Class Notes 2017

After graduation Chris Burkholder moved to Australia to play professional baseball. He played in the Australian Baseball League and worked as a corporate sponsorships manager for his team as well. After 10 months in Australia, he moved to the Czech Republic to play in the Czech Extraliga. His team won its first championship in 45 years and Chris was named Playoff Pitcher of the Year. After that season he moved back to Australia. During his second season in Australia, he was named Pitcher of the Year. He then played a final season in Czech, where his team won a subsequent championship. After hanging up the cleats, Chris moved back to Los Angeles with his family. During Covid Chris started working for Globe Life American Income as an agent. He moved up within the agency and was promoted to a partner in 2022. In January he was promoted to regional director of the agency and now oversees all recruiting, hiring, coaching, and leadership development. Lastly, Chris proposed to Bryelle in March, and their plan is to get married in October. They are extremely excited for the planning and celebrating.

Ellis Guo has been living in Boston since graduation. Outside of work Ellis practices and teaches jiu jitsu. He still hangs out with other Dartmouth ’17s in Boston, including Clare Hern, Dan Finch, Emma Hartswick, and Jack Kirsch. Last fall Ellis officiated Jack Kirsch’s wedding in Lyman, New Hampshire, with many other ’17s in attendance. Ellis learned to play the drums after graduation, culminating in a Somerville Porchfest concert alongside Chase Shipp, Tyler Kelsall, Torri Lee, and Charlie Johnson ’19. During the winter holidays, Ellis and his family visited Japan, where his father is now the owner-operator of a ski hotel in Hakuba, Sejour Mint. He enjoyed it so much, Ellis’s father enlisted Ellis and his brother into buying a second ski hotel in Hakuba, Junior Mint. Reflecting on life, Ellis notes that the changes in life are more subtle compared to the 10-week cadence at Dartmouth.

—Eric Chen, 24036 Wintergreen Circle, Novi, MI 48374; echen027@gmail.com

Allison Chou launched Double Happiness Bridal, a luxury bridal consignment boutique that combines her passions for sustainability and thoughtful design. Based in New York City, the business helps consignors give their pre-loved designer wedding gowns and other bridal garments a second life while helping brides-to-be discover their dream pieces at a fraction of retail prices.

The name is inspired by the Chinese symbol for double happiness, representing joy and togetherness for newlyweds. It also embodies the spirit of circular fashion, where one bride’s cherished gown becomes another’s dream dress. Through her work, Allison empowers both consignors and buyers to embrace more meaningful and sustainable wedding traditions, creating special new memories based on the best of the past.

—Eric Chen, 24036 Wintergreen Circle, Novi, MI 48374; echen027@gmail.com

Parker Gardner and Megan Ong recently welcomed a baby girl, Matilda. Parker confirmed that the new child has disrupted his already dysfunctional sleeping habits.

I caught up with Ran Zhuo in Ann Arbor, Michigan, recently. Ran was recently married and is now an assistant professor at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. Ran’s research covers the economics of innovation, technology, digitization, and industrial organization. In her free time, Ran and her husband search for good food in the Metro Detroit area. It does exist!

—Eric Chen, 24036 Wintergreen Circle, Novi, MI 48374; echen027@gmail.com

Charley Ren is living in the Financial District of New York City. He enjoys playing volleyball, listening to “lofi” beats, brewing coffee, and walking down Wall Street to the riverside.

Lota Ezenwa has been serving with the Marines for four years. He is currently training to fly jets. He spends his time training, working out, and keeping busy. He wanted to mention two other Dartmouth folks that he trained with: Raelin Perez ’15 and Albie Austin ’21.

After college Lota first worked in options trading and banking. He joined the military as a way to give back. He also reminisces upon high school football practices and watching F-16s fly from a base near his school in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

When describing the initial six months of training, Lota said he spent days in the woods and rain. This training helped him appreciate the small things in life.

Before flight school he stayed in Pensacola, Florida. While waiting for six months he gave classes to enlisted Marines on topics such as options trading and setting up a bank account. He also worked out.

For flight training, his first instructor was Capt. Zach Moscow ’14, whom he knew from rugby at Dartmouth. Lota first trained to fly Cessna jets. At the beginning he got acclimated to flying and learned loops, air-rolls, spins, landings, and formation flying. Next, he will learn to fly F-35 jets.

Lota reflected that there is nothing he would rather be doing. He no longer has the feeling of being lost. He noted that one can have anything one wants, but one cannot have everything one wants.

—Eric Chen, 24036 Wintergreen Circle, Novi, MI 48374; echen027@gmail.com

Ekene Okonkwoaguolu is seeking the help of the Dartmouth community. After carving out a promising future for himself, he is now on dialysis due to Alport’s syndrome. This autoimmune disease rapidly deteriorates kidney function. With a seven-year waiting time for a deceased donor, Ekene faces a dire situation where his body may not hold out for the organ he desperately needs.

Ekene is seeking a living kidney donor, someone willing to give the gift of life and hope. A living donation carries numerous advantages, including the ability to proceed quickly, higher survival rates for the recipient, and a safe, minimally invasive surgical procedure for the donor. Rigorous medical testing ensures the donor’s fitness and overall health for the donation, and all related medical expenses, travel, and time lost at work are covered.

Ekene and his family ask the Dartmouth community to share his story and, if possible, explore the possibility of becoming a living kidney donor. More information can be found on the “Ekene Needs a Kidney” page on Facebook.

Joby Bernstein is running for U.S. Congress to represent California’s 16th District. This district includes parts of the South Bay region of northern California, including Palo Alto, Mountain View, and parts of San Jose. Joby is running his campaign while pursuing a joint M.B.A. and master’s in climate science at Stanford.

Joby decided to run because he realized government policies need the most work to tackle climate change quickly. He explored climate investing but concluded that investing was not moving the needle fast enough.

Joby feels his platform will particularly resonate with constituents of his district. Even though his district is one of the most climate-interested in the whole country, the other candidates are not strong advocates for solving climate change. Joby’s other priorities are improving America’s education and immigration systems.

Joby has experience with politics. He spent freshman summer in Washington, D.C., as part of the Rockefeller Center first-year fellows program. He also volunteered in state policy while living in Utah and San Francisco. At this point Joby is campaigning full time and has a full campaign staff. California will hold a “jungle” primary on March 5, when all candidates will be on the ballot and the top two candidates will move on to the general election. Joby welcomes your help. Reach out to him via his website if you would like to share your support.

