You’ll always be
counted for the class of
2007
reunion year
class participation goal: 1,000
Correspondent: Lauren Faherty Bagnell lauren.faherty@gmail.com Cristina Vitiello is running her jewelry business, Cristina V., in New York. To learn more about her venture, you can visit www. cristinav.com. • Matt Saporito recently moved to San Francisco after living in Brooklyn for three years. His band, The Thinkers, recently released an album, Oh Zoooty!, and spent the summer touring the United States, performing at children’s hospitals and museums.
You’ll always be
counted for the class of
be
a hero at BC
Mic h a e l P e t it ’ 0 5 COURTESY MICHAEL PETIT
Google’s Manhattan office. The camp, led by recent YouTube sensations, instructs winners of a YouTube talent search how to create a viral video, build an audience, and bolster a brand. • Shawna Gallagher Vega, MA’08, was recently promoted to director of communications and PR at the Pine School in Hobe Sound, FL. In her new role, she will serve on the prep school’s senior administrative team, overseeing institutional communications, public and media relations, and alumni affairs. • Matt Barwinski and Michelle Tetrault welcomed their first daughter, Sophie Lynn, to the family on December 29, 2010, in Stamford, CT. • Courtney Hopkins and Chris Carter were married on January 8, 2011, at St. Ignatius Church, with Fr. Fred Enman, JD’78, MA’87, MDiv’88, presiding over the ceremony. Courtney was escorted down the aisle by her father, Charles P. Hopkins II ’75, JD’79. Eagles in the wedding party included bridesmaids Courtney Hunt, Stacey Greci, Ashley Hopkins ’12, and Brooke Hopkins ’14, and groomsmen Brendan Sage MA’11, Micah Davis-Johnson MS’07, and Rafael Rovira. They celebrated with a reception at the Boston Harbor Hotel with more than 40 other BC alumni and enjoyed a surprise visit from Baldwin. Chris is an associate at Bingham McCutchen, and Courtney is completing her PhD in counseling psychology at Northeastern. They reside in Boston’s South End. • Tina Corea Di Meo and Tony Di Meo recently celebrated their one-year wedding anniversary. The couple were married on July 31, 2010, at Corpus Christi church in Chatham, NJ. Donald MacMillan, SJ, ’66, MDiv’72, of Boston College performed the Mass. In attendance were over 30 members of the BC community, including maids of honor Claire Corea ’14 and Danielle Corea ’10, sisters of the bride; bridesmaid Jennifer Curcio Della Penna ’04, cousin of the bride; and many BC’06 classmates. The couple would like to thank all those who shared good wishes. Tina is director of policy at an economic development corporation in Newark, and Tony is a CPA and senior associate at PricewaterhouseCoopers. They reside in Newark.
U.S. Marine Capt. Michael Petit ’05 is currently serving as the officer-in-charge of a nine-man civil affairs team in Now Zad, a district in northern Helmand Province, Afghanistan. This interview was conducted via email.
M
ichael Petit ’05 was raised Catholic and a Boston Red Sox fan, despite growing up in New York state, so “BC was a natural,” he says. His first stint at the Heights was derailed by viral meningitis, and after a long recovery, Michael decided not to return to college. “Instead, I enlisted in the Marines. Looking back, it was a good decision, Capt. Michael Petit ’05 gathers with students of the but very much a boyish one, rooted in Asad Sori School in Now Zad, Afghanistan. The innocence, idealism, and the desire to K-12 school had been closed since Russian forces assert my independence and prove my garrisoned troops there decades ago; its renovation manhood,” he says now. When the was completed under Capt. Petit’s supervision in Marines offered to send him to college Sept. 2011. three years later, he came back to BC “with shorter hair and a little more life experience and focus than most of my fellow freshmen.” “The parallels between the cultures of BC and the Marine Corps are many,” he explains. “The Corps fully embraces the Jesuit notion of cura personalis. And they both strive—albeit through different means—to make the world a more just and peaceful place.” Michael is now deeply engaged in that effort as an officer in the Corps. Deployed to Iraq in 2007–08, he trained local security forces and worked to establish rule of law in collaboration with the local government. Although he left active duty after his 2009 deployment to Afghanistan, he joined the 4th Civil Affairs Group, a Marine Reserve unit based in Washington, D.C., and has been back in Afghanistan since Aug. 2011.
what has been the most satisfying moment in your professional life? Traveling to distant lands, developing relationships with members of the populace there, and knowing that through our efforts we are, to some small degree, providing the possibility of a more peaceful, stable, and prosperous future for them and their progeny.
what is your next goal? Bringing my Marines safely home. After that, I would like to attend business school.
what do you look forward to each day? A cup of coffee. I would say good coffee, but that has not been available for a few months.
what was your favorite bc class? Literary Themes with Robert Farrell, S.J.
what is something your friends don’t know about you? I used to draw and paint quite a lot, to the point that, briefly, I considered pursuing a degree in fine arts.
what would you do if you were bc president for a day? Re-open the Kinvara Pub (a legendary— in my humble opinion—establishment in Allston) and provide free shuttle service from campus. Faculty members, administrators, clergy, and students would be strongly encouraged to attend.
2008
class participation goal: 650
Correspondent: Maura Tierney mauraktierney@gmail.com
for a longer interview with michael petit, including additional photographs, visit www.bc.edu/alumniprofiles