Alumni News and Class Notes

College Alumni Spend-the-Day

On the sunny, bright, and cold afternoon of December 18, about forty Pennington alumni from the classes of 2016 through 2019 came back to campus for a special luncheon and program organized by Director of Alumni Relations Jane Bott Childrey ’89. Designed to encourage our college-age alumni to come back and visit, the program provided them a chance to catch up with each other, hear the latest and greatest School news, provide important feedback to the Deans, and visit their former teachers. This event was a

huge success and is a new highlight of our holiday season at Pennington.

After enjoying lunch in the newly expanded section of the dining hall, the recent graduates attended a special meeting with Dr. Hawkey. And after the last bell had rung, they headed to the Wesley Forum for a Mix and Mingle—an opportunity for faculty and staff members to reconnect and share some holiday cheer with our young alumni. Delicious food, fun and games, and a wonderful time was had by all!

Class Notes

Reunions for 4s and 9s

We want to hear from you. The Pennington Alumni Survey will arrive in your inbox soon.

This spring, Pennington is launching a comprehensive alumni survey designed to learn how Pennington alumni want to be informed, get involved, and stay connected with each other and the School. Be on the lookout for more details and for your email invitation to participate.

Update your email now! Don’t miss out on the latest alumni news and events.

Please take a moment to give Pennington your most recent email address by visiting our Alumni Information Update page on the website: https://www.pennington. org/community/alumni/update-info or by emailing Director of Alumni Relations Jane Bott Childrey ’89 at jane.childrey@pennington.org with your current information.

1970s Walter Zalis ’78 and Fred Falchi ’79, former Pennington basketball teammates, attended the I Believe in Pink fundraiser on October 4, 2019.

Natalie Baxter Strange ’78 is living in Amsterdam. She accompanied Pennington Field Hockey to the Men’s Pro League field hockey match between the Netherlands and Australia. She is pictured here with fellow alumna Kate Reim ’19.

Zalis ’78 and Falchi ’79

1980s Khanchit (“Andrew”) Juthapornmanee (formerly Chung) ’84 is now a proud owner of the Jittrapat Kindergarten School (a trilingual school) in Thailand.

Lizzie Gelles ’84 ran for public office in her hometown and won forty-four percent of the vote. She took the principles she learned as a student with Mr. Winkler and knocked on doors and talked face-to-face with voters. She may not have won this election as a first-time candidate, but she isn’t saying “never again!”

Mitch Sloane ’87 and Jane Bott Childrey ’89 had a great day catching up at the US Open.

Michael Lynch ’89 and his wife welcomed their first child, Emily, on August 4, 2019. Strange ’78 and Reim ’19

Left: Carlos Wyre ’92, Enid Wyre, Wyc Childrey, Jane Bott Childrey ’89, Lisa Tucci, Lou Denton ’76, Peter Tucci ’79, and Karen Denton watch the sun rise at Seim Reap, Cambodia; Below: Robert Baquerizo ’98 and Jane Bott Childrey ’89

Below: Lisa and Peter Tucci ’79 in Halong Bay, Vietnam, with other alumni; Amelia Sheridan, daughter of Dan Sheridan ’94; Colleen Mulvaney ’00, Ray, and daughter Nina Ryan

1990s Carlos Wyre ’92 took his wife, Enid, on a Pennington adventure to Vietnam, Thailand, and Cambodia this past November, and reconnected with classmates during Pennington’s Asia Alumni Festival in Bangkok.

Dan Sheridan ’94 and his wife welcomed a beautiful, healthy baby girl, Amelia, on June 13, 2019.

Jeff East ’96 was elected Democratic County Committee Representative for the Township of Union in Union County, NJ, this past June.

Roberto Baquerizo ’98 and Director of Alumni Relations Jane Bott Childrey ’89 met in Guayaquil, Ecuador, in July, 2019. Baquerizo does logistics and runs a surfing excursion tours business.

