ALUMNI UPDATES

AlumniUPDATES

The Roeper Review, a professional journal on gifted education, includes a series called “Ask the Expert,” in which a Roeper alum, who excels in their field, is interviewed . The mission of the Roeper Review is to publish thought-provoking, informative articles that deal with research, observation, experience, theory and practice as they relate to growth, emotions, and education of gifted and talented learners and to the cultures in which they live .

An article featuring ALEX SIMS ’06 >, was published in July 2020, “Promoting Equal Opportunity and Preserving Democracy: An Interview With Public Affairs Consultant Alexandra Sims .” Access the full article at https:// www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02783193.2 020.1765457

< Another article, published in October 2020, featured JAMES BALMER ’70* — “Heroic, Ethical Recovery Support: An Interview with James Balmer, President of a Nonprofit Addiction Treatment Organization .” Access the full article at https:// www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02783193.2 020.1815120

David Jaffe ’74 at the Birmingham Campus.

^ From MIKE TILCHIN ’72: At some point in my junior or senior year at Roeper, age 16 or 17, I would have noted a thoughtful, organized, missionoriented schoolmate who was much, much younger (Class of 1974!!) and thought, “Someday maybe I’ll be working for that guy .” Forward 50 years and indeed, I was working on the Michigan election protection effort under DAVID JAFFE’S ’74 leadership . David did a great job, and after the counting of absentee ballots at the Detroit TCF Center wrapped up, we got together to catch up a bit and talk about Roeper as we walked around the Birmingham campus on a 70-degree November day .

< JONATHAN

TUKEL ’78 was re-elected as judge of Michigan’s 2nd District Court of Appeals in the November 3rd general election . Congratulations, Jonathan!

Through his work as President and Founder of Equity Schools, RICHARD MURRAY ’74 > is working to make meaningful and systemic change . The Academy of Warren (AOW) was a struggling K – 8 charter school serving some of the lowest income families in Detroit . Located in a former strip retail property (a former supermarket, and former nursery, surrounded by asphalt) on a largely empty stretch of East Eight Mile Road . AOW offered relative safety for its students, but virtually no school amenities or co-curricular or extracurricular programs . Rick is helping to transform AOW’s programs and facilities into a high-quality community school with stimulating and varied learning environments . The groundbreaking happened in August 2020, and the incredible new facility is scheduled to open in September 2021 .

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< JOHN MARSHALL JONES ’79 is a hero! Although John is arguably best known for portraying Floyd Henderson on the The WB sitcom Smart Guy, he was featured in a September TMZ article for rushing out of his house in his underwear to douse a fire, and for chasing down the alleged arsonist behind the blaze . The article states that he instantly reacted — bypassing any pants — and ran out to grab a garden hose to put out the flames . While he was out there, John saw a man wearing a ski mask and heavy jacket run up to the porch and try to grab something before fleeing .

Once again, Johnny-on-the-spot bolted after the mysterious guy, wrestled him to the ground, and held him until police arrived . While you’ve probably seen John in action in plenty of movies or TV shows . . . little did we know he was such a hero off the set!

CHERYL BLAU ’80 >

was elected for a six-year term on the Farmington School Board of Education . Congratulations, Cheryl! The Board of Education serves as a trustee for the Farmington Public School District . Board members express and represent the views of the community in matters affecting education . They set policy, approve educational goals and curriculum changes, and act on recommendations of the Superintendent of Schools .

< Congratulations to HERMAN MARABLE, JR ’80 and QIANA LILLARD ’94 who will be leading the Association of Black Judges of Michigan (ABJM) for the next two years as incoming President and President-Elect! ABJM’s mission is to seek the eradication of race and class bias from all aspects of the judicial process, to promote the continuing judicial education of its members, to improve public confidence in our courts, and to advocate for the appointment of Judges of color to all courts throughout the state . RONALD LEVI ’81* ^ released his first memoir on November 2nd titled Spitting Image: A Foundling’s Memoir of Faith and Gratitude . Ron is a family historian, genetic genealogist, and certified Project Management Professional who has helped hundreds of researchers build family trees and interpret their own DNA test results . “Chapter One — The Announcement” contains a section about Ron’s Bus 9 ride to Roeper, and mentions of Tom, Karen, the Yellow Submarine .

From PENELOPE TREAT ’88 > I work for Cleveland Clinic (Florida) in the electronic health information department . I live in Palm City, Florida, with my tuxedo kitties, no spouse, no kids, and about a million ideas . I’m looking to enter into any art shows anyone has going! Drop me a line if you want to at penelopeanntreat@gmail.com and put Roeper Alumni in the subject line pretty please . Take care everyone!

