www.andover.edu/intouch works in the legal department of JP Morgan Chase and welcomed his first baby, a girl, last summer; Luis Bello has two daughters and is the director of the multimedia group at Columbia Universityâs law school; and Anthony Morales teaches English at El Puente Academy in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. What I affectionately call Smartfest continued into its 15th year this past winter as Moses Kagan (with wife Lucy), Jake Berman (with wife Annika), Max Ventilla (with wife Jenny), Danny Addison, Dan Sloan, and Greg Chase all reunited to celebrate the New Year. The crew ventured to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico this year, which sounds dreamy. The blissful vacation was made even sweeter with the addition of Max and Jennyâs children, Sabine, age 2, and Leo, age new. Baby Leo joined the Ventilla family last summer, just as Max was gearing up to launch his new startup, AltSchool. Speaking of which, one of Maxâs investors, First Round Capital, puts out an amazing yearin-review video celebrating its entrepreneurs. If you want to witness Max lip-synching in a unicorn costume, nowâs your chance. Nik Divakaruni is also, like Max, in the S.F. Bay Area, where he runs sales for a software company. He recently married the lovely April Worley. April runs marketing for an education company. Nik and April are living the newlywed dream, having enjoyed an eight-week honeymoon to Asia, where they visited Vietnam, Cambodia, Nepal, and the Maldives. Chances are good that all of you with children are drooling right now. Ali Ghaffari and family have recently moved to California, to the place where Ali and his wife, Mary, met. Ali is still in the Navy, and with the move, is back to one of his original stations flying F/A-18E Super Hornets. When I think about Aliâs job, the words âintense,â âwhite-knuckled terror,â and âairsick bagâ come to mind. But Ali insists itâs a ton of fun. Another classmate having a ton of fun in his career is Dario Collado. For the past five years, Dario has worked at the Harvard Kennedy School, where he created the Latino Leadership Initiative and built it into an award-winning leadership development program for hundreds of college students from across the country. He recently moved on to the Boston Childrenâs Hospital Trust, where he serves as a corporate development officer responsible for the hospitalâs Latino affairs and fundÂÂraising efforts, to include the Milagros Para NiĂąos starstudded gala. Over a third of Boston Childrenâs Hospital patients are Latino or Portuguese, and Dario is excited to take on the task of supporting the health-care needs of this growing community. Iâm happy to end this edition of the notes with Darioâs news, because his grace, kindness, and enthusiasm are all to be admired. Dario told me, âAndover taught me the power of non sibi and helping others. For that, Iâm extremely grateful.â As I start my 11th year as class secretary, I too am grateful for our alma mater and for this opportunity to stay in touch with all of you. As always, keep writing.
1999 15th REUNION June 13â15, 2014 Marisa Connors Hoyt marisaconnors@gmail.com
After 10 years of serving as class secretary, I am sad to say this will be my last time writing the class notes. It has been a pleasure staying in close contact with so many of you over the past decade. Itâs been a wonderful ride, and Iâm sending a huge thank-you to all our classmates who submitted news over the years and also to everyone in the alumni office, who were so lovely to work with. Kirsten Lewis Riemer has offered to take over as class secretary after our reunion in June, and I know she will do an amazing job! Kirstenâs mailing address is 72 Connecticut Ave., Greenwich CT 06830, and her e-mail address is kirstenriemer@gmail.com. We have lots of updates this time, so on to the news. Rob Ramsey married Patricia Wessels in San Francisco in January 2013. Many Andover graduates were in attendance, including Robert Ramsey â81, Taylor Harmeling â98, Bryan Bishop, Halsey Coughlin, David Dugan, Drew Gallagher, Patrick Sheehan, and Margaret Ramsey â03. On another happy note, Rob and Tricia welcomed their first son, George Robert Ramsey, last June. Drew Gallagher married Kyla Aki at the Lodge at Koele, on the island of Lanai, Hawaii, last August. Just as at Robâs wedding, Andover was well represented, particularly by the PGs. In attendance were Robert Ramsey, Patrick Sheehan, Halsey Coughlin, Justin Gallagher