CHAPMAN
alumni
By Samantha Tack ’12
Love in the Time of Global Citizenship T wo of Chapman’s most dedicated global citizens, Zach
Bloomfield ’07 and Kelsea Ballantyne ’07, were married this
past June in a world-traveler-themed wedding in their home state of Idaho. Now they’re trying something new in their post-graduate lives as a couple: sharing the same continent. After graduating with degrees from Chapman’s Argyros School of Business and Economics, Bloomfield and Ballantyne both earned Fulbright scholarships — Zach to promote economic development in Tunisia, and Kelsea to build a business that helps women leave the sex trade in India by providing them fair-wage jobs. “Being married has meant really committing, because for three years we
Chapman staff member Dani Smith performed the Idaho wedding ceremony of Kelsea Ballantyne ’07 and Zach Bloomfield ’07, whose world-traveler-themed nuptials included a cake fashioned after a stack of suitcases.
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were living long distance,” Ballantyne said. “Now we make life decisions together. I love coming home to my husband every day.” The two live in Tunisia, where Bloomfield works at the African Development Bank, running a fund that invests in small renewable-energy projects throughout Africa. Ballantyne is a development consultant while also traveling regularly to India to assist with the business she helped launch. Among Ballantyne’s business successes in India is a line of organic T-shirts. She got to see Chapman freshmen wearing the shirts during Orientation Week last fall, when the students filled Memorial Hall for a Skype call from Ballantyne, who spoke about microlending. As for the couple’s wedding, the ceremony was “plenty serious,” Bloomfield said, “but we threw in our own touch of fun and creativity. It was really well-tailored to us.” An eco-friendly wedding was important to the couple. The invitations were sent electronically, and the room was filled with reused globes and travel books, as well as decorations made by Ballantyne’s parents, including flowers made from recycled paper. Two unique items at the wedding were Ballantyne’s bouquet of antique brooches made by her mother and Bloomfield’s boutonniére with a picture of his mother that he wore close to his heart. The wedding was officiated by the couple’s close friend, Chapman staff member Dani Smith,
Ballantyne and Bloomfield in Tunisia.
who coordinates the C.A.R.E.S. (Creating a Rape-free Environment for Students) program — one of many projects for which Kelsea and Zach became leaders at Chapman. Ballantyne was also Associated Students president and an inductee into Chapman’s Schweitzer Chapter of Mortar Board. “Dani was around in some of the best and some of the hardest times in our relationship,” Bloomfield said. “She was a good friend as well as a mentor and counselor for us when we needed it.” Smith called Bloomfield and Ballantyne “two of the smartest and most generous souls that I have ever met.” Wedding attendees included 20 Chapman alumni, four of whom were members of the wedding party: Ryan Corry ’08, Jeffrey Harris ’07, Kelsey Bains ’07 and Tavia Jefferson ’07. It was the people who made the day special, the couple said. Now Ballantyne and Bloomfield have begun applying to U.S. graduate schools, with mixed feelings about the prospect of returning to domestic lives. “It feels a bit weird coming back (to the U.S.), especially after living in India for so long with almost nothing and working alongside women who have really hard lives and seeing what they can come through,” Ballantyne said. “But I love the U.S., and we miss our family and friends a lot.”