is excited about bringing her skills to the new role! Bill Cook, and his wife, recently bought their first house in Palos Heights, IL. They are also expecting their first child in September. In February 2020, Laura Kisthardt organized a small JCU alumni gathering in New Haven, CT. She graduated from Yale Divinity School with a Master of Divinity in May of 2020 and has been called to serve as Associate Pastor at the First Congregational Church of Southington. Laura hopes to be ordained a minister in the United Church of Christ in the fall of 2020. Alex Stultz welcomed her first child, a daughter named Audra Quinn Stultz, on October 26, 2019. Lizzie Trathen and Dan Heidenreich ’14 got engaged at Mitchell’s Ice Cream in Cleveland in September 2019. The couple is still determining a wedding date. Sadly, our classmate DeVaughn Hammett passed away on June 22, 2020. Rest in peace, my friend. Take care, Larry. 2014 | Desiree Tercek dtercek14@jcu.edu I hope you all are staying safe and healthy as we navigate our way through 2020. All of us have been affected in some way by the coronavirus pandemic, and my thoughts and prayers are with all of you during these challenging times. Nevertheless, as we do when faced with challenges and hardships, we will get through this together. Lauren Kelley is a classmate who is making the most of the opportunities in front of her. After getting laid off from her job due to COVID, she decided to start her own business—a small marketing agency that specializes in social media marketing, podcast production, and content creation for mid-size companies. She is enjoying this experience so far and is thankful for all that she learned in her JCU entrepreneurship classes to help her take this step. A special thanks to all of the first responders and healthcare workers during these trying times, especially to one of our own classmates Matt Serna. Matt is currently a resident physician at Cleveland Clinic working in the ICU during the coronavirus pandemic. He is courageous and selfless with his patients and helps keep things running smoothly at the Clinic. Maddie (Zink) and Stephen Lutter have been happily married for three years and currently reside in Buffalo, NY. Maddie works at a private practice mental health clinic as a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Stephen works for Horizon Health Services as an Operations Manager.
56 | ONWARD • Fall 2020
Stephen is also continuing his service in the Army Reserves where he serves as a Team Leader for a Civil Affairs unit. Happy One Year wedding anniversary to Katie (Mulholland) and William Corbett. The couple was married on July 19, 2019 at Catawba Island Club in Port Clinton, Ohio. Chet Lauer has returned to work at Carroll as the assistant baseball coach. Chet is a former catcher of the JCU team and is entering his second season as the assistant coach. Wishing you all much health and prosperity for the remainder of 2020! Please continue to send your updates via email, LinkedIn, Facebook, or provide updates through the JCU website to be included in the next edition. AMDG. Desiree 2015* | Bri Lazarchik blazarchik@gmail.com As I sit down to write this column, my fellow Blue Streaks and I are still feeling the pain of the loss of the unmatched, remarkable Chris Wenzler ’90. I had the fortune of leading the 2013 Jamaica immersion trip with Chris as one of my faculty co-leaders, and we had maintained a life-giving friendship in the years since. As I posted on social media the day I learned of his loss, I know my story is just one of thousands in which this incredible man worked with us, believed in us, and inspired us. Chris’s loss is one more surreal
moment in this incomprehensible year, but his legacy will forever thrive. On behalf of the entire Class of 2015…thank you, Chris, for everything you taught us about how to live like a Blue Streak during our time on campus and onward. With all shadows, though, there is also always light, and it’s an honor to share some joyful moments from our class these past several months. Colleen (Reilly) Gong and Michael Gong were married on March 28, 2020 at St. Francis Xavier Church in Colleen’s hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio. Additionally, Carleigh (Rohlke) Walton and Jack Walton ’14 were married in early July 2020 surrounded by a small group of loved ones. Not even a pandemic can stop our Carroll couples, as Emily Grazia and Ryan Devin have announced their engagement; they just bought a new house to fix up and will be married December 2020. Courtney Radtkin and Alex Barilec are engaged as well, as of June 2020. The couple live in Utah and Courtney is now a nutritional health and yoga instructor. Brodie Hartsel and Sam Braun were also engaged last May. Congratulations to these beautiful Blue Streak couples! We also congratulate Nicholas Lemanski and his wife Alyssa, who welcomed their son, John “Jack” Howard Lemanski on May 24, 2020. Further congratulations are in order for Danielle Goddard who graduated this May from a dual Master’s program in Mental Health Counseling and Theology & Ministry from Boston College, Manick