2000s Shane Ennis ’00 and his wife Kristen welcomed a new baby girl on April 22, 2019. Shane is an investment advisor and branch manager with Janney Montgomery Scott in New Hope, PA.

Colleen Mullaney ’00 and her fiancé, Ray, welcomed Nina Ryan, a beautiful baby girl, to the world this October. Colleen says, “Nina is an absolute delight, and we are totally smitten!” Colleen is still living in Philadelphia and working in pharmaceutical sales. She and Ray are planning their wedding for next spring.

Will McPhaden ’04 married Tracy Boyle in October 2019. Will and Tracy celebrated with family and friends, including: Kate Quilty Bowman ’03, Chris Utterback ’03, Chris Kehrer ’04, Shane Henderson ’04, Devin Ashburn ’04, Jenna Wolfsgruber ’04, Rob Forte ’02, Pat Janson ’02, Josh Ross ’01, and Jon Ross ’01.

Marcella Nehrbass ’05 and her husband, Josh, have relocated to Scottsdale, AZ after Marcella was promoted to supply chain network operations manager for PCA Skin, a Colgate-Palmolive Company.

Gillian Kemmerer ’07, recently back from her Alfa Fellowship in Moscow, reconnected with Jalesah Brooks ’06 at Pennington’s Rocking into Summer Celebration at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, NJ.

Matt Biedron ’08 and Brielle Wilson ’09 enjoyed attending the US Open together with Pennington alumni. Last fall Matt married Brooke Nicole Boniakowski with the support of his Pennington groomsmen Eric Zelter ’08, Michael Lang ’08, and Jesse Lieberman ’08.

Kathryn Brown ’09 is currently working at a therapeutic riding facility in Pittstown, NJ called Riding with HEART, where she serves as barn manager, PATH certified instructor, and PATH certified mentor. Kathryn is now living in Pennington with her boyfriend.

Will Wojciechowski ’09 and Pennington LAX Coach Jason Carter had a fun weekend playing lacrosse together at the largest New Jersey men’s tournament in July 2019.

Left: Will McPhaden’s wedding was a grand Pennington reunion. Above: Class of 2036! Emme Batoff (Dave Batoff ‘02), Zoë Siddiqu (Moe Siddiqu ‘03), and Gavin Bowman (Kate Quilty Bowman ‘03). Below: Gillian Kemmerer ’07 with Jalesah Brooks ’06; Matt Biedron ’08 and Brielle Wilson ’09 at the US Open; Will Wojciechowski ’09 and Coach Jason Carter met at the War at the Shore Master’s Division LAX Tournament.

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2010s Keith Dearden ’11 this spring welcomed a son, who is adorable in his Pennington Pride onesie.

Kelsey Richardson ’11 started a new job at Princeton University in the Bendheim Center for Finance as the Center administrator and events coordinator. She is recently engaged to Conner Williams and planning a wedding for October 2020.

Andrew Mavis ’16, a senior at George Washington University, collected First Team recognition in the Mid-Atlantic Water Polo Conference.

Audrey Plimpton ’16, a Davidson College student, had an opportunity to attend a Carolina Panthers game in Charlotte, NC, thanks to a Pennington alumna who donated the tickets.

Xin Wen (Cathy) Xu ’17 and David Wan ’16, who met as Pennington students, were married this past December. Pennington faculty member Len Leib was honored to serve as their witness at the civil ceremony. Cathy and David were joined by fellow Pennington alumni Simon Wan ’15 (David’s brother) and Yushan (Sandy) Zhang ’19. The couple lives in New York City, where David will soon graduate from Columbia in computer science and is currently applying to Ph.D. programs in artificial intelligence and natural language processing, while Cathy is in her junior year at NYU.

Callie Bouton ’18 ran into Pennington faculty members Robbi Uzupis and Liz Clancy-Healy while working at the Appalachian Mountain Club Camp in Echo Lake, ME. Robbi and Liz have been going there for years and were excited to see Callie.

Alyssa McDougall ’18 and Francesca Iucolino ’18 road-tripped to Wake Forest University to visit Kaela Colyar ’18.

