Melissa Carvalho is a program cost/ schedule controller at Raytheon in North Andover, Mass. She earned a M.B.A. at Rivier College.
Molly Gayton, a graduate student in Tufts University’s classics department, received the Sarah Plummer Memorial Prize from the Tufts Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.
Alex Witkowicz is a multimedia editor at Ski and Skiing magazines in Boulder, Co. (An economics major with a talent for photography, he was featured in Portraits Fall/Winter 2007.)
2009 Lisa Anderson is pursuing a master of education degree at Boston College.
Francesca Botteri is pursuing a Master of Fine Arts in film at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Eric Holland is studying quantum computing as a doctoral candidate in Yale University’s physics department.
Joelle Millar is a graduate student and teaching assistant at the Boston College School ofTheology and Ministry, specializing in youth and young adult faith.
Ray Munroe is a student at Dartmouth Medical School.
Kevin O’Brion is pursuing a master’s degree in environmental science at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
Cory True is web producer and editor in the Saint Anselm College Office of College Communications and Marketing.
Sarah Vickers volunteered in Jamaica with Passionist Volunteers International.
Alumni News
Rescue is his Business: Matt Calcutt ’92 When Matt Calcutt went to the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, he brought some friends with him: four dogs with very good noses. He was the coordinator of the Squaw Valley Ski Patrol Avalanche Dog Rescue Team, which was the only American rescue dog team invited by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Fortunately, the well-trained sniffers were not needed—but avalanches are not uncommon in the Rockies, and they were ready to dig in (literally) in the event one should occur. In training exercises, “the Squaw Dogs” can locate their masters’ ski gloves or hats under two feet of snow, even after 24 hours. They cover the snowy terrain about six times faster than a human search and rescue team. “Being asked to participate was a big honor,” Calcutt says. “This is the highlight of all the handlers’ and dogs’ careers.” Calcutt’s human team members train their golden retrievers and border collies to high standards, sometimes burying themselves in snow caves to test the canines’ skills. Besides having keen noses, the dogs must have high endurance levels and be able to tune out helicopter noise and ride ski lifts. For a business major, Calcutt has an unusually dangerous profession. As a staff ski patroller at Squaw Valley Resort in Truckee, California, he is trained to anticipate and control avalanches on the steep slopes and to rescue skiers and snowboarders who get lost or injured. Squaw Valley receives more than 37 feet of snow each winter on its 4,000 acres of terrain. Depending on the avalanche forecast, patrollers often begin work in darkness several hours before sunrise and set off explosives in the powder to trigger miniature slides. But they also know how to have fun. In April, Calcutt competed in the U.S. Professional Ski Patrol Olympics, taking first in the simulated bomb toss. When he’s not skiing or training rescue dogs and volunteer ski patrollers, Calcutt is a flight officer paramedic with the California Highway Patrol. He enjoys the diversity of helicopter rescue work: “We do pursuits, surveillance, search and rescue. We might be chasing down a criminal, hoisting someone off a cliff, or transporting someone who broke his leg on the John Muir Trail,” he says. “Flying around helping people is a pretty good job.” 57