Saran who graduated from the Lake Erie College of Osteopathic Medicine in May and recently started his residency, and Megan Boyk, who, in addition to starting her second year of residency training in family practice in South Bend, Indiana, is pursuing a Master’s degree in public affairs with a concentration in health services management. Breahna (Phillips) Ramos recently moved to the Cincinnati area because she is now the Director of Victim Services at Wilmington College, and Moira Kelley will be moving to Lake Forest, IL this fall to work at The Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart where she’ll be a Residence Life Coordinator, teaching history, and hopefully helping to start their lacrosse program. Class of 2015, I keep you in my prayers and I thank you for keeping me hopeful. I would like to especially thank all the members of our class who are, in any way, working on the front lines of the pandemic. Your ability to be a woman or man for others is an immeasurable gift to this world! Stay well and keep on glorifying God till we connect again, and I can’t wait to see you all at our 6-year reunion next summer! After all, the best things in life are worth waiting for. Faithfully. Bri. 2016 | Madeline Sweeney madelinegsweeney@gmail.com It brings me so much joy to be able to share with all of you some amazing things happening for the class of 2016, even amidst a global pandemic. It’s with great pleasure I announce the engagements of some dear friends. Love Shack resident, Jillian Blaszszyk, is marrying Joseph Bloomstine on July 10, 2021 and we could not be more excited. Additionally, Sarah Brown (Downtown Sarah Brown aka DTSB) is engaged to Tony Mehle - they’ll be married August 14, 2021. Tony attended Mount Union, so they’re currently choosing between navy/gold and black/purple as their wedding colors. Emily Mordini is also marrying her long-time love, Ben Warren. They’re getting married where they grew up, just outside of Chicago. They both currently reside in Florida where Emily teaches Special Ed and Ben is in Medical School. Nick Boccio is marrying Camille Arth ’15, on August 20, 2020. They adopted a pup last year named Pablo and are doing well. Bridget Keane was married to David Laubert ’17 on May 20, 2020. Due to the pandemic, their 300-guest wedding was made much smaller and planned at Fort Campbell with three days to spare. Ellie Rafoth and Juston Koss have
experienced quite a bit as of late. Juston and Ellie started dating in 2014. They were engaged on October 4, 2019 and are getting married on June 12, 2021. They brought their sweet baby, Luca James, into the world on May 16, 2020 and everyone is healthy, happy, and loving every minute of parenthood. Emily Burt and her husband are also expecting! Baby #2 is due in January. The two recently moved to Fort Worth, Texas and are happy and excited for two under two! Renee Fregeau and Stew Smith-Thomas are officially back in the Land. Stew transferred to Ohio from Buffalo and is now a branch manager for Mariner Finance. Renee gave me chills talking about her chills saying, “Although Buffalo is home, Cleveland is just as much home to me. I can’t wait to be back with family and friends.” Congrats to you both! Additionally, Alyssa Coleman recently bought a house in Shaker Heights with her husband, Cody. They were married last
August and moved back to Cleveland where Alyssa is working at Battelle. Kaley Laforce was accepted into Cleveland-Marshall’s law school! She will continue to work at Jones Day full-time as a research assistant while completing the part-time program. She is hoping to pursue work in civil litigation or public administration and intends to continue to help coach JCUWLax. Congrats, Kaley! Mackenzie Lee graduated from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and matched with Loyola University Medical Center for a general surgery residency. She was also engaged to David Port ’12 in April. Congrats!
Have news to share? Contact your class columnist with your updates or email journal@jcu.edu.
John Carroll University
Alumni Magazine | 57