at University of Missouri, Kansas City, where she’s pursuing an M.F.A. in technical direction for theater. This summer she is the technical director for Endstation Theatre Company in Lynchburg, Va. She says that things are busy and hectic but that she’s loving every minute. • I recently attended Jim Montague’s wedding at Sugarbush Resort in Vermont. Eli Stiefel, Kellen Mobilia, and Henry Cesari made up the rest of the Hogger contingent and a good time was had by all! • Please continue to let Emily Jacke and me know what you’re up to. We love hearing from you and miss you all!
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Daisy Letendre daisycletendre@gmail.com • Eshalla Merriam eshallamerriam@gmail.com • Pamela Chen pamchen13@gmail.com • Fayette Phillips fayettephillips@gmail.com • Anna Stevens annagstevens@gmail.com • Galen Anderson gjande01@syr.edu
From Eshalla: This fall at an alumni event, retired NMH teacher Jim Block and his wife (a former kindergarten teacher) shared some sage advice — it served me well during my first year of teaching kindergarten in D.C. I’m living in northern Virginia with my sister (Mindi Merriam ’05) and family. I’m loving it. I’ve enjoyed meeting up with lots of Hoggers living in or passing through, including Aicha Diallo ’05, Tania Plaisimond ’05, Tumpale Ngwira ’06, Alex Gagnon ’10, and lots of fellow ’09 classmates such as Margaret Milliken, Turner Delano, Seth Clare, Arlie Cohn, and Sophie Bober (before she left us for law school)! My cousin, Alyssa Bobe ’03, completed her physician assistant program and passed her boards! • And let it be known that Leo Chiquillo, Rosie Driscoll, Tumpale Ngwira ’06, and I saw Beyoncé in concert (in different cities) — it was amazing! • Emily Stephens co-authored a front-page article for The Nation magazine: “Vox’s Tax Calculator Is Wildly Misleading — So We Made a Better One.” The article was published in April, and you can read it by visiting thenation.com.
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Northfield Mount Hermon Eli Spector elishsp@gmail.com • Jed Kundl kundlj@gmail.com
From Jed: Hey, all! In Erin Cromack’s first official year away from NMH after coaching track and field for four consecutive seasons after graduation, she’s still made it a priority to remain an active member of the NMH community. In addition to being reunion chair, Erin was granted membership to NMH’s Young Alumni Committee, concentrating on events and social media. She is an active Daughters of the American Revolution member and
works with the Wounded Warrior Project. In addition, Erin is guest services coordinator at the Massachusetts Convention Center Authority in Boston, and is happy to have been joined by her friend Erin Marley, who is living in Somerville and working at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. She is still dating Robby Stack and hanging out with a bunch of NMHers in the Boston area. • Fallon Winters has been working at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York City and will be starting her M.B.A. at Fordham this fall. She lives in Hoboken with her sister, Leigh Winters ’11, who is getting her master’s of psychology and neuroscience at Columbia University. Fallon has seen many members of the class of ’10 — she had the pleasure of dining with Erin Marley, Robby Stack, Chris Mangan, and Erin Cromack at Tavern Road, where the one and only Derek White is a chef. Fallon says that Tavern Road is a must-try and that Derek’s cooking isn’t half bad (read: fantastic). • Scott Cleary is living and working near Tampa, Fla., and is close to completing his second year at BlueGrace Logistics, a privately held thirdparty logistics firm. He’s having a great time and enjoying the warm weather year-round. He misses NMH and wishes the best to all members of ’10! • Maxine Yakobi is the lead product specialist for ad interfaces at Facebook in the San Francisco Bay Area. Maxine has also been experimenting with sustainable urban farming and training for a motorcycle trip down the Pacific Coast, starting in San Francisco and finishing at Patagonia (hopefully next summer). Here’s to craggy mountains and organic strawberries in Maxine’s near future! • Eli Spector moved from Israel to Boston for work. He’s shocked by the contrast in weather, but enjoys the city and its funny accent. If you’re around the Back Bay, let him know! • As for me, I moved to Somerville (Davis Square) last year to start work as a software engineer at TripAdvisor on the vacation rentals team (think Airbnb). I spent a few weeks backpacking around Peru, ending with a trek along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. I’ve run into many NMHers in the Boston area and frequently see Courtney Freese, Dylan Freehauf ’11, and Bo Martin ’11. If you’re ever in the area, let me know!
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Northfield Mount Hermon Olivia VanCott vancott.olivia@gmail.com • Nisha Malik nishamalik92@gmail.com • Olivia Wolpe oliviawolpe@gmail.com
From Olivia VanCott: Hey, everyone! It was great seeing those of you who came to reunion! I can’t believe it has already been five years! I hope you all enjoyed the weekend. I loved watching you all dance Saturday night with a few drinks in your system. We broke the record for the number of attendees for the five-year reunion, and that includes the classes
A C L O S E R LO O K
Teaching the Next Generation As a first-grade teacher for KIPP (Knowledge Is Power Program) Legacy Prep School in Houston, Texas, Spencer Russell ’08 recently was honored with the Harriett Ball Excellence in Teaching Award and the Kinder Excellence in Teaching Award. Russell’s start as a teaching intern for NMH’s summer session was, to him, just a summer job. He took the same approach when, as a senior at Amherst College, he applied for a Teach For America position. “I knew I would make a living while I figured out what I really wanted to do with my life,” he says. Russell admits that he “grossly underestimated the dedication and skill it took to be an excellent teacher.” It took several years before Russell understood that he’d found his career. “During my first year, I wanted to quit,” he remembers. Crying at his desk before, during, and after school was not uncommon. But something shifted in his second year, when he began visiting his students’ families at home, talking about the children’s progress and how they could all work together. Now in his third year of award-winning teaching, Russell’s goal is “to prove that black and brown students, no matter how young they are or what their circumstances are, can exceed even the highest expectations we hold for them.”
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