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Alumni News and Class Notes
Alumni SPOTLIGHTS
This fall, three young alumnae with magnificent and quite varied career paths will come back to campus to speak with our students and alumni. They will share their success stories and lessons learned as part of Homecoming Weekend and special speaker series programs. These three women are bound to inspire us all; they serve as excellent examples of how a Pennington education can translate into a bold, courageous, and impassioned life.
Erin A. Simon ’10
You may already know Erin Simon ’10 as the popular host of Cheddar Esports, an online gaming show, and from her podcast, Grass Routes. Interviewing the likes of Snoop Dogg, Kevin Durant, and Marc Merrill (co-founder of Riot Games) is all in a day's work. While at Pennington, Simon was a member of the national championship-winning Girls’ Soccer team, and she went on to play NCAA Division I soccer at the University of Kentucky.
Recently, Simon was featured in Forbes Magazine for her contributions as a maverick in the gaming world. Esports are currently poised to gain wider audiences as they rise to the mainstream media, and Simon is at the forefront of it all. Despite her early success, she stays grounded in the Pennington value of humility and says that she is “still progressing in my field, growing as an adult, but finding a career that fits with who I am.”
She encourages people who don’t understand esports to be open to them, because gaming is big business and certainly here to stay. “Gamers have careers; some are getting [college] scholarships for it,” she is quick to point out.
Her message to Pennington students today is to start creating. “Just figure out what you're passionate about, then start creating, blogging, or putting content on YouTube; you’re never too young to create.” Simon credits her parents with encouraging her individual interests and passions. “They never thought gaming was a waste of time.”
Simon will be on campus to talk about her career and tell more about the industry. Catch her shows Cheddar Esports or Grass Routes Podcast for the latest news in gaming.
Celeste Jackson ’06
If the global pandemic has taught us anything, it is that we are all intrinsically connected. Celeste Jackson ’06 believes in taking advantage of whatever life presents.
Jackson attended Duke University as an undergraduate and later returned there for a law degree. Always interested in global politics, she took a fellowship in Israel after receiving her undergraduate degree in order to learn the language, research, and develop her own project. The following year, a contact connected her to a job in Cairo to work at the United Nations, coinciding with the Egyptian Revolution. She now works at Linklaters, a large global firm in New York City, in the finance department, where she advises clients including Deutsche Bank AG on a wide range of complex international transactions.
Jackson considers attending Pennington to be the most influential decision she has made so far. Jackson says that “when you learn with passionate people, it makes you love learning and going to school.” She attributes to her valuable years at Pennington her ability to unlock the opportunities that led her to where she is today. Her one piece of advice for students today— and the key to her success—is always putting yourself out there and taking advantage of every opportunity that presents itself. Jackson advises, “You have to be open and proactive. Try things and see what happens.” Her Pennington Horizon internship at the American Stock Exchange resulted from casual conversations with a family for whom she babysat at the time.
Her career is a fast-paced pressure cooker, but she stays balanced by remaining connected with friends and by taking time to herself to reflect and sit in silence. She loves to read and is a history buff; one of her favorite historical novels is The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz. Maggie Feldman-Piltch ’10
Alumna Maggie Feldman-Piltch ’10 has always known she wanted a career in which she can make a difference. “I wanted a life in public service, and national security is the path I’ve chosen to do that.” As the CEO and founder of #NatSecGirlSquad, FeldmanPiltch helps to build competent diversity in national security and defense. In addition, her business reinvests in the community and provides resources for professional development.
After graduating from Pennington, Maggie attended Wesleyan University and then earned her master’s degree from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in 2019. While at Georgetown, Maggie experienced the lack of a suitable mentoring network of women in the security field—inspiring her to launch #NatSecGirlSquad.
Feldman-Piltch’s time at Pennington taught her “how to advocate for myself and be self-directed,” skills that have translated to her work. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Feldman-Piltch was able to pivot her business to virtual platforms, providing a diverse array of content to the members of #NatSecGirlSquad. She credits her success to the skills she learned from her liberal arts education and to being true to herself, “I’ve never had to compromise my own values and priorities to achieve my definition of success.”
Maggie’s advice to today’s Pennington students is to learn skills before specializing in any one content area. She also believes in knowing what guides your decisions and choices. “Not everyone sees the world as you do. It's really important to know what your values are and to be able to stick to them.”