In terms of lighter Dartmouth interests, Joby happened to be my freshman year roommate in the Fahey dorm. Looking back on Dartmouth, Joby misses the friends, swim team, DOC and outdoor activities, and academic opportunities. Joby also caught up with our freshman floormate Spencer Blair in Budapest.

—Eric Chen, 24036 Wintergreen Circle, Novi, MI 48374; echen027@gmail.com

Since graduation Richard Shen has been living across the pond. Rich spent the first two years after graduation at the University of Cambridge studying machine learning and machine intelligence. His master’s program continued his passion in machine learning, which he initially explored at Dartmouth.

After graduating from the University of Cambridge, Rich began working in London to tackle the problem of driverless vehicles. He enjoys the technical and complex nature of the work, and he is optimistic that driverless technology will break through in the roughly 10-year timeframe.

Overall, Rich enjoys living in England. He has been comfortable living abroad because he found a nice community of friends through his work. His coworkers often hang out outside of work, possibly because many of them are expats as well. Rich also described a form of detachment being abroad because he is less directly tied into the pressures and comparisons that might arise when living in the United States.

Rich is grateful for the opportunity to live abroad. By experiencing a new culture, he has a new perspective on what can be considered normal or not normal. Rich particularly appreciates the Brits’ emphasis on free time and leisure. Compared to the United States, he feels a slower pace of life and more appreciation of craftsmanship. Rich also felt that moving abroad was a form of starting over since he did not know anyone in the United Kingdom before he moved.

Rich experienced the outburst of the Covid pandemic while in London. The United Kingdom was strict about Covid lockdowns in the initial six months but became less strict through time. It was during Covid that Rich became close with his community of friends, since others were likewise seeking community during those uncertain times.

When reflecting on Dartmouth, Rich most appreciates the friends he made in Hanover. His fondest memory was of staying in a cabin by the river just before graduation. At the cabin Rich and his friends chatted around a campfire and reflected on their time at Dartmouth. Rich is grateful that he and his friends took that moment to sit back amid that period of transition.

—Eric Chen, 24036 Wintergreen Circle, Novi, MI 48374; echen027@gmail.com

In January Mackenzie Carlson completed her Ph.D. in bioengineering at Stanford University. She took a celebratory vacation in Italy with her family and is excited to stay at Stanford Medicine as a postdoc in the department of neurology.

Noah Manning and Angela Cai were married recently, after meeting way back in their “Writing 5” course. Several ’17s attended their wedding, including Sam Libby, Ariel Klein, Katelyn Pan, Alexandra Minsk, and Jane Cai ’13 (sister of the bride).

Lastly, Ian Speers and Robert Halvorsen have founded a company together, Pacto Medical. Pacto Medical is introducing a compact syringe that lowers shipping and storage costs and reduces the environmental impact of single-use syringes.

The duo met during freshman year when they were living in French Hall in the River Cluster.

Ian received inspiration for Pacto Medical during a fellowship with Americares, a nongovernmental organization focused on disaster relief in Africa and the Middle East. During his fellowship Ian saw the challenges related to logistics and healthcare in low-resource rural settings. Specifically, he noticed supply-chain challenges were compounded by poor design.

At Dartmouth Ian was an anthropology and psychology double major. He was involved with the Dartmouth Coalition for Global Health, Medlife, the Dickey Center, and Dartmouth EMS. He also worked part time as an emergency medical technician in an ambulance in Vermont.

After Americares Ian received an M.P.H. at Harvard. During his graduate studies Ian had access to resources that enabled him to start Pacto Medical.

At Dartmouth Robert was involved with Frisbee, the Dartmouth Entrepreneurship Network, and the Digital Applied Learning and Innovation (DALI) lab. After graduation he received a master’s in human-centered design from Carnegie Mellon. He then worked in engineering consulting, then at Amazon, bringing consumer products to markets. Robert’s engineering training at Thayer gave him an interest in physical product design, which led him to partner with Ian on pre-filled syringes.

If you are interested in compact syringes or would like to catch up generally, Ian and Robert invite you to visit the Pacto Medical website and reach out!

—Eric Chen, 24036 Wintergreen Circle, Novi, MI 48374; echen027@gmail.com

Haley Reicher recently published a new book, The Lodge: Celebrating a Century of Dartmouth College on Mount Moosilauke, with coauthor and classmate Olivia Powell. Chachi Riesco, Molly McBride ’14, and Regina Yan ’19 contributed original artwork. The book is available for purchase online and in person at Still North Books in Hanover or in person at the Lodge starting in spring!

In 2022 Haley also started a master’s program at the University of Pennsylvania toward her nurse practitioner and midwifery licenses. She now lives in Philadelphia with boyfriend Anka Tezcan ’15 and friend Amy Ren ’15 and is excited to explore her new city!

After graduation Olivia was finally able to fulfill one of her Dartmouth dreams: working the Moosilauke Ravine Lodge. With a crew of mostly fellows ’17s (hello, Chachi Riesco, Kristina Heggedal, Doug Phipps, and Eliza Rockefeller!), she spent fall 2017 helping to break in the newly renovated building. Although their season was cut short by a wicked Halloween storm, Olivia maintains that her time on Moosilauke was one of the best experiences of her life. So when she learned that Haley was writing about the lodge, Olivia was excited to reach out.

As a writer and artist, Olivia had been freelancing as an editor, documentary producer, videographer, and more. In 2018 she moved to London to earn her master’s in digital storytelling, combining her passions for writing, storytelling, and immersive design. In London she staged a prototype performance of With words that don’t exist, a virtual reality theater musical piece she later workshopped with Liza Couser at the 2021 VoxLab.

Covid-19 brought Olivia back to the States and shortly after returning she and Haley connected about the lodge book. During the next couple of years they worked together to bring across the finish line the immense amount of work Haley had done interviewing, researching, and writing. Meanwhile, Olivia became a collaborator with the digital storytelling lab at Columbia University, continuing the experimental storytelling work of her master’s. Today she lives near Boston with her pup Lupin and continues to work with both the lab and Liza.

—Tara Simmons, 441 East 12th St., Apt. 3G, New York, NY 10009; tsims2612@gmail.com

Let’s give it up to Apoorva Dixit, who has been booked and busy this past year, starting and growing a podcast, attending law school, and so much more.