Simran Shah ’18 interned with Matt Biedron ’08 at Oliver Luxxe Assets, learning how to evaluate stocks and what they take into consideration for portfolio management.

Sydney Faber ’18 is working with a professor at Vanderbilt University through the Owen School of Management graduate program to perform analytics on the Soccer World Cup in the United States.

Chenglang (Steven) Tian ’19 had his artwork selected by the College Board to be included in its 2019–2020 AP® Studio Art student exhibit. Nearly 66,000 student portfolios were submitted, and only thirty pieces were chosen to be displayed online on the College Board website and in person at ETS in Princeton. His work was created in Pennington’s AP Portfolio class last year!

Send news and notes to Jane Bott Childrey ’89 at jane.childrey@pennington.org

Top left: Keith Dearden’s son sports a Pennington onesie; Top right: Audrey Plimpton ’16 at Carolina Panther’s game with friend; Middle right: Another match made at Pennington! Xin Wen (Cathy) Xu ’17 and David Wan ’16; Bottom left: Callie Bouton ’18 with Robbi Uzupis (left) and Liz Clancy-Healy in Maine; Bottom right: Best friends Alyssa McDougall ’18, Kaela Colyar ’18, and Francesca Iucolino ’18 at Wake Forest University.

Celentano Childrey Zhang

Look at them go (and grow)…

Alumni in college pursue internship opportunities

Hannah Bradshaw ’18 College: University of North Carolina; Hispanic Linguistics major Internship: Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office, Trenton, NJ Experience: Assigned as the only intern in the Megan’s Law department, which makes information about sexual offenders available to the public. The department also makes history available to neighbors to keep them informed. Helped complete needed forms for risk assessments and tiering of registered offenders in the system. (Tiers determine who is informed about their history.) Visited the Trenton State Prison, the only maximum security prison in New Jersey. Internship Takeaway: “My favorite part was the time learning about the legal system and observing a Special Victims Unit human trafficking trial.” Matt Celentano ’16 College: Washington University in St. Louis; Mechanical Engineering and Economics and Strategy double major, Energy Engineering minor Internship: General Motors, Wentzville, MO Experience: Mechanical design of tooling equipment used to make midsize Chevrolet pickup trucks. Helped design new equipment for the manufacturing and assembly process. Internship Takeaway: “Learn as much as possible, from as many different people as possible, to get their views and learn about their specializations. People have a variety of skills in their own area, and those can all be put together to build a better product and improve process.” Lily Childrey ’18 College: University of North Carolina; Computer Science and Economics major Internship: NBC Universal, New York, NY Experience: Served as a cyber threat intelligence analyst who was responsible for knowing what was happening in the cyber industry. Labeled data from various sources to ensure that if a cyber attack were to happen, the team would have easy access to needed information. Internship Takeaway: “Let your actions speak for you, and don’t be intimidated by your age.” Joe Gallagher ’16 College: Franklin & Marshall College; Government major Internship: CurAlea Associates LLC, Princeton, NJ P ennington young alumni are on the move as they explore careers and gain valuable real-world experience. Here are some of the impressive internships held by Pennington graduates across the country last summer—and a few of their lessons learned. Congratulations to all of our recent graduates in pursuing their academic and professional dreams. We look forward to seeing where your paths will lead! Experience: Performed research for CurAlea and their clients and compiled reports on different financial companies. (There also was an office puppy who was basically Gallagher’s responsibility.) Internship Takeaway: “I learned a lot about finance, but even more about the expectations of a workplace and what working in an office is really like.”

Clare Long ’16 College: Hobart and William Smith Colleges; English major, Education minor Internship: Royal Thai Scholar Program at Brewster Academy, Wolfeboro, NH Experience: As teacher’s assistant and dorm parent, taught English classes, culture classes, and SAT classes. Program consists of 50 or so students from Thailand who want to practice their English and improve their standardizedtest-taking skills. The program’s goal is to prepare the students to live in America and attend an American prep school. Internship Takeaway: “Teaching international students at a high school level has improved my ability to teach people who are different from me in language and culture.”