Susan Allen Hooper ’90 Rotimi Adesina ’04
Gillian Kemmerer ’07
Matt Biedron ’08
Adam Toltzis ’06
Renee Washington ’10
Tony Glazer ’87
Michael Lee Brown ’11
Brielle Wilson ’09 Steven Tydings ’12
Fifteen alumni gave their time and expertise to address the Class of 2020 as panelists during a new Horizon Career Week in May. Participants included:
Rotimi Adesina ’04 Matt Biedron ’08 Amber Brooks ’09 Michael Lee Brown ’11 Tony Glazer ’87 Susan Allen Hooper ’90 André Terrel Jackson ’09 Patrick Janson ’02 Gillian Kemmerer ’07 Jaclyn Moses ’13 Gianna Russo ’07 Adam Toltzis ’06 Steven Tydings ’12 Renee Washington ’10 Brielle Wilson ’09
Jaclyn Moses ’13
Patrick Janson ’02
Class Notes
Reunions for 5s and 0s
1940s Jim McKee ’48 celebrated his ninetieth birthday with family and friends in Florida this winter.
1950s Evan Tibbott ’58 recently celebrated his eighty-eighth birthday with a nice party hosted by the Presbyterian Church in Rigby, ID, where he is a deacon. In 1974, he helped found the Nordic Patrol, which received national recognition in 2019. He is now teaching fourth-graders the technique of Nordic skiing at fourteen of the Idaho Falls elementary schools as an adjunct to the Nordic Patrol. He writes that vigorous outdoor activity is beneficial not only for physical health but also for improving academic performance and retention.
1960s Abraham Abadi ’62 moved to Boca Raton, FL, last year after retiring from a career in education in the Boston area, including serving as an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Education at Lesley University. He was able to travel to many parts of the country for his work at Lesley, including Montana, Idaho, South Carolina, Georgia, and Wasilla, Alaska. Now in Florida, he is spending most of his time writing a book about his teaching experiences and would like to meet other Pennington alumni in the area.
Mark Barondess ’64 welcomes his fellow alumni to check out his Twitter feed and connect with him @mark_barondess.
Mike Fish ’68 is spending his stay-at-home time gardening. He is using the Square Foot Gardening system, which he recommends highly.
1980s Tony Glazer ’87 has a new television series, Big Dogs, which he executive-produced and co-wrote; it will be released this summer. It is an action-mystery show taking place in an alternate reality of New York City.
Jennifer Starr ’89 reports that she will be a grandmother. Her daughter is expecting her first child. Her son, Jordan Bostick ’20, graduated from Pennington this year and is excited about going off to college in the fall.
1990s Maurice Hallett ’92 and Kimberly Borden Perri ’92 hosted a virtual happy hour for their Pennington class and had a blast! All who attended committed to attending their Thirtieth Reunion in person in 2022.
Coltrane Stansbury ’92 reports that his son Noah finished his first year in college as a scholarathlete playing football at the University of New Hampshire.
Carlos Wyre ’92 hosted current Pennington student and new pilot Jack Wang ’21 for a tour of the Teterboro Airport.
Monique Richards Smith ’95 and her husband, Hugh, welcomed their baby girl, Wynsome, into their family this past August.
Jes Therkelsen ’98 and his wife, Kerry, welcomed a daughter, Nova Stone, into the family at the beginning of March, just a few days before shelter-in-place orders when hospitals stopped allowing visitors. Everyone is healthy, happy, and snuggling together at home, which is what they hope for everyone during this wild and crazy time—and they send positive thoughts to all those who need them!
2000s Gregory Coll ’00 announced in January his intention to run in Maryland’s Republican Primary as a candidate to become U.S. Representative of Maryland’s Eighth Congressional District.
Rotimi Adesina ’04 has relocated to Waco, TX, with his family. They have a 17-month-old child and a new addition due in September. Rotimi is practicing pediatric sports medicine, and his wife is in family practice medicine.
Kimberly deLeon ’06 recently celebrated her one-year anniversary at Nike in merchandising. She has been using her quarantine time to get settled into her new apartment in New York City and to connect with friends.
