences and securities groups. Dan Glazer also recently made partner in his firm, Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP, where he focuses his practice on intellectual property and technology transactions. Dan is particularly recognized for his work in sports law and you may have heard him on any number of national media outlets—from ESPN to CNN to NPR—as a commentator on legal issues in professional and college sports. Chris Hamner’s new book Enduring Battle: American Soldiers in Three Wars, 1776-1945 was published by Kansas Press in April. The book examines combat behaviors of soldiers in the Revolutionary, Civil and Second World wars and looks like a fascinating read. Chris is an associate professor of history at George Mason University.


While we’re on the subject of new books to check out on Amazon, back in 1995, Andrea Useem won the Elie Wiesel Prize in Ethics for her essay “Towards a Civil Society: Memory, History, and the Enola Gay.” This piece has now been published in a collection of ethics prize essays titled An Ethical Compass: Coming of Age in the 21st Century. Andrea is a correspondent for the Religion News Service (www.religionnews.com) and she and her family live in northern Virginia, where she is a member of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society. 


I’m adding a new feature this issue that I think I’ll call the “Random ’95 Midnight-Before-Deadline Google Report” (R95MBDG for short). Kicking off this feature are two bloggers in our ranks: Daisy Alpert Florin and Eric Waters. Daisy is a fabulous mom who lives in Greenwich, Connecticut, with her husband of 10 years, Ken, and her kids Sam, Ellie and Oliver. She writes an insightful, honest and humorous blog about life as an at-home mom titled “Days Like This (And Other Things Mama Said).” Check it out at www.daisyalpertflorin.com. Eric Waters is a Lutheran pastor at Upper Arlington Lutheran Church in Columbus, Ohio. He is married to his college sweetheart Michelle Erickson Waters ’96, who is homeschooling their five children and is the author of Forty Days and Forty Nights: Devotions for New Mothers and Through the Clouds: More Devotions for Moms. You can read Eric’s reflections on faith and life and hear his sermons at waterseric.blogspot.com. I also learned in my midnight surfing that Gina Vetere is the executive director of intellectual property promotion for the Global Intellectual Property Center of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Brad Backus is a research fellow at the UCL Ear Institute in London and owns a consumer electronics company called Audio3. (Brad, I hope you’re still finding time to dance too!)


Finally, we can’t have a column go by without some baby news! Rebecca Slisz and her husband, Steve Blank ’89, are pleased to announce the birth of their son Jordan Eli Blank, born Thursday, January 27, at 11:25 a.m. He is a very healthy baby who weighed in at 8 pounds, 11 ounces, and measured 20.5 inches. Congratulations!


Keep your news coming!


—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 345 Commonwealth Ave., No. 8, Boston, MA 02115; kaja@alum. dartmouth.org


In August 2010 Hareesh Khurana and his wife, Catlin Converse Khurana, welcomed their little girl Neena Ruby to the world in Boston. “She’s been a great joy to our life and we are cherishing our time together. We’re living in Medford, Massachusetts, and I’m working in technology, most recently on a mobile application startup. We try to see Mike Kim and Liz Larsen ’97 and their two kids, and Chris Nichols and his family as often as possible (which is never enough.)” Jason Duty is also a new daddy! He and his wife, Catrina, celebrated the birth of Jayla Isabelle on October 25, 2011, in San Francisco. Congratulations!


I’ve been thinking a lot about how it’s been 20 years since we were freshmen at Dartmouth: taking our freshman trips, hanging out in ‘’shmobs,’ running around the bonfire at Homecoming and, right about now, celebrating our first Winter Carnival. I spent many memorable, chilly hours working on that Grinch statue with Tamara Busch, Carol Gilchrist and other classmates and friends. In the spirit of nostalgia, I reached out to my undergraduate advisors group (go, second-floor Wheeler!) and my fellow freshman trippies (section H intermediate hiking, what was I thinking?!) for some news about what they are up to, 20 years later.

Jeff Olson and Kim (Worboys) Olson met on our freshman trip and the rest, as they say, is history. They are now living in St. Paul, Minnesota, with their three sons: Charlie and Chris (twins), 8, and Henry, 5. Jeff is a cardiologist in private practice in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Kim is a general internist at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs medical center. Kim writes: “Several times a year someone asks us how we met and we get to tell the story of how we were trip mates on the same freshman trip. We usually make our way to Hanover once a year to meet up with college friends and to visit friends from our years of residency/fellowship training at DHMC.” 


Our fellow hiker Brett Reece also went into medicine and works at the University of Colorado as a cardiothoracic surgeon. He writes: “In my surgery training I had the opportunity to work with Peter Ellman as well as Lynne Thacker ’97. Peter is now doing cardiothoracic surgery in Pinehurst, North Carolina. Lynne is still finishing up her surgery training. A little strange for us because none of us get a real job until our mid-30s.” Brett lives in Denver with his wife, Leena, and three sons: Riley, Canon and Travis. He looks forward to having them all up on snowboards in the coming months. “I continue to be amazed by the number of Dartmouth people there are out here. I feel like I see someone from Dartmouth almost every time I go up to the mountains.”


My next-door neighbor in Wheeler, Kevin Rogers is head of the science department and teaches chemistry at Choate Rosemary Hall in Wallingford, Connecticut. His wife, Julie Sweeney ’93, also works at Choate, where she splits her time between the development office and admissions. They have three children: Austen, 11, Hadley, 8, and Nathaniel, 6. Thinking back on our freshman year, Kevin writes: “I don’t know if I have one memory that sticks out more than another from our freshman fall—it’s more of a jumble of football games, time in the study rooms, going to the Tower Room and trekking to Thayer Dining Hall over the frozen and ice-riddled Green.” 


The Green is certainly ice-riddled right now. Stay warm everyone, and keep your news coming!


—Kaja (Schuppert) Fickes, 345 Commonwealth Ave., No. 8, Boston, MA 02115; kaja@alum.dartmouth.org