`02day, `02morrow

’02day, ’02morrow...
Quarterly Newsletter of the Dartmouth Class of 2002
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Volume V, Issue 2
Fall 2010
FREE
Greetings ‘02s!
We have a busy year ahead for our class as we look forward
to our 10th year reunion in June 2011 in Hanover (ok, technically our 9th -- it comes a year early as we are grouped
with the ‘00s and ‘01s). Please mark your calendars for what
we promise will be an awesome weekend of events! The
Reunion Committee is up and running, busily planning dinners, parties, and everything else fun for the reunion. If you
want to join that effort and/or have ideas for the weekend,
please email us. And, look for more information on reunion
details, registration, schedule, etc. in the months ahead!
Thank you to all ‘02s who paid their class dues this past
year! Your contributions have helped class operations continue - dues have paid for our subscriptions to the Dartmouth
Alumni Magazine, our newsletters, class projects (including
the Distinguished Service Award and Memorial Book project), the upcoming reunion activities, etc. The new fiscal
year has begun though, so please make your contribution for this upcoming year at: http://www.dartmouth.org/
classes/2002/new_site/dues.php . Contact Vickie Potterton
Zalkin, our class treasurer ([email protected]), if
you have questions.
Finally, our class has been selected to receive the Charles
J. Zimmerman ‘23 Award for the highest Dartmouth College Fund participation for this past year (for classes 6 to
14 years from graduation). Thank you to everyone who
participated and contributed to the DCF this year! And,
a special thank you to Jon Block ‘02, our awesome head
agent who made this possible!!
Looking forward to seeing everyone next June in Hanover!
In the meantime, please let us know any questions, concerns,
suggestions, and ideas.
Vanessa Green Sinders, President
Phil Mone, Vice President
Working at Google: A Conversation with
Yvette Nameth ‘02
by Heather S. Pixley ‘02
Yvette, I saw you at our 5th
reunion but the committee
did such a great job supplying a steady stream of entertainment and libations,
that I don’t believe we ever formally caught up. Since
Dartmouth, you’ve moved to Seattle, and worked for both
Amazon and Google. You’re also our class webmaster....
and you responded to my request for a story lickety-split I’m not sure where you find the time!
I also spent the first 2 years after graduation as a Computer
Science teacher at an all girls private school in Baltimore.
It was a bit of an aside from my current career, but I semiseriously joke that when I have a mid-life crisis I’ll go to
grad school for my Master of Ed and become a high school
teacher again.
So, what exactly do you do at Google? Is it as great as I
hear? Do they really have a FREE cafeteria?? Do they have
it because you’re required to work 18 hour days/7 days a
week? Just wondering.
I’m a Test Engineer here at Google. What that means is
that I write test plans for how to test our software and then
write the code that actually does the testing based on this
test plan. I know a bunch of other languages - and I’m not
talking about my crappy Spanish that I still remember from
high school - of the programming kind (Java, Python, C++,
etc). So I figure out how to test advertiser facing software in
our Kirkland office to help us make more money (hey, someone’s gotta do it so we can pay for lunch!)
Yes, Google’s as crazy as it sounds by giving us lots of nifty
perks. I get free breakfast and lunch 5 days a week, and free
dinner 4 days a week (not Friday cause they do like us to
go home). The food’s GOOD and there’s a large selection
cooked on-site. All the big Google offices have onsite cafes
and the little ones have catered food - I know we’re spoiled!.
Plus we have microkitchens to grab snacks whenever. It’s
part of the compensation here.
The other perk highlights you’ll find Google selling are the
relaxed atmosphere complete with massage chairs and professional onsite mausesse’s, an onsite gym, rock climbing
wall (tiny but useable), XBox / Wii game rooms, foosball,
and pool tables to name a few. My personal choices for favorite perks are the pool tables, free food, massages and onsite gym. So yes, rumors are true no matter how over the
top they seem.
The rumors that are untrue are that we work 7 days a week heck no! I’m in the office ~10 hrs / day 5 days a week. Some
days sure I’m here 12 hrs - but when you take some time go
to chill at the pool table and relax over lunch, sometimes
that 12 hrs isn’t spent only working. If we’re getting close to
a launch deadline sometimes it’s totally head’s down work
work work, other times you’ll find us taking advantage of
those perks I mentioned and working only 7-8 hours - we
give ourselves breaks.
Please don’t hate me for being spoiled rotten by my company!
And when you aren’t working, you’re enjoying homeownership in what I hear from several ‘02s is THE city
to live in -- why so great? What are some of your favorite
hang-outs? Does anyone even say hang-out anymore?
I adore Seattle - it’s at the top of my personal most livable
cities - surrounded by mountains and water yet a real city?
Drivable to two other awesome cities: Vancouver and Portland - who wouldn’t want to live here for the skiing, hiking,
beauty, fun and all that? I guess being a more laid back person who wants to live in a city that you forget is HUGE but
has all the things you’d want in the conveniences of a city
has it’s benefits. I love the natural surrounding beauty. And
the skiing.... need I say impromptu weekend trip to Whistler to celebrate a birthday?