This page, top: Carlos Wyre ’92 and Jack Wang ’21 at Teterboro Airport; Center: Wynsome Smith; Left: Gregory Coll ’00 intends to run in Maryland's Republican Primary; Facing page, top left: Gianna Russo ’07; top right: André Terrel Jackson ’09; Center: Amber Brooks ’09; Bottom: Kendell McNichols ’09
Gianna Russo ’07 recently had knee surgery on her ACL and meniscus, which she tore during a charity soccer match in which she plays each year. Just as she went back to work, the stay-at-home order was put in place in New York City, so her knee is getting extra rest and she has had more time for her rehab exercises.
Brandon Hullings ’08 is now working with Eastern Express as an elite swim coach. He loves working for his former coach and mentor. During the COVID-19 shutdown, he is keeping his athletes in shape with Zoom athletics classes. He is enjoying the extra time with his wife, Laura, and the ability to create wonderful home-cooked meals together.
Amber Brooks ’09 has relocated to Tacoma, WA, to play for the professional soccer team OL Reign FC. After playing in Australia, she arrived just in time to have one week of preseason with her new team before the COVID-19 shutdown occurred. Her season started back up in June and will be condensed. Amber looks forward to visiting Pennington sometime soon during her off-season.
André Terrel Jackson ’09 is teaching a summer class on fashion design at his alma mater, Albright College. He is figuring out how to do the class online, taking into consideration the difficulties in getting all of the materials needed into students’ hands. He is also working on a small collection for a fashion competition Albright College is hosting this September.
Kendell McNichols ’09 answered the call to help the Pennington Applied Science team make 3D-printed frames for face shields from home. These personal protection devices were donated to people on the front lines of the health industry.
Dustin Vile ’09 and Rachel Costas ’14 played with their sixth-month-old puppy, Nelson ,while they were home from Santa Monica, CA, during Christmas break!
Brielle Wilson ’09 escaped New York City to quarantine at her childhood home in New Jersey. She has enjoyed this time with her parents and is loving her mom’s home cooking. Fortunately, her website and branding design business can be operated remotely.
2010s Ashley Disbrow Hood ’10 and her husband, Don, each completed Ph.D. programs and graduated from Louisiana State University this past December. Ashley’s degree is in physics and astronomy with a concentration in nuclear astrophysics; Don’s is in geology, focused on the geology of Mars. Ashley is working at the Cyclotron Institute at Texas A&M, doing postdoctoral work, studying the formation of super-heavy elements.
Social distancing couldn’t keep Coach Jason Carter and Will Wojciechowski ’09 from connecting about lacrosse.
Erin Simon ’10, Cheddar Esports host and Grass Routes Podcast co-founder and co-host, was signed to Creative Artists Agency and was featured on Forbes.com this past December.
Rahul Krishnamoorthy ’11 is hard at work on his start-up endeavor and is experiencing a measure of success at this stage. He is enjoying living with his fellow Pennington alumni friends Nick Cavalier ’11 and Matt Barbuscio ’12 in Skillman, NJ.
Doug McCord ’12, a graduate of University of Maryland, Baltimore County, is pursuing a career in nursing.
Collette King ’13 is living and working in Boston as a product manager. She just celebrated her one-year anniversary with HubSpot.
Kaison Randolph ’14 is playing basketball in France for Étoile Sportive Prissé Mâcon.
Sara Selamie ’14 has a growing career as a UX Designer. After transferring from Syracuse University to a fashion school in Los Angeles, she taught herself coding and human-centered design. She has built her network and landed contract jobs with clients including IKEA and iHeartMedia and holds a full-time role as a product designer at an environmental consulting company in New York City. She is a member and mentor of the Women in Tech organization. She misses Pennington and thinks often of the teachers who believed in her and encouraged her along the way. She plans to become more involved as an alumna.
Chong Hwi Kevin Yoon ’14 recently got a chance to participate in Arena Winter Nationals in South Korea, representing Seoul as a player-coach. After four matches, they finished in first place, winning the winter national title!
Robert Demaree ’15 is currently interning in business analytics at Munich RE at its headquarters in Munich, Germany. After graduating in May 2019 from the University of Vermont, he moved to Germany for a gap year before beginning work toward his master’s degree. He will conclude his gap year with an internship in project management and is set to begin his master’s program in economics at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in October.
Simon Wan ’15 graduated from Columbia University and is a graduate gemologist at the Gemological Institute of America.
Kevin Maley ’16 became the Head Freshman Boys’ Basketball Coach at Germantown Academy while also serving as a student teacher for the school. His team finished with a record of nine wins and seven losses.