< ELISABETH LAWRENCE STAYER ’00

has returned to The Roeper School as a Stage II Team Teacher! After graduating with a Bachelor’s Degree in Elementary Education from the University of Michigan, Elisabeth was a Stage III teacher for four years, and then, with her Master’s Degree in Library and Information Science, worked as Lower School Librarian for two . After 10 additional years as a school librarian in public school, she is happy to be back at Roeper . Her two kiddos are also at Roeper as current Stage II and Stage III students . As an alum, parent, and former Roeper teacher, she said returning to Roeper feels like coming home!

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Congratulations to

RACHEL COSTELLO BOMPHRAY ’03 >

for winning the 2020 DTE Energy Foundation Educator of the Year Award! The award recognizes and celebrates educators who value the importance of arts education and create a culture for the arts to flourish in their school communities . Rachel has worked over the past four years to grow a poetry program at Thurston High School, organizing opportunities for her students to work with the University of Michigan on collaborative creating writing sessions . Using the creative arts as a catalyst, she organizes trips to the UM campus where her students get to work on projects with UM students, learn to attend performances with a critical eye, and imagine their future as college students . The press release announcing her as the winner stated, “Ms . Bomphray goes above and beyond her call of duty, not only helping her students learn writing skills, but developing the whole person and widening their view of the world, themselves, and their place in it . ”

ALEX DICKINSON ‘04 has recently launched SpotlightDC (spotlightdc.org), a nonprofit dedicated to funding investigative journalism projects in the D .C ., Maryland, and Virginia region . They launched with a cover story in the Washington City Paper in July and have already raised more than $100k to support local journalists!

ALI ROSE VAN OVERBEKE ’08 >

was featured in Hyundai’s Young Entrepreneurs video series as an innovator in fashion . With her company Genusee, Ali turned an environmental crisis in Flint into an opportunity for sustainable innovation . Genusee is a direct-to-consumer brand that recycles Flint’s single-use plastic water bottles to create fashionable eyewear named after Genesee

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County, where Flint is located . To learn more visit https://hyundaiyoungentrepreneurs.com/episodes/ genusee

University of Michigan’s School of Public Health featured Roeper alumna CACHET COLVARD ’11, > writing about her work in a recent U of M post . From Roeper, Cachet went on to the University of Michigan to earn her MHSA ’17 and MBA ’20 . She is now Department Administrator at the Cleveland Clinic in Abu Dhabi where among other things she recently “spearheaded our department’s COVID-19 response by introducing telemedicine options and organizing caregiver deployment to support the local community .” Visit https://sph.umich.edu/stories/2020posts/ cachet-colvard.html to read more about the amazing work Cachet is doing in Abu Dhabi .

< ALISON ALBRECHT

’18 made the most out of the shelter-in-place order and built a home studio with her brother and current Roeper student, ANDREW ALBRECHT ’21, sitting in the producer’s chair . The result is her latest single, Right Thing, Wrong Time, which can be streamed by visiting her website alisonalbrecht.com .

A screenshot > from a recent Roeper alumni “gathering” —

JOE ALLEN ’17, CHARLIE UCHNO ’18,

and ERIC

PETERSON

’95 connected with AVERY

LONG ’20

on Zoom . As Roeperians who are attending (or have attended Yale), they wanted to welcome Avery as he begins his Yale College journey . It’s not easy to form a community in these unfamiliar circumstances, but they are trying!

Clockwise from upper left: Avery Long ’20, Joe Allen ’17, Eric Peterson ’95, and Charlie Uchno ’18.

< JOAN LUBY ’77 was honored with the Ruane Prize for Child & Adolescent Psychiatry from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation . Joan L . Luby, MD, is the Samuel and Mae S . Ludwig Professor of Psychiatry (Child) and the Director and Founder of the Early Emotional Development Program at Washington University School of Medicine in St . Louis . The prize honors important advances in the understanding and treatment of early-onset brain and behavior disorders . Her landmark studies have demonstrated that even preschoolers can be clinically depressed and that depression in the very young could indicate that such children may have difficulty in school, during adolescence and throughout life . Her team also has developed and tested an intervention to treat preschool depression in hopes of avoiding continuing or worsening problems later . Her studies also have identified behavioral and biological markers of risk for depression and demonstrated that stress in a child’s environment is linked to altered brain development . However, her team also has found that nurturing from parents can counteract some of those negative effects . The winner of the Ruane Prize normally delivers a lecture at the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation’s awards dinner in New York . Because of the pandemic, however, Luby’s lecture was delivered online . Reprinted from https://medicine.wustl.edu/news/luby-honored-for-advancingunderstanding-of-brain-behavior-disorders/ .

< Dietz Property Group recently announced the addition of CARLY DIETZ ’09 to the DPG team as a Principal . Carly will focus on business development . She joins DPG with over 10 years of real estate experience . Carly earned her Juris Doctorate from Notre Dame Law School and will complete her Master of Business Administration and Commercial Real Estate Development Certificate at the University of Michigan in May 2021 .

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