alumni at large The Long Way Home | Annika Svore ’04 Imagine this scenario. You’re running alone on a country road at a brisk eight-minute-per-mile pace. It’s 3 a.m., a pitch black summer night; only your head lantern lights the path ahead. You’re tired because you completed a five-mile run the afternoon before, and you’ve had only two hours of sleep on a hard gym floor. You’ll have to do yet a third run later in the day after a short break. You have every reason to feel miserable but, in truth, you’ve never felt better in your life. Annika Svore ’04 has a gleam in her eye as she sits at a Starbucks in Seattle, recounting stories about her participation in the Ragnar Northwest Passage run, a 12-person relay race that begins in Blaine, Washington, on the Canadian border, and ends 189 miles later on the southern tip of Whidbey Island. Like her teammates, Svore had to run three different legs, but she alone experienced the joy of running the last leg. Svore’s team, composed of friends, friends-offriends, and a last minute fill-in from Craig’s List, had a distinct Colby flavor. Chris Castle ’02 was a fellow runner, as were the husband, sister, and brother-in-law of Natalie Keilholz ’02, who served as a volunteer for the race. “Running is an individual sport,” Svore said, “and a relay race offers a whole new experience. We were traveling along in two vans, six people huddled in each van—eating [Power Bars, fruit, nuts], listening to music, laughing, and waiting for our next turn to run. It was like a slumber party without sleep.” Her team, the Muffin Tops, finished 23rd out of 58 teams, with a time of 26 hours, 41 minutes, 27 seconds, slightly under an average nine minuteper-mile pace. This native Washingtonian thrives on challenge. “Before I came to Colby, I deliberately chose the toughest COOT option: a three-day, twelve-mile trek over the Mahoosic Notch on the Maine-New Hampshire border, one of the most challenging stretches along the entire Appalachian Trail.” A lifelong outdoorswomen, Svore loved the chance to go hiking and skiing in college, as well as developing close friendships with other runners on the cross-country team. On the academic front, she began as a premed major, but switched to math sciences (from the frying pan into the frying pan) her sophomore year. For good measure, she added an art major. “I wanted to balance the problem solving of math with the creative freedom of art.” After Colby, Svore took a summer career discovery course in architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. From there, she returned to the northwest to take a job as a design manager for Greenpoint Technologies in Seattle. She now works with five other designers, designing the interiors of top-of-the-line private planes for
62 COLBY / SPRING 2008
Annika Svore ’04 participated in a 12-person, 189-mile relay race. Her team completed the race in 26 hours, 41 minutes, and 27 seconds.
elite clients, such as the Saudi royal family and other heads of state, sports teams, and successful business leaders. “Because I knew nothing about airplanes before coming to Greenpoint,” she said, “I’m able to think outside the box.” Creative problem solving is a must for this job because, with this clientele, no request is considered unusual: a garage to hold a Mercedes, say, or a medical room equipped for surgical procedures, or several tubs equipped with water jets. Besides meeting a range of requests and dealing with clients used to getting what they want, Svore and other designers must address significant aircraft safety certification challenges. “All materials must be treated and burn tested,” she noted, “and the furniture must be structurally secured.” In addition to meeting the demands of her job and her clients, Svore stays sharp by running three or four days a week and practicing “hot yoga” (in 105 degrees). Will she experience another slumber-partywithout-sleep in the future? Well, her faraway expression when she mentions the popular relay race from the top of Mt. Hood to the Oregon seaside gives a pretty good indication. —David Treadwell
in Phoenix with her husband, Jared, and their daughter, Riley. Stephanie started teaching at K12, an online high school, and is working on her master’s in education. ✹ Emily Mahlman was associate producing a documentary for Frontline on PBS. The film is on a marine company serving in Iraq and it was to air Feb. 19. ✹ Caroline Blair fi nished law school in Boston in May 2006 and then clerked with Justice Suttell of the Rhode Island Supreme Court. Caroline is now an estate planning associate at Berluti & McLaughlin in Boston and getting married in July! She said that Darcy Lynch is now a career advisor at Stonehill College in Easton, Mass., and is getting married in June to Sam Clark. ✹ Lindsay Prichard is a social worker with the Guidance Center of Cambridge. * Melissa Alioto Murfey had her fi rst child, Carl Hutchings Murfey, last June. ✹ Julie Langsdorf is getting married next May in St. Louis. She lives with her fiancé in Chicago and is a school social work counselor. ✹ JJ Abodeely, Christian Brunet, Pierce Cole, Trent Cunningham, Jake Civiello, Jeff Guerette, Matt Huber, and Mike Kleinman helped celebrate Dev in Beliveau’s passage into manhood (bachelor party) in Maine. They nearly sank a 23-foot pontoon boat. Devin’s wedding was Dec. 29 in Palo Alto. ✹ Jemison Foster has taught IB English literature in New Zealand for the past two years, spending breaks in Thailand and Vietnam. He was selected to the New Zealand national lacrosse team last year and led the team in points in an international tournament against Australia, Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong. He’s also head coach for the women’s national team. ✹ Ann Farley just fi nished a marathon in Richmond. ✹ Mark Paustenbach was in Wilmington, Del., working as Joe Biden’s campaign press secretary. ✹ Ray Mazza designed a card game called The Perfect Present, which was recently published and is available at Amazon. ✹ Paul Dante is working on a master’s in geology at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. ✹ Melanie Morin got married July 14 to Robert Small in Lorimer Chapel at Colby. Melanie is still practicing as a third-year psychiatry resident at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and enjoying their new puppy, Gracie. ✹ Kristin Moresi recently moved to Washington, D.C., and works as a trial attorney for the Department of Justice. ✹ Pam Foxley is engaged to Greg Arifian. They