Tony Morency ’17 College: The College of New Jersey; Finance major, Economics minor Internship: Prudential Financial, Newark, NJ Experience: Worked in the Asset and Liability Management Office and with the accounting division to prepare books and data for reporting; also with international insurance retirement (IIP) as well as other groups. Projects included making acronyms for people to remember Prudential terms, creating a flowchart that shows the forecasting process, and presenting a final project as part of the finance internship program (FIP). Internship Takeaway: “I learned best practices for early retirement planning. There are a lot of ways that you can start saving now. Starting to save in your twenties makes a big difference.”

Clare Zhang ’16 College: Boston University; Public Relations major Internship: B/HI (Bender/Helper Impact, Inc.), Los Angeles, CA Experience: Conducted interpersonal communication in the workplace as well as worked remotely with the New York office. Updated coverage impressions for The Batman Experience at San Diego Comic Con 2019, compiled media contact lists, and drafted pitch letters for television show interviews. Internship Takeaway: “I learned how to draft press releases, coordinate work with remote teams, and update daily coverage.”

NYC Alumni Holiday Reception

Soho House December 5

This year’s New York City Holiday Reception was held at the Soho House on December 5, and the event was full of holiday festivity and Pennington spirit. Over one hundred alumni, parents, trustees, and faculty members partied the night away in the club’s swanky Vinyl Room. Headmaster Bill Hawkey spread holiday cheer to all and reconnected with alumni and friends from across the decades. Student ambassadors were on hand to promote the event on social media, manage registration, and learn the art of in-person networking—a glimpse into their Horizon internship this spring.

Thank you to all who came out to celebrate!

I Wonder If You Wonder

written, directed, and produced by Ryan Totaro ’18

On a whim I enrolled in a course entitled Movies and America: The Past Lives Forever. Bryn Mawr professor Sharon Ullman described the course as a amalgamation of history, American studies, and film, with elements of gender, ethnic, and queer studies, as well. We investigated how American historical films intervene in the commonly accepted narratives of the past. Constructive, restorative purposes can drive historical films, emphasizing the “hidden figures” removed from our textbooks and dismantling false narratives (i.e., the “great man” motif, or the “mammy” archetype). However, malign intentions or carelessness have motivated historical films as well— and seamlessly misinformed American audiences. Think Birth of a Nation, or Gone with the Wind. Even the best historical films, like Milk or Three Kings, sometimes manage to fall short on (seemingly) good intentions.

During my studies of historical films about Richard Nixon, I developed a relationship with film noir. I wouldn’t call it a romance, but it wasn’t an intellectual interest either; I was simply fascinated by the aesthetic, the gender configurations, the mysteries of noir… and how noir films seem so removed, and yet so relevant to, the time period in which they were made. Any contemporary “revisionist” or “neo-noir” (think L.A. Confidential) is an intentional commentary on post-WWII America. And thus, it’s a historical document. Galvanized by my course material and a tumultuous first year at Haverford College, I opted to write a “femme” noir for last summer’s Pennington Alumni Theater Series. The play concerns the traditional themes of film noir: memory, moral ambiguity, repression; but it also reaches for something more. I’ve attempted, as a cisgender white male, to reassert a feminine gaze over film noir; which is to say, I’ve attempted to reassert a feminine gaze over a uniquely American crisis in masculinity. I had six weeks to do this.

I couldn’t do it alone. Regardless of my lofty intentions or artistic intent, this play represented my vision as much as it did the creativity, enthusiasm, and labor of a small group of Pennington alumni. I Wonder If You Wonder was the culmination of sixteen-hour workdays, hundreds of left messages and file attachments, panicked night discussions in fear that the production would collapse… IWIYW represented an immense amount of physical, emotional, and intellectual labor from our cast, crew, and artistic leadership. I couldn’t be more grateful, especially considering a fair amount of the play leans toward autobiographical content.

I wish the best for all involved, and for all who came out to see the show.