Sarah Mischner is also busy at her day job at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. But she writes that “by night, I’m also performing with folk-rock band, Thee Shambels; we recently crowd-funded our first full-length album, Lonely a la Mode!”
Chris Haldane ’05 and his bride Ashley Goldsmith The Alumni Office has learned that Chris Haldane was married to Ashley Goldsmith this past September. PDS classmates in the wedding were: Jim Butler, Evan Crumiller, Peter Martin, Ryan Palsho, Alex Realmuto and Danny O’Brien.
2006
Jacob “Mendy” Fisch 1234 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Apt 725 Washington, DC 20005 609-731-2540 mendyman@gmail.com
Shira Concool wrote with very sad news and a request, “I wanted to personally share with the PDS community that my brother, Avi ’09, died in May 2014, after a year battling brain cancer. My family and I are hoping to collect any photos, videos, or stories that folks have about Avi. You can email them to me at sconcool@gmail.com. We really appreciated many of Avi’s classmates who visited us over the summer and shared memories of Avi.” Our class’s condolences go to the Concool family during this difficult time, and all of us, who fondly remember Avi, are encouraged to write with memories. Shira also wrote with happier news; she is engaged to Derrick Ashong, and her sister, Micaela ’02, is about to become a mother. “I am excited to be marrying my best friend in September and to become an aunt . . . . My fiancé, Derrick, and I currently live in Baltimore, MD. He is an emergency medicine resident at Hopkins and I work as the Assistant Director of Career Services at Stevenson University. It’s been quite a year, but I am enjoying getting to know Charm City and hope to be in touch with PDS folks who are down this way.” Esther Kim told us more good news, “I will be getting married this July to Alex Ruder. We will be moving to Columbia, South Carolina after the wedding because he just got an appointment as a professor in USC’s Department of Political Science. We’re excited to move down south and eat some BBQ.” Congratulations to Esther and Alex! Frequent class notes contributor Arvind Thambidurai wrote with “no real news” (but,
2007
Nina Crouse 31A Jay Street Cambridge, MA 02139 215-738-7128 ninacrouse@gmail.com Vishal Gupta 58 East Springfield Street Unit 3 Boston, MA 02118 (609) 658-4168 vishgupta2@gmail.com Alexandra “Ali” Hiller 60 Brattle Street Apt. 201 Cambridge, MA 02138 609-658-2961 ali.hiller@gmail.com
Claire Alsup left her job in New Orleans running a James Beard nominated restaurant, Domenica, in the fall. She spent the last few months in Italy and Bulgaria working on sustainable farms, vineyards, and restaurants. She is now doing freelance restaurant consulting and public relations and is also helping develop an app for restaurateurs and chefs. She is applying to master’s in food studies programs for the fall.
Nicole Auerbach is now covering both college football and college basketball for USA TODAY, which allows her travel all over the country to cover games and write features. She also spent the fall as a college football studio analyst for the Big Ten Network. She lives in New York City.
Jacqui Bowen just started working at the New York Historical Society as an assistant registrar. Katie Briody is living in Nashville in the first year of a clinical and mental health counseling graduate program at Vanderbilt, and teaching yoga.
Kristina Budelis is currently getting a Master’s at Tisch’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) and living in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, near a few other PDS grads. She also shoots, directs, and edits videos on a freelance basis for organizations including The New Yorker, Vogue, Makerbot, and BAM. Maria Cannavo graduated from Northeastern University this past May. She received her master’s degree and Certificate of Advanced
Graduate Studies in School Psychology. In July 2014, she began her career as a school psychologist in a K-8 charter school in Boston, and absolutely loves it!
Nina Crouse is living in Central Square in Cambridge, MA and working in the meeting and event planning industry. She hangs out with alums Ali Hiller, Vish Gupta, and Maria Cannavo quite often in Boston. Over Thanksgiving, she went to visit twin sister, Allie Crouse, in Santiago, Chile and completed the W trek in Patagonia’s Torres del Paine National Park.
79 Class Notes
as far as I’m concerned, all news is appreciated news): “Santhra and I are doing well, we’re located in quiet South Brunswick, NJ. I remain working within J[ohnson] & J[ohnson] Supply Chain — specifically e-commerce, while Santhra is a high school math teacher. As of now, our family size remains stable at us two plus the cats (Patty and Lucy). Hope everyone else is doing well!”
Devin Ershow is a production coordinator, helping run the offices of different movies and TV shows such as Orange is the New Black and a Christmas comedy starring Seth Rogen and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. He recently wrote three feature screenplays, which he is trying to shop around to studios and agents so he can follow his dream of being a writer. In January, he got engaged to his girlfriend of over four years, Emma McCormack. Vish Gupta is finishing his second year of medical school at Boston University School of Medicine. He is over the weather in Boston and hopes to move to California one day. Rachel Heller is currently living in Boston, working at a deaf community organization and as a freelance American Sign Language Interpreter. She enjoys living in Jamaica Plain neighborhood, in particular the yoga studio she frequents, where she has run into Katie Brossman ’08!
Ali Hiller recently left Manhattan to move to Cambridge, MA and started a new job in recruiting at FSG, a nonprofit consulting firm. She got engaged this past summer to Ian Rorick, whom she met at Dartmouth, and is planning a June wedding.
Joe Horowitz completed his undergraduate degree in managerial economics at Bentley University and then launched his career in the Boston area doing strategy consulting for a boutique firm. Last fall he made the move to the DC Metro Area to take position as a director of strategic analytics for a company that runs a network of career education schools. Alex Lescroart is currently living in Washington, DC and recently left her job as a consultant at Deloitte to work for Opower, a software company that helps utilities reduce energy consumption and helps consumers lower their energy use and costs.
Derek Mayer moved to Austin, TX in August 2013. He coaches the University of Texas, Austin lacrosse team and is the partnership manager at TechConnect. He spends his winters skiing with Park City residents Maddie Ferguson and Jon Chow. They have been friends since kindergarten. That’s 20+ years!
G.J. Melendez completed his doctorate on HIV epidemiology at the University of Oxford in July and is in his second year on the faculty there. Laura Nelson is currently living in Houston, TX and planning a March wedding. She has been busy with her on-air endeavors with
Spring 2015