ALUM NI
C ONNECT ION
GLOBAL CITIZENS: Ashleigh Dueker ’10,
Hannah Cann ’10 & Kate Swiggett ’11 Ashleigh Dueker ’10 first traveled outside the U.S. in 2008 as part of Professor Bill Robert’s summer study tour to The Gambia. She found herself living in a developing country helping to implement a culturally modified version of the Yale University Social and Health Assessment survey to study Gambian high school youth. This ignited her passion to advance social justice and human rights and fight for the betterment of the poorest communities. She served in the Peace Corps from 2010-2012 as a health volunteer in Mali, West Africa, working on dozens of projects in a remote village until 2012 when the Arab Spring that had rippled through North Africa finally reached Mali. Ashleigh was caught at the start of a famine and a drought and also in between two wars, one in the north and one in Mali’s capital which led to her evacuation. Back home she realized she lacked the skill set to effectively promote local businesses. So she got her MBA from Lancaster University in the U.K. Today Ashleigh works as a management consultant at Grant Thornton UK in London, advising international organizations on change and transformation and topics such as Brexit. She also is a board member for African Sky, a small West African charity and advises on them on business development. Using her international education and business skills helps her make a difference in the world. Hannah Cann ’10 and Kate Swiggett ’11 work for the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service in Baltimore, Md. The agency is one of nine national agencies that partner with the U.S. government to resettle refugees. Kate, who discovered refugee work while interning at Freedom from Torture, a London-based organization, coordinates with local offices across the nation to prepare for new refugee arrivals who have been screened, cleared, and are ready for travel. Hannah works on the post-arrival side, with federal programs covering housing, medical, and legal needs for new arrivals. Her interest in migrant and refugee work began during her semester abroad in Chiang Mai, Thailand, when she became aware of the migrant crisis on the Thai-Burma border. After graduation, Hannah moved back to Chiang Mai where, for three years, she worked at a free school and university preparatory program for Burmese migrant workers. Outside of work, Kate volunteers with a helpline for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, while Hannah teaches English and citizenship classes, and spearheads a youth mentoring program for immigrant girls in her hometown of Bel Air, Md.
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Sara Morgan Watters ’10, of Oxford, Md., moved to Barcelona, Spain, after graduation to teach English for over two years. She also started a small exchange program for youth sailors between Barcelona and Annapolis, Md. called the Youth Sailing Exchange which ran for three summers. She then moved to Wellington, New Zealand to complete a master’s degree in cross-cultural psychology from Victoria University. Moving back to Annapolis in July 2016, she landed a program advisor position at Global Experiences, a company in Annapolis that places students in internships abroad as well as professional and career development. She also is doing a part-time remote internship with Language and Culture Worldwide, a Chicago intercultural training and consulting firm that works with large diverse and multinational companies. Kyle Wichtendahl ’10, of Catonsville, Md., delivered a presentation in March to the Scottsdale, Ariz. Civil War Round Table entitled “To Care He Who Has Borne The Battle: Medicine in the American Civil War.” A lifelong Marylander and the great, great, great grandson of a Civil War soldier who served for three years in the 59th Indiana including the Vicksburg Campaign and Sherman’s March to the Sea, Kyle is an avid Civil War reenactor and living historian. Pursuing his doctorate in 19th century U.S. history at the University of Maryland, he previously served as educational programming coordinator for the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick, Md., and its two satellite sites: the Pry House Field Hospital Museum at Antietam National Battlefield and the Clara Barton Missing
MEET YOUR ALUMNI COUNCIL: Amir Reda ’11 Amir Reda ’11, of Bethesda, Md., is one of the newest council members. While at St. Mary’s College, he served as the council’s student representative. He also was a Seahawk soccer player, an admissions student ambassador and a member of the local chapter of the Maryland Student Legislature. A community organizer for President Barack Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign, Amir now works as an internal sales consultant for Calvert Investments.