Favorite hang outs? Any local coffee shop (excluding Tullys and Starbucks eventhough I’ll go there anyways) - eventhough I only started drinking lattes 2 months ago. Brouwers and People’s Pub for a good pint. Local resteraunts.
People watching and shopping for dinner inspiration in the
local farmers markets (including Pike’s Place). Any local ski
mountain.
Any vocabulary or traditions unique to Seattle you’ve
Class of 2002 Executive Committee
Vanessa Green Sinders, Phil Mone, Vickie Zalkin, J.T. Leaird,
Yvette Nameth, Kendra Knauf, Dan King, Heather Pixley, Jen
Tutak, Lauren Levin-Epstein, Regan Murphy, Jon Block, Jeff McDaniel, Anne Delaney, Janet Saint Germain, Jeanette Soares, Sarah
Myers Pingree, Saleela Salahuddin, Anne Cloudman, Eric Powers,
Kate Frankel, Katie Pasciucco, Molly Miranda, Shelley De Alth,
Tracy Wilson, Yelena Shklovskaya, Emily Wood
learned about since you arrived?
I think the most prevelant vocab is the ability to name neighborhoods that are all a part of Seattle; plus most Seattle-ites
speak barista fluently. As far as traditions go? My favorite
one is the 4th of July fireworks on Lake Union. We have
crazy nudist bike rides - including a Solstice parade featuring said bike riders along with floats and belly dancers
and clowns and all sorts of debauchery. Farmer’s markets
are huge in the city - you can find one any day of the week
somewhere and the weekend ones are out of control - people
like their local fresh produce and meat. There are probably a
lot that I’m not even aware of.
What are you reading?
I read tons of what I affectionately call “fantasy smut” along
with some actually good writing fantasy. Reading’s always
been an escape for me, so other than the occasional technical book to keep my skills up or read about the newest programming language, you can nearly always find me on my
Kindle with silly or enthralling fantasy. Yes, I read every
Harry Potter and yes, I’m certified to mock the Twilight series having actually read it. Favorite authors that you’ll find
me devouring anything they put out? Brandon Sanderson,
C.E. Murphy, JK Rowling, and George R.R. Martin.
Post-Dartmouth travel?
Lots - like all Dartmouth students I have a bit of a travel bug.
The biggest travel was the 5 months I lived in Dublin, Ireland on assignment for Amazon mentoring a new team
there (basically a new office opened up in the shadow of the
Guinness factory and one of the teams was related to mine
so I happily volunteered for a short term assignment there).
During that time I went and slept on the street to wait in
line for Wimbledon, visited nearly all of Ireland and Northern Ireland (some with a fellow ‘02 Amy Partridge), traveled
around France, spent lots of time in London and had a grand
time over many a pint or shot of whiskey.
Other than that lots of normal travel within the US visiting
friends and family. Plus a few large adventures like going
to the Philippines for vacation and a wedding. I just went
to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands (also with Amy) to
fulfill an item on my bucket list of seeing the Galapagos and
all the boobies and sealions and giant tortoises a girl could
ever dream of.
How are you liking being the class web master? Have any
plans for changes/additions to our site?
I love being the class web master (when I remember to update it). There are so many social connectivity sites for busi-
ness, personal, etc that it’s hard to come up with something
new to do with our site that some company hasn’t done before me and done way better than I can ever do in my copious (haha) spare time. My wish list for the class web site is
to integrate little bits of Facebook or LinkedIn or Twitter or
whatever the next hotness is into the site to make the class
site more dynamic. No grand schemes, but I’d love to hear
everyone else’s grand schemes for the class web site!
Any other news you’d like to share?
Nothing big going on - but if any classmates visit Seattle and
want a local’s take or tour of the city - drop me an email!
Heather Pixley lives in Lebanon, NH and works at Dartmouth Medical School, managing a neuroimaging research
lab and raising morale by baking birthday treats for all her
colleagues.
Garland takes care of the “Details” so bride
and groom can enjoy their big day
by Katie Pasciucco ‘02
I recently sat down with Sue (Beagan) Garland, former
roommate and longtime friend, about her growing event
planning business, “Details Weddings & Events”. Sue
shared what made her take the leap to leave the 9-5 working
world, the challenges and rewards of entrepreneurship, and
how to make a wedding a success.
In the wedding industry, word of mouth is huge. So many
people book vendors based on seeing them at a friend’s
wedding and liking their work. I knew that we had to
get ourselves out there to start generating more business.
I posted on theknot.com’s community forum for the Boston area that we were just starting our business and would
be taking on 5 weddings for free. Doing this allowed us to
develop more experience, build a portfolio, network with
other vendors at the weddings, and also exposed us to
guests at the weddings (and potential future clients). We
also developed a website and blog and have taken out some
advertisements on local wedding planning websites.