Apoorva launched They Knew Which Way to Run, a podcast on the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy. Apoorva was born on Bhopali soil scarred by methyl isocyanate—a poison leaked by an American factory that killed 10,000. Yet, the first time she heard of the tragedy was sitting in a social studies class 8,000 miles away in Memphis, Tennessee. Motivated to understand why, she returned to Bhopal as a Fulbright scholar. She spent nine months with gas survivors of every religion, class, and caste to understand what it means to survive a disaster. Each disaster creates a new class of inequities, and time erases evidence of the violence that caused them.

Apoorva says that building this podcast required arduous research, complex storytelling, and emotional resilience. Creating the podcast has helped her heal and process her time in India and her birthtown’s legacy. She’s thankful for her great friends who helped make the art, music, and website to accompany the podcast, such as Amy Zhang, who made the podcast logo.

Listen to They Knew Which Way to Run wherever you get your podcasts or on theyknewwhichwaytorun.com. Apoorva releases episodes every three weeks. If you get a chance to listen to the podcast, reach out to Apoorva! She loves hearing about people’s different responses to the podcast!

As if building They Knew Which Way to Run wasn’t enough work already, Apoorva is also a J.D. candidate at Duke University School of Law. She’s interested in pursuing civil rights work after law school and this summer she will intern at the Boston public defender’s office.

Next, congratulations to Ellen Kim and Pat Xu, who tied the knot in April! We love a Dartmouth love story!

Ellen and Pat met during a freshman mixer at the Choates and became fast friends. During the next few years they got to know each other through walks around Dartmouth’s golf course, rock climbing at Rumney, and takeout from Tuk Tuk. Although they lost touch toward the end of their time at Dartmouth, Pat visited Ellen a year after graduation and they quickly reconnected. After dating for two years, Pat proposed to Ellen back at the same golf course they stargazed at during freshman year.

Ellen and Pat got married in Dallas. The celebration had a rustic theme and one of their friends officiated the ceremony. The reception included an avocado bar and contra dance. They also had a welcome dinner at Ellen’s family home, which featured Texas BBQ, open fires, cornhole, and pong.

After the wedding, Ellen and Pat went to Spain and France for 10 days and toured the Basque and Andalusia regions. They hiked a few miles of the northern Camino de Santiago pilgrimage, marveled at the Alhambra palace in Granada, and strolled through the Mosque-Cathedral in Córdoba. They also had a delicious tasting menu in San Sebastian that included pigeon and four dessert courses.

Now Ellen and Pat are back in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Ellen is working on her Ph.D. and Pat works as a software engineer. This summer they look forward to attending our five-year reunion, taking a trip to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, playing volleyball, and hosting and cooking for friends with the Korean BBQ grill they received as a wedding gift.

—Dorian J. Allen, 3 Rue Jacquard, 3ième étage, Lyon, France 69004; dorallen@comcast.net

Have you heard of Superkids? Superkids is an education nonprofit based in Coronel Oviedo, Paraguay, that focuses on literacy and life skills for at-risk youth in rural Paraguay. And do you know who is on the board of Superkids? The jovial Josh Perez! Josh served as a community health volunteer in the Peace Corps in Paraguay from 2018 to 2020. He lived in a rural village called Maria Antonia. During his time as a volunteer, he saw three bridges get built, potable water extended to the last 40 percent of the town, an adult soccer league form, and a municipal guitar and dance school get up and running. He also taught chemistry, physics, English, sex ed, and even Zumba.

While on a trip to Asunción, the capital of Paraguay, Josh ran into the founder of Superkids. Inspired by the organization’s mission, Josh joined as a board secretary and now he serves as the co-president. After his experiences as a teacher and community builder in Paraguay, he is thrilled to support its education system. Check out Superkids’ website to learn how you can support the organization!

The next wonderful ’17 we have is Kang-Chun “K.C.” Cheng, who has been doing some amazing photojournalism in Nairobi, Kenya. K.C. has been in Nairobi since 2018; she first went to Nairobi to visit Nekesa Masibo. This is K.C.’s first time living in a city (she grew up in New Hampshire), but she has found many communities that make Nairobi feel like home.

As an environmental photojournalist, K.C. researches, reports, writes, and photographs for her own independent stories. Using her background in ecology, she focuses on stories about community-based natural resource management and conflicts between land-use and conservation. She uses photography as a tool to aid the story-telling process and shoot in the documentary fashion.

One of K.C.’s greatest achievements so far is working with Bloomberg Markets on a piece about mangrove restoration on the Kenyan coast. She’s also enjoyed working with Mongabay, Christian Science Monitor, and Earth Island Journal. If you’re looking to get prints for your home, office, etc., check out K.C.’s work at https://kang-chun-cheng.format.com/store. Let’s support this wonderful ’17!

Last but not least, congratulations to Terren Klein for being named to Forbes’ “30 Under 30” list in the education category. Forbes recognized Terren for his work with College Pulse, which you probably used while at Dartmouth way back when. College Pulse is the leading research and analytics company focused on today’s college students. College Pulse makes it easy to understand undergrad students. At the core of its solution is the American College Student Panel—an online community of more than half a million students from 1,500 universities in all 50 states. College Pulse’s data powers a suite of data products that provide actionable insights to different customer segments (product/marketing teams, academic researchers, and university leaders).

College Pulse has had some outstanding achievements through the years. For instance, its data has been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and more. Terren’s favorite part of the job is the people he gets to work with, including Jake Gaba ’16, Carter Bastian, and Robin Jayaswal ’18 (cofounder and chief technology officer). If you work for an organization that cares about college students in any way as a source of talent, consumer group, voter, student, or really in any way, connect your marketing, research, or product teams to College Pulse.

