stay connected... Dana Andrienko. She is still living in Moscow and starting her third year of running her own international educational consulting business, matching Russian kids with the right boarding schools, colleges, and summer programs in the U.S. Her inspiration is the experience that we all valued so much at PA. This year, she’s expanding into the UK market and is excited about where else this crazy journey takes her! Joe Maliekel is working at Jet.com, and he and wife Lindsey had an amazing summer, he reports, watching their boys grow up. Grier Buchanan moved to NYC two years ago and is working in equity research at KeyBanc Capital Markets. Grier hung out with Matt Dougherty and Madeleine Fawcett ’02 in Palm Beach late last year. Thibault Raoult became an assistant editor at the Georgia Review. Meg Blitzer is about to start her sixth year at Choate teaching bio and environmental science and coaching water polo; the girls’ team hopes to defend the New England title they won in May. In nuptial news, Laurie Choi got married recently, surrounded by Big Blue love from Erin Winkler, Wendy Huang, Tara Rachakonda, Winnie Liu ’03, and Kate Larson ’00. Nikki Waldstein got married in May; superstar justice of the peace Jenn Zicherman Kelleher did an amazing job officiating. A lot of ’01 love happened this past spring and summer when Eric Chase, Scott Darci, Nakul Patel, Rob Coleman, Jim Cunningham, Timothy Daniels, and Luke LeSaffre joined Alex Bradley on Nantucket to celebrate Alex’s bachelor party over Memorial Day at the 44th annual Figawi Race Weekend. The gang had a grand old time. At Alex’s wedding, that crew was joined by Sarah Kline, James Kenly, and Isaac Taylor. Best man Nakul left the audience in stitches with his roast of the groom. Mark Kawakami got engaged to Jehan Edriouch, a most charming and wonderful woman; I was fortunate enough to rendezvous with them in Amsterdam while there on business. Mark is finishing a PhD degree program and playing awesome host to visitors who swing through Amsterdam. Mihir Patel closed on an apartment in downtown Miami at the end of last June. Shortly after that, he met with John Kwaak, Ramesh Donthamsetty, Alex Finerman, Andrew Tucker, and Eric Newman for dinner at Boqueria. Later in the summer, he took a trip to the Amalfi coast and got engaged to Rekha Mahale, who is a pediatrician working in Brooklyn and on Staten Island. Over in Singapore, our class Facebook page got some great pics highlighting the several gettogethers of ’01 all-stars Theo Novak, Sydney Freas, Brad Meacham, and Jeannie Kwok. Nickole Rucker Teel finished her anesthesiology residency at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, N.C., in July and moved to Spartanburg, S.C., for her new
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job. To quote Nickole: “Life after residency is amazing!” As for me, by the time you read this, I will be a married lady myself. The wedding will be attended by 17 fellow Andover alums, so we will for sure be doing some Big Blue cheers! The weekend prior to our wedding, I’ll be leading my first Alumni Council meeting as president. Talk about an eventful November! Keep calm and send in your updates, ’01!
2002 Lauren Nickerson P.O. Box 711477 Mountain View HI 96771 Lauren9@gmail.com
Aloha, Class of ’02! As I sit here writing these notes on a beautiful Hawaii day in September, it is hard to imagine that by the time you read them, it will already be 2016. With that in mind, Happy New Year! Last year was a busy but happy time for the Class of 2002, and I wish you all the best for an equally blissful and fulfilling 2016. For many of you, 2016 will be filled with wedding planning and tying the knot. Many classmates wrote to share the thrilling news of their engagements. Kate Planitzer got engaged to her longtime boyfriend, Michael Harper. Kate reports that Michael is “not an alum, but is Jenny Savino– approved!” Congratulations, Kate and Michael! Anyone who has Jenny’s stamp of approval must be a great guy. Greg Chang got engaged to longtime girlfriend Diem Nguyen and shared his wonderful news with classmates Kwadwo Acheampong and Gabe Cuthbert during a recent dinner. Niki Roberts and partner Krisa Benskin became engaged on June 26. Niki looks forward to having Ryan Coughlan serve as a “flower man” during their upcoming ceremony. Kezi Barry traveled to South Africa, where she reconnected, after 10 years, with her South African former boyfriend. After reconnecting, Kezi’s original plans to stay in South Africa for one month extended to three months, during which time they went on excursions across South Africa, fell back in love, and became engaged! In February, Bali Kumar passed the California bar exam and moved to LA. Jordan Harris visited Bali to help him settle in, and Bali enjoyed catching up with Abby Lavin during a recent lunch. Luis Marion completed an MS degree in CS (computer science? Luis, do you now speak only in code?) and is now living in Boston. Angela Steele lives in Oakland, Calif., and is beginning her second year of the Berkeley-Haas MBA program. Angela interned at Habitat for Humanity Greater San Francisco this summer and is pursuing a career in real estate development and finance. Kristina Guild Douglass completed a PhD degree in archaeology from Yale University and
will be starting a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History, where she will continue her research into the extinction of Madagascar’s elephant birds. Apart from her exciting career advancements, Kristina also has wonderful family news to share. She and her husband, Scott, welcomed their first son, Percy, in January. Diana Dosik and her husband welcomed their son, Henry, in July. April Atiba Swoboda and husband Henry welcomed daughter Violet in August. The most colorful update of the quarter goes to Geoffrey O’Donoghue, who, after years of not relaying any notes, finally had a lot to say. I’ve included a few euphemisms to make the notes “Andover-appropriate.” I hope that my paraphrasing does you justice, O’D! Geoff was recently awarded a fellowship from the National Institutes of Health to fund his postdoctoral training in T-cell physical chemistry at UCSF. He regularly sees Jason Park, as Jason worked on a PhD degree in the same lab where Geoff is currently working. One of the highlights of Geoff ’s year was seeing Diane Liu, her husband, Mason, and their “incredibly gorgeous” children, Lena and Beau. Diane and her family were traveling from Pittsburgh to their new home in Hawaii and, on the way, were able to stop over in San Francisco, where they enjoyed a picnic with Geoff and his girlfriend, Tess. Geoff traveled to Austin, Texas, to visit Mike Cashman and James Maffione and their wives. It sounds like the trip to Austin was quite eventful, as the boys indulged in some BBQ and water activities. Geoff also spent time with Dave Paolino, Tony Bitz, and Pablo Durana, who, according to Geoff, is “the absolute coolest guy alive right now.” Pablo returned the superlative by calling Geoff “the smartest guy alive,” noting that he couldn’t understand half the things that Geoff was talking about! Pablo continues to sit upon his Geoff O’Donoghue–appointed throne as a cool guy, as he continues to tour the world on his multiple filming expeditions. At the time of writing, I think Pablo was in Angola, but I can never keep track. As for my news, my husband, Bobby, and I (Lauren Nickerson) hosted “Lauren and Bobby’s Week of Adventure” on the Big Island of Hawaii to celebrate life, love, and marriage. During the week, we swam with manta rays at night off of the Kona coast, trotted around Kilauea volcano, and jumped off a smattering of high platforms into the Pacific Ocean. I’m happy to report that we survived the week with life and limb intact, although I regretted that Stephanie Hackett could not attend. Stephanie is a busy bee in NYC, where she continues to work toward a PhD degree in art history at the Graduate Center, CUNY, and is employed as a researcher at Shepherd W & K Galleries. Thank you to everyone who submitted notes, and I look forward to more updates in 2016!