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Soldiers Office in Washington, D.C. He currently serves the president of the Harpers Ferry Civil War Round Table. Ashley Butler ’11, after five years in New York City leading social media strategy for Greek Yogurt brand Chobani, is now the director of digital and social media for Abel Communications located in Baltimore, Md. Lillian McCowan ’11 [5], who is pursuing her master’s degree in the global field program from Miami University, spent the summer of 2016 in Namibia participating in the university’s Earth Expeditions global field course. She studied ongoing research projects such as radio tracking, cheetah conservation and ecosystem management as well as the design of school and community programs in Namibia. Andrew Reighart ’13, of Arlington, Va., is an economist at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), following a year as a biochemical pesticide risk manager. He also serves as communications director for Equality EPA, the agency’s LGBT employee resource
group. Prior to joining EPA, Andrew was a policy fellow for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and earned a master’s degree in environmental policy and international security and economic policy from the University of Maryland. More recently, Andrew volunteered for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in Alexandria, Va. and completed his fourth season as an outside hitter with the DC Pride Volleyball League. Gabriel Young ’13, of Brooklyn, N.Y., will receive his master’s degree this spring from the Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies at New York University (NYU) and has been accepted into NYU’s joint doctoral program in history and Middle Eastern and Islamic studies. After graduating from St. Mary’s College he taught AP World History and Middle East Studies for two years at St. Anselm’s Abbey School in Washington, D.C., while continuing to hone his Arabic skills. As a Ph.D. student, he wants to learn a new research language such as Persian and further research topics related to critical political economy, development, and mi-
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gration in the modern Middle East. His goal is to teach at the university level and he’s grateful for the guidance and support he received from St. Mary’s College faculty. Jemarc Axinto ’14 of Newark, Del., has started a youtube channel (www.youtube.com/ gamersguidebook) that combines his love of performance, education, writing and gaming called “Gamer’s Guide.” On the show he analyzes themes, plots, subplots, stories, characters and more from a variety of old and new video games and applies them to life and topical events. He also uses his channel to invoke positive change in the world through his charity live streams. Jemarc is a moderator for “The Artifice,” (www.the-artifice.com), an online arts magazine and still works with students teaching hip hop workshops and choreographing musicals for St. Mary’s County, Md., summerstock productions. Mariah Perry ’14, of Rockville, Md., graduated with a bachelor’s of science degree in nursing from the University of Maryland School of Nursing, Shady Grove Campus in
Dec. 2016. As a student, she was on the board of directors and a member of the Maryland Association of Nursing Students. She also worked at the University of Maryland Medical Center in the transplant unit. Mariah now works at Medstar Georgetown University Hospital as a pediatric transplant nurse in the Transplant Center for Children, which is the nation’s third largest pediatric transplant program. Maddie Roth ’14 [6], of Shelburne, Vt., is a graduate student in the maritime studies program at East Carolina University. She has been awarded the Cecilia Connelly Memorial Graduate Scholarship in underwater archaeology from the Women Divers Hall of Fame. She is currently working on her thesis, a nineteenth century shipwreck off of the Florida coast which she excavated with the National Park Service last summer. When diving on the site, researchers discovered tar was still present in the hold and was laden with preserved microbotanicals. Funds from the scholarship will be used to conduct species analysis on the tar and wood samples.
He is excited to have the opportunity as a council member to give back to his alma mater. “St. Mary’s has been incredibly influential on my life. I came to St. Mary’s as a small fish living in a big pond and that can be overwhelming. St. Mary’s afforded me the opportunity to grow as an individual by allowing me opportunities in leadership positions I may not have had at a larger school.” Amir loves returning to campus for annual events like Alumni Weekend and Hawktoberfest and welcomes the opportunity to reconnect with fellow Seahawks. When asked what advice he would give alumni who want to become more involved, he answered, “There’s a nostalgia about being involved with St. Mary’s activities and events that brings you back to a simpler time and makes you more relaxed. In those moments you forget whatever it is that is stressing you out. It sounds cliché, but don’t just take my word for it. Join your local chapter and plan a visit to an Escape Room or a winery.” Attend the annual legislative reception in Annapolis or an Orioles baseball game preceded by happy hour at Pickles. “You’ll have fun, I promise you.”
HAPPY 100TH BIRTHDAY! Eleanor Quirk Abbey ’34 HS Eleanor Quirk Abbey ’34 HS celebrated a milestone birthday this spring when she turned 100 in April. Growing up in Washington, D.C. and summering at Tall Timbers in St. Mary’s County, Eleanor forged early ties with St. Mary’s Female Seminary, today St. Mary’s College of Maryland. After graduating from St. Mary’s Female Seminary, she joined her two older sisters at the University of Maryland and earned her bachelor’s degree in home economics. In 1940 she married Lt. Richard S. Abbey, a newly commissioned Army Air Corps field artillery officer from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. As an army wife, Eleanor followed Dick, when she could, to duty stations all over the U.S. and the Netherlands while raising three sons, George, Steven, and William and a daughter, Mary Ann Abbey Howell, mother of John Howell ’07. General Richard Abbey died in 2001 and Eleanor moved to her current residence in Galesville, Md., to be close to Mary Ann and her family. Eleanor is a founding member of the Washington Map Society. Today, she still leads an active and dynamic life, pursuing her interests in history, archaeology, and museum studies. She remains a voracious reader, is actively involved in civic organizations in the Galesville community, and pursues her life-long hobby of collecting, furnishing, and constructing miniature dollhouses and dollhouse accessories. Through all the years away from the D.C.-Maryland area, Eleanor’s love for St. Mary’s County and her thirst for a life of learning have never wavered. In the last decade, Eleanor has visited campus frequently and has contributed substantially to the Boathouse fund as well as establishing the Eleanor Quirk Abbey Scholarship for students studying history, anthropology, archaeology, or museum studies at the College. In Oct. 2016, at the dedication of the new Anne Arundel Hall, Eleanor presented the Historic St. Mary’s City Commission with a primitive mortar and pestle, which her father George Quirk had excavated from the banks of the St. Mary’s River at Rosecroft, the estate her parents had purchased in 1955. St. Mary’s College | T H E M U L B E R RY T R E E | spring 2017 | 23