—Dorian J. Allen, 3 Rue Jacquard, 3ième étage, Lyon France 69004; dorallen2017@gmail.com

It’s about time…it’s about time to listen to Rebecca Asoulin’s podcast, It’s About Time! In this science series Rebecca interviews experts with all sorts of backgrounds. Tune in to hear from sci-fi writer Ted Chiang, cultural critic Brittney Cooper, and composer and performer Jerome. It’s About Time appeals to just about everyone. Do you feel like you don’t have enough time? Are you at a transition point in your life? Are you interested in psychology, anthropology, sociology, linguistics, history, physics, or philosophy? If you answered yes to any of those questions, It’s About Time is perfect for you! Every episode offers tangible steps for handling challenges such as avoiding procrastination and taking time to slow down and savor meaningful moments. You can listen to It’s About Time on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Aside from being a podcast extraordinaire, Rebecca has been quite busy this past year. She worked as a producer and engagement editor for The Christian Science Monitor. She traveled for three months, including a five-week road trip from Jackson, Wyoming, to Los Angeles with Graham Rigby. This fall Rebecca is excited to move to L.A., but will only be a stone’s throw away from her hometown of Santa Monica.

Next, congratulations to Raphael Sacks, who got engaged to Josie Yalovitser ’18! Raphael popped the question while on a sunset dinner cruise in Aruba this summer. He’d like to give a special shout-out to the boat crew that set up a beautiful table with a view, brought champagne and flowers, and even arranged for the onboard singer to perform some Sinatra. Raphael and Josie met right before graduation in 2017 in the backyard of Sigma Delt; he was playing in a pong tournament and she was dying her friends’ hair in the backyard. It’s been history ever since!

Raphael and Josie have been living in Burlington, Vermont, since August 2020. Raphael and Josie love Vermont’s beautiful scenery and abundance of activities. They frequently go on sunset walks on the Lake Champlain boardwalk, hike, ski, fish, and explore the Burlington brewery scene. Last fall they adopted a bilingual Siberian Husky named Shurik; yes, you read that right—Shurik responds to commands in both English and Russian! Shurik loves the snow, so Raphael hopes to try skijoring with the pup this winter.

—Dorian J. Allen, 33 Tuckernuck Ave., Oak Bluffs, MA 02557; dorallen@comcast.net

Wow! The ’17s are making major life moves these days! So many congrats in order!

Congrats to our entrepreneur Melanie Brown. Last year Melanie and a former Boston Consulting Group colleague launched Weat, a platform where customers can buy food and home goods from the restaurants they love and trust—starting with meal kits. As indoor dining came to a halt in New York City, Melanie wanted to help small businesses generate revenue while also creating unique experiences. Weat allows restaurants to offer their delicious food through easily accessible, experiential, and high-quality restaurant meal kits. The kits even include staff-curated playlists and chef tutorials. Restaurants now have the ability to enter customers’ homes on their own terms. Weat has been crushing the game and even earned recognition from Forbes earlier this year.

Now congrats to Chris Aguemon, who has been making loads of life changes recently. In 2019 Chris moved to San Francisco to work in private equity at TPG (Texas Pacific Group) Capital. While at Dartmouth Chris participated in U.S. Army ROTC, and he continues to serve our country while balancing the demands of his private-sector job. Chris is a commander for a signal company with more than 150 people reporting to him. He enjoys this work as a commander because he can use his technical skills and train in the field with troops. This summer Chris and his group will head to the Middle East for his first deployment. He is nervous and anxious, but excited. Thank you for your service, Chris! The ’17s are grateful for and proud of you!

Another congrats goes to Yingna Wang, who completed her master’s of public health at Harvard. After graduating Dartmouth Yingna worked as an associate program coordinator at a pediatric hospital in New York City and noticed a lot of gaps in our healthcare system. She realized that if she wanted to continue working in public health, she needed to learn more about the healthcare system from policy and systems-level perspectives. In 2019 she began studying health policy at Harvard. She is particularly interested in payment systems and healthcare financing to develop equitable and effective health systems. Despite the fact that half of her program has been over Zoom, Yingna has enjoyed her experience at Harvard; she’s learned a great deal about health policy and the healthcare system and has met some wonderful classmates. One of those classmates is fellow ’17 Regan Plekenpol. When she is not in class, Yingna enjoys testing new recipes in the kitchen, reading, and listening to loud music.

And our last, but certainly not least, congratulations are for Kelsey Kittelson, who got engaged in the fall! Kelsey’s bae is a Tuck ’17 and the two met on campus during her junior winter. He popped the question in beautiful Stowe, Vermont, and even arranged for Kelsey’s friends Freya Jamison (the future maid of honor) and Zachary Shank to be there to celebrate. She and her fiancé also bought their first house in Oakland, California, and are very excited to have outdoor space, a gas stove, and an extra bathroom. True luxury! This summer Kelsey looks forward to going to Massachusetts to see her family; this will be her first time seeing her grandmother in more than a year and her grandmother’s first time seeing the ring!

—Dorian J. Allen, 33 Tuckernuck Ave., Oak Bluffs, MA 02557; (973) 986-5988; dorallen@comcast.net

Congratulations Lotanna “Lota” Ezenwa for commissioning as a second lieutenant of the U.S. Marines Corps! What an amazing accomplishment! Lota completed the officer candidates’ school at the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, Virginia, where he was evaluated in academics, leadership, and physical fitness. Based on Lota’s outstanding performance, the platoon commander recommended that Lota commission into the Marine Corps as a second lieutenant. In 2021 he looks forward to completing his next phase of intense training.

Lota’s experiences at Dartmouth helped intensify his interest in civic duty and joining the Marine Corps. After researching and studying the national security issues surrounding technology in “Introduction to Computer Science,” he realized that the most valuable thing he could do for the community would be to not only foster an interest in mathematics and systems science but also bring that interest to an area where it can be most usefully employed. At Dartmouth he double-majored in mathematics and engineering sciences and then finished the B.E. with a concentration in systems engineering. He was also involved in the rugby and powerlifting clubs, Sigma Nu, and Tabbard.

After graduating, Lota moved to Chicago to work at the proprietary trading firm WH Trading, LLC; his main focuses were options on corn, wheat, bitcoin, and interest-rate futures. In May 2020 he joined Bank of America as a contractor in the global market risk analytics department, where he developed applications that modeled the bank’s risk exposures under extreme market conditions. Market volatility around the time of the initial worldwide Covid-19 response created ample opportunity to test, recalibrate, and adjust those models. While in Chicago Lota has been spending time with Will Young and Kia Amirkiaee ’19. He and Will were freshman roommates in Fahey-McLane, so they do a lot of reminiscing!

Congratulations, Lota, best of luck with your next phase of training, and thank you for your service!