Plimpton siblings Audrey ’16 and Jack ’14 are doing well and continuing their academic journeys! Audrey is embarking this coming winter on a Fulbright year to Salzburg, Austria, where she will research political populism in Europe and teach English at a local high school. Jack will begin a Master of Arts program in philosophy of religion at the University of Chicago Divinity School.
Lily Childrey ’18 is interning with IBM this summer in its Cyber Policy department. All IBM internships will be online this summer, but she has spent this school year already working remotely for NBC.
Trevor Belinsky ’19 was recently promoted to vice-president and mechanical/design lead for the Rocketry Club at Lehigh University, which competes in the Spaceport America Cup (the world’s largest intercollegiate rocket engineering competition). He has an engineering internship lined up for this summer.
Katie Byun ’19 has started a new job as an alumni events assistant at UC San Diego. They loved her experience as a student ambassador, helping Pennington’s Alumni and Development Office with events.
Amy Garry ’19 is now serving as the College of Education academic representative at Penn State University. She represents the entire College for the University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA).
Opposite page, top: Dustin Vile ’09 with puppy Nelson; Bottom: Ashley Disbrow Hood ’10 with husband, Don, at Louisiana State University; This page, top: Chong Hwi Kevin Yoon ’14 after winning in South Korea; Right: Will Wojciechowski ’09 connects with Pennington Lacrosse Coach Jason Carter. Below: Aidan Sichel ’19 and his brother Avery ’22 rocked out during the alumni/ student Virtual Coffeehouse: Open Mic Night hosted by Henry Sheeran ’14, Andrew Agress ’13, Anna McLaughlin ’20, and Abby Bulger ’20.
Sydney Gibbard ’19 was elected as Penn State University’s College of Engineering representative in Penn State’s student government, which will provide her with an opportunity to work with university administration and have an impact on academic decisions regarding undergraduates.
Mary Griswold ’19 is studying architecture at Penn State and says that although distance learning is difficult within this major, it has sped up her knowledge in learning AutoCad, Adobe, and RHINO, all of which will be beneficial when pursuing internships next summer. She enjoyed playing club soccer in the fall and this past spring joined the sorority Gamma Phi Beta.
Tami Kolawole ’19 was chosen to be an NC Fellow, which is a selective, three-year leadership program at UNC–Chapel Hill. This unique leadership development opportunity has already presented valuable connections in her pursuit to enter the medical field.
Gianna Lucchesi ’19 had surgery this winter on a torn labrum from soccer, but she fortunately didn’t miss her fall season at the University of Richmond. She has been doing rehab and looks forward to playing soccer this fall.
Mina Shokoufandeh ’19 just finished her freshman year at Tufts University and received excellent news about her acceptance into the 2020 Summer Founders Program. She and Sydney Gibbard ’19 went through an extensive application and interview process and were ultimately awarded a $15,000 grant from Happy Valley LaunchBox to help them further develop their Girls Code the World program into a nonprofit organization with 501C-3 status. (story, right)
Send news and notes to Jane Bott Childrey ’89 at jane.childrey@pennington.org
Girls Code the World Alumnae Win $15,000 Grant!
Two alumnae from the class of 2019, Mina Shokoufandeh and Sydney Gibbard, recently won a start-up grant for $15,000 that they plan to put toward “Girls Code the World,” the program they started in Pennington’s summer programs with the Christina Seix Academy. This new source of funding, which was granted in February 2020, was provided to help the two women scale up working in STEM with this underserved population.
In January 2020, Shokoufandeh and Gibbard were faced with a funding problem. They needed to come up with a way to fund the one-week Girls Code the World camp in summer 2020 (which cost less than $2,000). They looked at possible grants offered by each of their colleges and found one at Penn State that fit their needs. They submitted the grant request in early February. They were called in as finalists for an interview in March and heard a week later that they were grant winners.
In addition to receiving the $15,000 grant, both young women will work full-time this summer in an innovation workspace at Penn State, where they will have access to mentors and entrepreneurs who can help guide them in their work. You can read more about the program here: https://invent.psu.edu/ program/summer-founders/
It is interesting how some problems can just steer you toward a better solution. Rather than just having $2,000 to run the program, the two founders now have $15,000 to think more holistically about making STEM accessible to more girls. They will learn a lot ... and it all started at Pennington!
