THOSE WHO SOAR

Rising to the occasion

By Griffin Vrabeck

Paige Krueger

Paige Krueger (’08) still embodies the kindness she learned as a panda in Mrs. Davis’ Pre-K class. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a BS in Economics, she moved to Chicago to start her career. For the past four and a half years, she has been a member of the board of directors at PAWS Chicago, a no kill animal shelter that facilitated the adoption of over four thousand animals in 2020. As part of the Professional Board, Paige’s responsibilities included corporate fundraising and raising awareness. She currently serves on the Development Board and events committees that

plan five events each year, managing a total guest attendance of six hundred people and two hundred dogs. In 2019, 2020, and 2021, Paige was named the Outstanding Board Member of the Year, and in 2020 received the Diamond Club Award for raising over $27,000. Two and a half years ago, Paige was voted to be the Chair of the PAWS board. This is, however, merely the beginning of Paige’s philanthropic endeavors. A few years ago, after her father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, Paige joined the board of the Alzheimer’s Association Illinois Chapter. Eager to use her experience from PAWS in a new capacity, Paige became a full member of the Alzheimer’s Association several months ago. The Illinois Chapter organizes two fundraising events each year, and, similar to PAWS, Paige will garner corporate donors and sponsors, and raise awareness about the events. Professionally, Paige started her career at CBRE, an office leasing agency. Recently, she moved to their competitor, Cushman + Wakefield, and works in downtown Chicago. Paige represents building owners in their search for and Paige was named negotiations with occupants. the Outstanding Board As the job is largely reliant on Member of the Year, and in 2020 received networking, it inherently aids her fundraising work. While reminiscing on the Diamond Club her time at Pegasus, Paige

Award for raising fondly remembers Mr. Swiger over $27,000. who was part of a group of Pegasus faculty that accompanied students to Spain when she was in sixth grade. The trip was incredible and Paige is grateful that Pegasus afforded her the opportunity to experience a different culture and travel at such a young age. Mr. Swiger was then also her seventh grade history teacher and kept the class lively with his sense of humor. History was one of the hardest classes she took at Pegasus along with Mrs. Wilder’s English class. Both teachers had a positive impact on her education.

Sam Nitz

A senior at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sam Nitz (’13) is finishing a joint program in Computer Science and Molecular Biology. During his leave from school last year, Sam worked at a startup in Boston as a bioinformatics engineer developing a rapid sepsis diagnostic. Currently, he assists in research at the Broad Institute, where he uses machine learning to discover drug combinations that combat antibiotic resistance.

Sam credits Pegasus for helping foster his interest in science and confidence in pursuing his field. Mrs. Calvin, Sam’s eighth-grade science teacher, distributed a survey on which Sam conveyed his concern about having previously learned a majority of the material from her class at a summer camp he attended. Mrs. Calvin talked to Sam, appreciative of his response, and agreed to provide him with material from the chemistry class she taught previously at Mater Dei High School. While taking the tests and participating in labs with the rest of his class, Sam proceeded to self-study advanced chemistry from Mrs. Calvin.

Sam also appreciates the impact English teachers at Pegasus have on his career in science. He is often complimented for his clear scientific writing, and he believes Mrs. Wilder, in particular, helped him fully explore language and literature. With Mrs. Wilder, Sam and his classmate, Jamie Ostmann, were able to study more advanced vocabulary on top of what was expected of them as eighth graders. These experiences taught Sam how to learn independently, and raised his selfconfidence. He also learned how to advocate for himself and the importance of doing so.

Upon graduating from college this spring, Sam plans to return to the biotech industry, and likely work on software engineering projects. Ideally, he wants to advance his work in infectious disease, as these past couple years have been particularly formative. That path will likely take him towards applying to Ph.D. programs, where he would study computational biology. Sam is also interested in environmental plant biology. In the past, Sam did research on Brachypodium grasses with an MIT professor at the Arnold Arboretum in Boston. Halfway through the project, he developed a grass allergy that he considers to have been worth it. The next summer, he worked at a biotech startup, Indigo Ag, developing computational infrastructure for a nationwide agricultural carbon-sequestration experiment.

Sam’s interests are not singularly scientific. In the time he manages to spare, he often cooks, bakes, lifts weights, bikes around Cambridge, reads, and tends to his houseplants. Sam is also engaged in co-leading an effort to revive the queer undergraduate group at MIT.

Griffin Vrabeck (’12) was recently published in Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood. He earned a BA from New York University and MA from the University of Chicago. Contact: griffincvrabeck@gmail.com