—Dorian J. Allen, 33 Tuckernuck Ave., Oak Bluffs, MA 02557; dorian.j.allen.17@dartmouth.edu

This summer the Dartmouth administration decided to cut five varsity sports: men’s golf, women’s golf, men’s swimming and diving, women’s swimming and diving, and men’s lightweight crew. The decision deeply hurt hundreds of athletes, past and present.

In this edition of the Class Notes, I am sharing the voices of some of the ’17s who participated in the affected sports. Quotes have been modified for length and clarity.

From Amy Sun, women’s swimming and diving: “My team was my family, my first friends, my shoulders to cry on, and my group hug after we crushed a workout together. It wasn’t like we had much in common, in fact many of us had nothing in common. It was the sport that brought us together, and together we became the best versions of ourselves.

“My relationship with swimming evolved dramatically during my time at Dartmouth. Freshman year I was obsessed with swimming. Senior year I was the opposite of that. But throughout my time at Dartmouth I was immensely grateful that swimming provided me with an anchor while I explored, developed other facets of my identity, and became multidimensional. As someone who has trained intensely since the age of 10 and competed at national and international levels, my sport was all I knew before college. But at Dartmouth, that’s where I learned I am so much more than my sport.”

From Jeff Lang, men’s golf: “In life, you fail. You work as a team. You look for ways to make your mark. You try to develop a strong work ethic and continuously practice to develop expertise in your chosen area, whether it be finance, fashion design, academia, or otherwise. You receive critical feedback at every turn. You build relationships.

“It’s no coincidence that all of these tenets of life are also core to sports. While playing golf at Dartmouth, I failed—a lot. I learned to work with different types of people. I learned about society and the world around me. Be respectful of everyone, check my privilege, tip my waiter or waitress, have goals, ask thoughtful questions. I built relationships —with my coach, team, alums, competitors—that will last a lifetime.

“I would argue sports are one of the greatest teachers in life. Dartmouth touts experiential learning as one of its greatest strengths, but taking measured steps to attack competitive sports, one of the greatest experiential learning tools out there, doesn’t make much sense, does it?”

From Joby Bernstein, men’s swimming and diving: “Dartmouth swimming redefined my definition of character and community. The pain I shared with my teammates in the pool made it easier for us to share our struggles outside the water. The team was my home, my confidant, and my soul. It gave me confidence to lead the team—in my lane or as a captain.

“Beyond the anger and the insult of Dartmouth’s biased and opaque decision to cut swimming, comes the real question of what Dartmouth do I really stand for. To have character and to be a part of a community requires commitment. Dartmouth made a commitment to the current 53 swimmers and divers who chose to attend Dartmouth over competing offers and scholarships. Swimmers never take this commitment lightly; despite the hours in the pool and the gym, we push to exceed expectations and become campus leaders inside and outside of the pool. We found ways to make it work. By breaking agreements and avoiding community discussions, the administration has failed to deliver the community and commitment to students it boasts about. This commitment can’t be broken in a day. We won’t stand to see it happen.”

—Dorian J. Allen, 33 Kensington Terrace, Maplewood, NJ 07040; dorallen@comcast.net

Hi, ’17s! I hope you have been staying safe and healthy during these unprecedented times. To brighten up your days, I’d like to share some of the things that our classmates were up to earlier in the year.

I’d like to congratulate Juli Feltrin and Shaun Sengupta on their move to Miami. Juli had been climbing up the ladder at Egon Zhender in New York, but decided to pursue her dream to earn a master’s in real estate development and urbanism at the University of Miami. She and Shaun made the move down to Florida earlier this year. Juli also has close family in the Miami area.

Shaun has always been passionate about auto racing. While in college he was an active member of Dartmouth Formula Racing and studied engineering at Thayer. When he began searching for new positions in Florida, he thought that would be an awesome opportunity to combine his passion for racing with his professional life, since Florida is home to some of the greatest NASCAR events. Shaun discovered the Concours Club, a new and category-disrupting automotive country club in the Miami area, on Forbes and Bloomberg. He took a risk and emailed the president about his interest in racing and engineering. Next thing he knew, Shaun was moving to Miami as the chief technologist for the Concours Club. His role involves business operations, IT management, and more, so his responsibilities are similar to his studies of engineering and systems integrations at Thayer.

Juli and Shaun now live in Miami Springs, which has a lot of open space, so social distancing is much easier there than it would have been back in New York. Plus, when they look out their windows, they see tall and beautiful palm trees rather than their old view of the Battery Park Tunnel. We’re wishing you two the best down in Florida!

Another trailblazing ’17 is Simone Schmid. After graduation Simone pursued her passions of social innovation and education. Simone earned a J.B. Reynolds foreign study scholarship that allowed her to teach at a small school in Kenya. This was an amazing experience for her because she taught the hardest-working and most focused students she’d ever met and they persevered despite challenging conditions. After her time in Kenya, Simone began work as an English teacher in Shenzhen, China. Living and teaching in China presented challenges, but things got easier once she could brush up on the Chinese skills she learned back in high school. Simone also found a strong community at a Protestant church that offers English services in Shenzhen. She went to weekly gatherings and Bible studies, performed in shows, and made great new friends at the church. Now that she is back in her hometown of Kansas City, Missouri, she can attend her church’s online sunrise services at a more reasonable hour with the time difference. Living back at home has been an adjustment, but she’s getting along well with her parents and her brother. She’s used this time to ramp up her work on the nongovernmental organization she launched with her friend; it will support education and feminine hygiene for disadvantaged youth. Depending on how things progress with Covid-19, Simone plans to begin teaching English in Madrid, Spain, this fall. Wishing you the best as well, Simone!

—Dorian J. Allen, 93 15th St., Apt. 3F, Brooklyn, NY 11215; dorallen@comcast.net

Congratulations to Clara Wang, who began her master’s program at Peking University in Beijing, China, through the Yenching Scholars program! Clara studied government, public policy, and quantitative social sciences at Dartmouth and she wrote her honors thesis on China’s social media environment, so completing a master’s in Beijing is a wonderful opportunity. She headed out to Beijing in September and is concentrating on law and society, but she is considering a switch to economics and management. Clara hopes to do more research about China’s incredible economic development as well as its technology and education sectors. In her second semester she is taking courses related to China’s history and international development and has received funding to conduct a field study project on education reform in China.

