CLASS NOTES
JORDAN ANDREW, THE SON OF ALEX ENGLER MORGAN ’02, WAS BORN APRIL 20, 2015. ANDREA KAY ’01 MARRIED WES MCFARLAND ON AUGUST 8, 2015, AT CALVARY LUTHERAN CHURCH OF GOLDEN VALLEY. BRIGITTE ZIMMERMAN ’01 WAS ANDREA’S MAID OF HONOR, AND SARAH CARPENTER ’08 AND ELIZABETH CARPENTER ’14 SERVED AS BRIDESMAIDS. ATTENDANTS INCLUDED JENNY FIELDS MAI ’01, SONIA FARBER ’01 AND SORAYA DARABI ’01.
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Lydia Sutton, captain of Canada’s U19 women’s lacrosse team, helped her team win Canada’s first gold medal in the Federation of International Lacrosse U19 World Championship, beating the United States 9 to 8.
Fish Tale
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If anyone understands the value of arts in education, it’s architect Britta Wangstad ’08 (at left). At age 5, Wangstad and her fellow Blake pre-kindergartners hopped a bus to Minneapolis’ famed Sculpture Garden where they found themselves captivated by the 22-foot Standing Glass Fish by architect Frank Gehry (at right). The field trip inspired The Glass Fish Book, a compilation of sketches the students drew during their visit. Fast forward 20 years. Wangstad, who received her bachelor’s degree from The Ohio State University, was back in Minneapolis working for her mentor Jim Dayton ’83 when she realized she wanted to experience a new city. Dayton introduced her to several of his colleagues in Los Angeles, where he had once worked for the world-renowned Gehry. Wangstad was offered a junior architect position with Gehry Partners and within four days was in Los Angeles to start her new job. Her copy of The Glass Fish Book, which Wangstad’s mother had saved all
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these years, moved with her. She now keeps it in a folder on her desk, and Gehry has had the chance to see the book that his art inspired. “He was just delighted,” Wangstad says. “He started showing it to people around the office, including Turnaround Arts California Executive Director Malissa Feruzzi Shriver.” Turnaround Arts brings arts programs into struggling schools. The program is one that Gehry champions, along with other leading artists across the country. Gehry invited Wangstad to help with the project when they hosted students from Hoopa Valley, California, at their office and helped them create fish lamps. “At Blake, we are so fortunate that arts are incorporated into the very first student experiences and nurtured through middle and high school, with such great support from both faculty and alumni,” Wangstad says. “The value of this may not be as obvious as with other aspects of education, but the impact is absolutely profound and enduring.”
Greg Lim is a freshmen at the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University. He writes, “Since coming to Carnegie, I’ve picked up a couple new hobbies. Some of them include chess and bird watching. Carnegie Mellon has a very enthusiastic bird watching club, and I’ve really found a calling in it. I’ve pledged Sigma Alpha Epsilon Pennsylvania Phi chapter. I’ve explored downtown Pittsburgh with my new classmates. It’s a great city, but not as much fun as Minneapolis.” Jaemarie Solyst interned this fall at Gazillion Strong, an organization dedicated to the development of resources and tools that aid marginalized communities, and also with Urban Arts Academy in Minneapolis. She is currently in her first year at Mount Holyoke College.
DAVID ERICKSON ’02 AND KRISTEN MIGLIORI ERICKSON ’03 WELCOMED THEIR DAUGHTER, ELIZABETH ANNE, IN AUGUST 2015. THE FAMILY RESIDES IN EDINA, MINNESOTA.
Former Faculty
This fall, former Blake Upper School French teacher Françoise Denis received the Order des Palmes Académiques, an Order of Chivalry of France that is awarded by an official of the French government to those who have rendered eminent service to French education and have contributed actively to the prestige of French language, literature and culture. This prized distinction acknowledges the recipient’s merits, talents and exemplary activities. In the case of Françoise, it is especially significant because she is Belgian, not a French citizen. Françoise is particularly known for her work in medieval studies, and her specialization is in French epics of the 12th and 13th centuries. Françoise was the Minnesota French Teacher of the Year in 2005-06. Nelly Blackburn Hewett, former Blake French teacher, continues to work with the personal papers of her parents, Magda and André, who were among the leaders of an effort in southeastern France during World War II to shelter and protect refugees who were escaping persecution by the Nazis. Nelly maintains an active schedule, including selective visits to classrooms around the country to speak about her experiences growing up in Vichy