â03, and Brendan Gallagher â06. Drew and Kyla are currently residing in Honolulu, Hawaii. Heather Collamore married Ari Skalet in NYC on New Yearâs Eve. Jennifer Seo married Anthony Del Rio in Atlanta in March. Andover classmates Yuan Wang, Yuko Chitani, and Yoko Iwaki were all bridesmaids. Noah Orenstein finished his prosthodontics dental fellowship at UConn last July and became board certified. Noah, who works at a specialty practice in East Longmeadow and Northampton, Mass., lives with his wife, Diana, in West Hartford, Conn. Drew Baldwin was nominated for a Primetime Emmy for the Streamy Awards. The Streamy Awards were created in 2008 by Drew and Joshua Cohen, along with leaders from the digital entertainment industry, to honor excellence in original online video programming and those who create it. Drew also hosted a fundraiser for Seth Moulton â97, who is running for Congress. Many Andover alums were in attendance, including Priscilla Fraser, Kristy Wiehe, Marc Hustvedt â97, Tom Balamaci â96, Brandon Stroman â97, and Stephen Matloff â91. Elena Bayrock Sapora and husband Andy welcomed their second son, Isaac âIkeâ Bayrock Sapora, in December. Tiffany Horne Noonan and her husband, Joe, welcomed a baby girl named Tessa Rae Noonan in October. Tessa joins big sister Keira and
arrived just a few months before the family moved from Massachusetts to California. Tiff, Joe, and their family now happily reside in Mill Valley, Calif., and are thrilled to have traded New England winters for a milder California climate. Jazmine Leon-Wing and her husband, Tisun, welcomed a new addition to the family. Aidan James Wing was born in Austin, Texas, in August, on his fatherâs birthday. Although both of his parents are native New Yorkers, Aidan is definitely an Austinite, as shown by his cheerful, laid-back disposition. Victoria Upson has spent the past few years working on a masterâs degree and passed the boards to be a psychiatricâmental health nurse practitioner in September 2012. After working in a community health center primarily focusing on psychotherapy for children, teens, and adults, she finally landed her dream job prescribing psychiatric medications at an outpatient clinic in Boston full time; she mentioned, âI certainly can thank my Andover teacher Mr. Maqubela for turning me on to chemistry and getting me into this field!â Nick Johnson is still working full time as a drama professor at Trinity College Dublin and will come up for tenure review in a few months. Nick has been working on his adaptation of The Brothers Karamazov for the past five years and was thrilled to see it staged at the Samuel Beckett Theatre in Dublin this past January and February. Russell Sticklor e-mailed and said heâs âliving in Mexico these days, working with the International Water Management Institute. Iâm researching sustainable agricultural practices and water conservation, a subject Iâve been involved with for the past seven years. On the side, I have been working with the Brooklyn-based record label Nomadic Wax, which specializes in international hip-hop and uses hip-hop music as a tool for social, educational, and political youth empowerment in the developing world. Working with the label has been a great way to connect with artists overseas, and Iâve been staying busy working on collaborative projects.â Charlene Chen is still living in Kenya but quit her job at KickStart and then embarked on a sixmonth soul-searching sabbatical, which included two weeks of trekking in the Himalayas in Nepal and a three-week overland tour of southwest Africa. Highlights included visiting Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, going on safari in Botswana, and skydiving in Namibia. Earlier last year, Caitlin Berrigan had the great pleasure of living in LA and was able to catch up with Jessa Sherman and Sara Bright. Caitlin reports Sara is also an artist, and they continue to share creative ideas and feedback. Last May, Caitlin attended Adam Bergâs beautiful wedding in Washington, D.C., and in February 2013 participated in an exhibition at Harvard, where she saw friends including Margo Lindauer, Tony Lawson, and Tiffany Joseph â00, as well as Rebecca Uchill â96. Caitlin is currently on a yearlong artist fellowship in Berlin with the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and would love to hear from anyone passing through! Sherri Stevens Williams and her husband Andover | Spring 2014
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