What surprised Clara the most about her program is how it is simultaneously structured and unstructured. She can take any class at Peking University, so she is not restricted by her concentration; however, there are some mandatory courses for the Yenching program. Clara gets a nice balance of structure and flexibility, allowing her to create a curriculum catered to her needs and interests.

Outside of the classroom, Clara teaches swim lessons on the weekends through Peking University’s swim club and is on the Yenching women’s soccer team. Clara was part of R-Ladies prior to her move and is hoping to start a chapter in Beijing. When she first arrived in Beijing in the fall, she met up with a few Dartmouth alums who also participated in the Yenching Scholars program and gave great advice for navigating the city and, most importantly, the cuisine!

Keep up the great work, Clara!

—Dorian J.Allen, 93 15th St., Apt. 3F, Brooklyn, NY 11215; dorallen@comcast.net

Congratulations to Kaya Thomas and Theo Wilson, who tied the knot back in November 2018! Kaya and Theo got married at the Bellefield Greathouse in Montego Bay, Jamaica. It was a very small ceremony with 55 guests, mainly close friends and family. Kaya and Theo now live in Oakland, California.

Back in the spring Kaya began a new role as an iOS engineer at Calm. Kaya chose Calm because she believes in the company’s product and mission. After having worked at organizations such as Apple and Slack, she enjoys working at a smaller company of fewer than 100 people. In addition to her work at Calm, Kaya continues to manage and update her app, We Read Too, which is a mobile directory of books written by authors of color and featuring characters of color. Outside of the office, Kaya has been taking ballet classes and volunteering with Black Girls Code and Hack the Hood.

Additionally, Kaya is continuing her public speaking work that she began at college, when she began giving conference talks about her experiences in the technology industry, the development of her app, mobile accessibility, programming, and more. One of her goals for 2019 was to become an international speaker, and she accomplished this by speaking at three international engineering conferences, one of which she was the opening speaker. iOSCon has already invited her to return to London as a keynote speaker for next year’s conference.

Another ’17 superstar is Trevor Knight. After graduation Trevor moved to New York City to work in sales and trading at Citi. While he enjoyed his work and colleagues, Trevor realized that he was not feeling fulfilled artistically; so he decided to leave Citi and pursue a career as a singer-songwriter. Trevor grew up around music and even sang as part of the Dartmouth Cords. Trevor performed at his first open mic night in 2018 and then started writing original music in 2019. While his first performances last year were challenging, he’s improved drastically as a professional artist.

He now does paid shows regularly, and the Parkside Lounge on the Lower East Side has invited Trevor to perform multiple times. Perhaps one of his biggest accomplishments was the release of his debut single, “Giving It Up,” which he wrote and recorded independently, on Spotify this summer.

—Dorian J. Allen, 93 15th St., Apt. 3F, Brooklyn, NY 11223; dorallen@comcast.net

Hello, ’17s, and happy summer! Today I’m talking about the outstanding Oscar Ruben Cornejo Casares!

Oscar is pursuing his Ph.D. at Northwestern University, where he is examining the intersection of immigration, race, gender, and social movements. Oscar wrote his undergraduate thesis on undocumented immigrants in Atlanta, and he carried his lingering questions from this study to his Ph.D. in Evanston, Illinois. He argues that the status and experience of undocumented immigrants are racialized; for example, Latinos primarily learn that they are undocumented when they are children, whereas people who come from other countries often learn through life events such as getting a driver’s license, trying to leave the country, or applying to college. What makes his study unique is the diversity of his interlocutors. Most studies have focused on individuals from Latin America and just one group at a time; however, Oscar interviews individuals from Mexico, Belize, Poland, Korea, India, Kenya, and Ghana so he can analyze the intersection of race and legal status in America. In addition to getting his work published, he hopes to make sure his work is accessible to others in the long run and that it goes beyond the walls of academia. He wants to amplify voices that have been largely neglected or forgotten.

Although his studies take up most of his time, Oscar enjoys running and genealogy. He used to run around Occom Pond at Dartmouth, but now he runs out to Lake Michigan. Oscar became interested in genealogy after participating in the Native American studies department’s off-campus program in Santa Fe, New Mexico, at the American Institute of Indigenous Art. He was able to go back to the mid-1700s in some branches.

—Dorian Allen, 117 West Grant St., Apt. 123, Minneapolis, MN 55403; (973) 986-5988; dorallen@comcast.net

Happy spring to the class of 2017! I hope you’re ready to roll into the warm months of the year!

Let’s find out what some of our friends have been up to recently.

After graduation Mercedes de Guardiola moved back to her hometown of New York City to work at Lubin Lawrence as a brand strategy consultant. Mercedes has enjoyed building her experience in marketing and brand strategy. In her free time she’s continued to work on her history thesis on Vermont’s eugenics campaigns. Part of it will be published later this year as an article in Vermont History. Additionally, she volunteers with a playground improvement project, where she raises funds, replants at playgrounds, and repaints equipment in the city. When she is not working or volunteering, she loves to explore the city’s many museums and restaurants. She recently went to Bruce Nauman’s Disappearing Acts at the MoMA with Kevin Brotman and she’s been trying out new brunch spots with Rachel DeChiara, Arial Klein,and Sara Trautz ’15. Mercedes spent the holidays with her family and their new dog Leopoldo in New York.

After moving to Texas shortly after Commencement, Elaine Lunsford got right back to New England this past fall. Elaine is working in Manchester, New Hampshire, as a fifth-grade teacher through the AmeriCorps program City Year. Although she did not study anything related to education at Dartmouth (she majored in government and minored in computer science), Elaine’s friend from church and fellow ’17 Yi He recommended the program to her. Elaine enjoys education because she works with and manages people, gets to be creative, and the United States needs more teachers. When she is not teaching, Elaine visits ’17s both in Boston and the Upper Valley. In the fall she was on campus nearly every other weekend for events such as Homecoming and a concert by the Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra, which she participated in as an undergraduate.

Graham Rigby spent time all over the United States during the back half of 2018. Although a Rhode Island native, Graham moved to Tucson, Arizona, to work as a field organizer on Ann Kirkpatrick’s congressional campaign and the Arizona Democratic Party in the second congressional district. As a field organizer, Graham recruited, trained, and managed teams of volunteers in a rural county to motivate individuals to vote. Graham chose this role because he wanted to make a positive difference in billions of people’s lives and the history of the world by inspiring voters and electing congressional representation in our national political system. After spending Thanksgiving back at home in Rhode Island, Graham drove across the country before arriving at his new job in Wyoming. Along the way he visited his brother and sister-in-law in upstate New York; Preeti Rishi ’18 in Detroit; Angela Noppenburger in Madison, Wisconsin; and Paul Finkelstein ’13 and me in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Now Graham teaches skiing at the Snow King Resort in Jackson Hole, which he considers one of the most beautiful places on Earth.

—Dorian Allen, 117 West Grant St., Apt. 123, Minneapolis, MN 55403; (973) 986-5988; dorallen@comcast.net

Let’s give a warm welcome to Ian Speers, who recently returned from Liberia! Since graduation Ian has been working for Americares, a private nongovernmental organization that provides emergency medical needs and promotes healthcare initiatives for communities affected by poverty or disaster. Ian studied global health at Dartmouth, but he wanted a more hands-on experience evaluating global health and emergency responses in Africa. For that matter, he spent six months in Liberia, where he worked alongside a team of eight local experts in global health, supply chain, and medicine. Fortunately, his teammates welcomed him from the get-go, and throughout his six months in Liberia, he became really close with them, meeting their families and even living with an Ethiopian expat. Although the work was strenuous and time-consuming, Ian got involved with the community by spending his free hours at church with his teammates and playing soccer with local students.

This summer Ian moved to Americares’ headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, where he writes proposals for global health programs, implements programs across regions, and coordinates with the regional emergency response team. Although his role is officially located in the United States, Ian will travel periodically throughout Africa and the Middle East to collaborate with teams and implement his programs.

Another international ’17 is Maeve Lentricchia, who completed her master’s in philosophy at the University of Cambridge this spring. Maeve focused on Hellenistic philosophy, specifically Aristotelian thought. She examined the works of Lucretius, a poet from the Roman Augustine period who analyzed atomic restitution and the erratic fear of death. During the next three years Maeve will pursue her Ph.D. at Cambridge and will study the overlap between ancient texts and contemporary issues in philosophy.

Although Maeve spent the majority of the past 12 months studying and applying to various graduate programs, she managed to escape the library every now and then. Maeve is an avid runner, so she often jogged with her friends while gazing at the scenery in the English countryside. She also loves her fellow students and considers Cambridge to be an “intellectual heaven.” She enjoys having a community of global scholars who are interested in the same subjects. Maeve feels pushed and inspired by her peers, but likes that the community is not competitive; everyone is supportive and genuinely interested in each other’s work.

Back on our side of the Atlantic is Caroline King, who matriculated at Georgetown School of Medicine in August. Caroline spent her first post-college year earning her master’s in physiology and biophysics at Georgetown and ultimately decided to stay in D.C. after being admitted to the medical school. According to Caroline, the most surprising thing about the real world is that she’s constantly surrounded by people with similar interests, and it’s a privilege to engage in discussions with wonderful people who share her goals. At Dartmouth she had a diverse group of friends who studied different subjects and have different life trajectories. Since she still spends time with other ’17s in D.C., Caroline feels fortunate to have the best of both worlds.

During the summer Caroline took a course in gross anatomy at Georgetown so she could become a teaching assistant in the cadaver lab in January 2019. After taking this course, Caroline confirmed her interest in a procedure-based specialty such as surgery. She’s had six eye surgeries herself and says her life was absolutely transformed by the procedures that gave her functional control and cosmetic reparations that have enabled her to be her best self; Caroline says, “To do that for others is the greatest gift I’ll ever receive.”

—Dorian Allen, 117 West Grant St., Apt. 123, Minneapolis, MN 55403; (973) 986-5988; dorallen@comcast.net

This spring Tyné Freeman was nominated for an Independent Music Award in the “Best Concept Album” category for Bridges. Tyné attended the awards ceremony at the Lincoln Center in New York City, where she was in the presence of renowned judges such as Keith Urban and Norah Jones. Bridges was originally Tyné’s thesis. While she was in Ghana for her foreign study program in the African and African American studies department, she met an artist who wrote a song in Swahili and then asked her to write the second half in English. From there, she reached out to numerous artists she had met during the years to collaborate on her album. Tyné has been nominated for multiple awards for her music this year and is working on an upcoming album with a few producers and artists she met through these awards. In addition to becoming an acclaimed artist, Tyné is continuing her studies and earning a master of arts and liberal studies at Dartmouth. She’s focusing on creative writing and wants to write a memoir about her grandmother, who emigrated to the United States from Jamaica.

Tyné is not the only ’17 woman who has gained renown for her thesis. Julia Dressel was recently published in Science Advances on how technology and racial bias affect the prediction of recidivism. During her junior year Julia approached professor Hany Farid about her interest in technology and its impact on the criminal justice system; little did she know that her work would make such an impact that she would be presenting at Harvard University and be interviewed by publications such as The New York Times. Courts are increasingly using algorithms to predict recidivism and assess defendants’ likelihood of committing crimes; however, Julia’s research shows that the popular commercial risk assessment software COMPAS is no more accurate than individuals with no criminal justice experience. Not only has Julia become a published scholar since graduation, but she’s also a software engineer at Apple. She’s part of a rotational program in Apple’s Sunnyvale, California, office, but has an upcoming project in London, where she’ll be working in technical product management. Right now she’s living with fellow ’17 Dani Moragne. Dani is working in marketing for the app Elevate, a startup in San Francisco. Dani is one of the youngest employees at her company, but after watching all The Lord of the Rings movies, she has plenty to talk about with her coworkers.

After presenting her work at Harvard, Julia met up with Terence Hughes, who’s working in Boston at Artisan Consulting. Terence really likes Boston and goes to Monday night trivia with Chase Shipp, Claire Hern, Jason Auh, Ellis Guo, Grace Miller, and Allison Cartswell. However, Terence is a New York native, so he went to two Red Sox games with Claire and Ellis decked out in Yankees gear. Luckily, their clothing was a conversation starter, and they were not involved in any of the brawls during the game. Back in February Terence went to visit Apoorva Dixit, who is in India for her Fulbright scholarship. The two traveled around the west coast to Goa, Mumbai, and Kerala. In Goa, they went to the beaches and took advantage of the great hiking in the area. Since Goa is fairly touristy, Terence and Apoorva rented mopeds and rode up the coast to find less-crowded beaches. Terence’s favorite part of this region was the food, which is apparently much better than Jewel of India in Hanover. In Mumbai Terence got to spend time with Apoorva’s family, and then in Kerala the two did some more hiking, gazed at the palm trees, and took advantage of the beautiful weather.

—Dorian Allen, 117 West Grant St., Apt. 123, Minneapolis, MN 55403; (973) 986-5988; dorallen@comcast.net

Hi, ’17s! I hope you’re ready to fling right into spring! Here’s some updates on what our classmates have been up to the last few months. Back in September Edom Wessenyeleh began classes for her master’s at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, which is part of the University of London. During Edom’s first term she took a wide variety of courses spanning from extended epidemiology to health economics. Edom enjoys her courses because the curriculum is interdisciplinary, and she looks forward to solidifying her thesis topic during the upcoming months. After she completes her studies, she hopes to stay in London either doing research or working in health or medicine. Although her academic program is extremely rigorous, Edom stays active outside of the classroom. She began working at a migration collective, where she and a few other Londoners mesh art and activism. Along with her counterparts, she coordinated a six-day film festival in London focusing on migration.

Also across the pond is Shivam Chadha, who moved back to his hometown of London to pursue a job in asset management at JP Morgan. Shiv feels fortunate to work on his team because nearly everyone holds a senior level position, so he feels motivated to produce higher-quality deliverables. When not at work Shiv works closely with the Dartmouth Club of London. Recently he got dinner with Edom Wessenyeleh and Hannah Solomon, also studying London. From their seats at the restaurant, they watched a fire-throwing group that performs on the Thames embankment every full moon. Before the winter holidays Shiv decided to start learning Hindi with Rosetta Stone to enhance his knowledge of the language.

In October Karen Jacques began work as an English teaching assistant for two primary schools in Grenoble, France, which is in the southeast by the Alps. Karen is a part of the program called Teach Abroad Program in France (TAPIF) and works with children ages 7 to 10 years old in 12 different classrooms. Her responsibilities differ among classes; sometimes she works alongside the schoolteacher to produce lessons and assist with pronunciation, whereas in other classes she manages small groups and teaches the lessons herself. In Karen’s free time she explores Grenoble with various other teaching assistants from TAPIF. Like Shiv, Karen has spent ample time with other ’17s in Europe. Tegwyth Alderson-Taber visited Karen in November and then in December, Karen met up with Jessica Link and Josephine Cormier (who is working in Lyon) in Annecy, France. Although he’s spent the majority of the recent months in the United States, Jeff Lang has kept himself quite busy as well. The week after Commencement Jeff and many other ’17 Frisbee players rented a cabin on the Grant. The group thought it would be a good idea because David Klinges’ father and his Dartmouth classmates used to go to the Grant to reconnect. While at the Grant, Jeff, Klinges and their friends grabbed dinner with Klinges’ father and his friends. In the fall Jeff moved to Boston to work at Bain & Co. He enjoyed the firm’s holiday party at the Boston Public Library, which was filled with Dartmouth alums. Since moving to Boston Jeff’s weekends have been filled with playing board games with Chris Loughlin and numerous other ’16s and ’17s. They started with Settlers of Catan, which ended up being a gateway to a lot of weirder and lesser-known games. They’ve become so invested that board games were on the top of their Christmas lists this year.

—Dorian Allen, 117 West Grant St., Apt. 123, Minneapolis, MN 55403; (973) 986-5988; dorallen@comcast.net

Hello, class of 2017! Another congratulations on your graduation. In a few weeks we will have been college graduates for half a year. Not surprisingly, many of our classmates have been doing some magnificent things since June 11.

Jorge Siwady Kattan spent his summer in Montevideo, Uruguay, before returning on campus to finish his B.E. He worked as a consultant that enhances building designs to make them more sustainable. He found this company through his own research of companies in South America since he feels at home in the region. For work he had the opportunity to travel to Buenos Aires, Argentina, but once his meetings ended, he went to the local beaches. In his time away from the office Jorge visited colonial towns outside of the capital city and searched for the best local cafes and restaurants, mostly revolving around his admiration for steak and Italian cuisine.

This July Kira Farris began work at State Street in Boston, where she is in the professional development program alongside Paul Ghazal, Kyle Nickerson and 50 other recent grads. Kira is currently in her first rotation in fund accounting and loves her coworkers. She recently moved to the North End with her Chi Delta sisters Sara Winfree and Alyssa Gonzalez and they had their first roommate dinner, where they prepared truffle risotto and garlic tilapia. As a New Jersey native Kira has done a great job acclimating to the Boston lifestyle. She won company box seats for a Red Sox game through State Street’s raffle. Luckily, she received a complimentary hat with the tickets because she’s a die-hard Yankees fan. In her free time she has been training for the CHaD Hero half marathon with Alison Wolf ’15.

Another ’17 who has been spending ample time with Dartmouth alums is Emily Greene. Emily started her summer visiting Japan, Cambodia, Vietnam and China with a former coworker, her family, Ally Benedict and Becca Holland. Out of all the places she visited, she loved Vietnam the most because of its history. Later in the summer she and Katy Sprout went to Memphis, Tennessee, to visit Emma Sisson and the three then drove to the tiny town of Perryville, Missouri, to gaze at the total eclipse. During her time at home in Connecticut Emily studied for exams to transfer her EMT certification to Massachusetts before her big move to Boston with Christiana Johnson. In Boston she’ll be working as a software development engineer for Alexa at Amazon.

Graham Rigby decided to continue his studies this summer and attended the 2017 summer linguistics institute of the Linguistic Society of America with numerous graduate students pursuing Ph.D.s and writing dissertations. Each institute is hosted by a different university and this summer it was held at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. At the institute he took three courses: “Directionality in Language Change,” “Genetic Creolistics and Genetic Linguistics” and “Structure of Hmong-Mien Languages.” He found the program to be a worthwhile experience because he gained valuable knowledge and met young linguists interested in topics that overlap his own fascinations. Outside of the classroom Graham celebrated his 23rd birthday in Boston with some friends from high school as well as Ben Rhutan, Sean Cann and me.

Thanks for reading and please keep me updated on your accomplishments!

—Dorian Allen, 33 Kensington Terrace, Maplewood, NJ 07040; (973) 986-5988; dorallen@comcast.net