It must be difficult to invest 100% in a start-up right off
the bat. How have you balanced your entrepreneurial aspirations with your day job?
At first, I was still working full-time at my marketing consulting job while we got things off the ground. About 6
months in, I went down to just 3 days a week with my consulting firm, and spent 2 days (plus some weekend time)
working on Details. It has been a bit of a balancing act,
juggling appointments with brides and traveling to clients
around the country, but somehow it has worked out. It’s
helpful to have my business partner, Jill, to be there when
I can’t be.
I’ve known you for a while now, Sue. And I know you
didn’t dream of being a consultant for the rest of your
life…when did you decide you wanted to start your own
business?
As soon as I started working for someone else I knew that
I wanted to work for myself! It seems to run in the family;
both my father and my brother are entrepreneurs. I didn’t
know exactly what I wanted to do, however. For a long time,
I had thought about opening an on-line boutique where
women could buy almost-new dresses from one another;
cocktail dresses they wore once, bridesmaids dresses they
would never wear again, or wedding gowns. The logistical
issues of operating that business were a little overwhelming
to me (though I still think it is a great idea and may pursue
it eventually). After planning my own wedding and helping
friends plan various aspects of their weddings, it occurred to
me just how much I love event planning and how rewarding it can be. I teamed up with one of my closest high school
friends who shares my same interest and also brings an extra creative flair to the business.
Once you had the idea, how did you come up with your
launch plan for Details?
We designed the table to bring together all of the colors of the wedding. The favors were tied with lime green ribbon to match the invitations and escort cards.” Photo by: Catherine Morris http://www.
cmorrisphotography.com/#/home/
There are going to be challenges with any new venture.
What has been the hardest part of starting your own business.
I think the hardest part has been breaking into the industry
and developing a solid reputation and following. There is
a lot of competition in Boston, and many companies have
been around for a lot longer than we have. Distinguishing
and differentiating ourselves is something we’re constantly
working on.
You’ve made a number of relationships with other wedding vendors in the Boston area. What other plans do you
have to grow Details’ business?
We really hope to expand our offerings in terms of paper
products for the wedding; invitations, ceremony programs,
escort and place cards, menus, table numbers, etc. We already do provide these products for brides who are interested, but we’re hoping to have a storefront on Etsy within
the next six months and really build up that portion of the
business.
You have just finished your second wedding season. How
is Details different now than a year ago?
I think general experience is the biggest thing we gained last
year. For example, we now know exactly how long it takes
to string 50 paper lanterns from the peaks of a tent and what
size ladder is required to do so! We’ve become more efficient
and can more easily divide reception set-up tasks. Also, we
purchased some hands-free two way radios for easier communication throughout the event (and so we look more J-Lo
a la The Wedding Planner).
What is the biggest challenge that most couples face when
planning a wedding? How does Details help?
I think for many couples the challenges are individual. For
some, it is determining how to best spend a limited budget. In this case, we can help the couple figure out where to
splurge and where to save. We can identify the best vendors
within their price range. For others, it is how to develop a
cohesive theme for the event. We’ll step in and develop an
inspiration board that combines the elements they’ve been
envisioning with some new elements that tie everything together. Sometimes it’s just managing a mother and a mother-in-law with differing opinions! We can mediate.
What advice do you have for recently engaged couples in
the wedding planning stage?
Make sure that you take some time to enjoy your engagement! Meet with a local planner to help you get started and
set your priorities; many will offer free consultations. Also,
don’t assume that hiring a planner will cost you more money. Often, you can save money by hiring a planner because
they can use their relationships with other vendors to negotiate discounts for you.
Between planning your own wedding and those of your
clients, what do you think is the most important ingredient to make a wedding a success?
The couple! I probably should say the linens, or the flowers,
or all of the other details, but really, if the couple is having
fun, everyone else will too. As long as the couple is relaxing
and happy, the bride will be glowing, and the wedding will
be beautiful. Besides that, a well-organized planner!
Thanks for sharing so many “Details”, and looking forward to hearing more about all of your success!
Katie lives in Brookline, MA and is a marketing manager for
a software company.
Details Weddings & Events
Details is a full-service wedding and event planning
company. We can provide as much or as little support
as one needs to plan and execute a flawless event;
whether it be a wedding for 200, a bridal shower for
30, a 50th birthday party for 75, or an intimate dinner
party for 6. We take care of all the details so that our
clients can enjoy themselves at their event.
www.detailsboston.com, [email protected]
Founded by: Suzanne (Beagan) Garland, 2008
Typos Beware! A Review of The Great
Typo Hunt
By Raisha Price ‘02
I am honored and excited to write a
short review of a book written by two
young Dartmouth authors, The Great
Typo Hunt: Two Friends Changing
the World, One Correction at a Time.
But as I write this review, I speak not
only of a book, but of a movement.
The Typo Eradication Advancement
League (TEAL), established by Jeff
Deck ’02 in 2007, sowed the seeds of
revolution among its members and encouraged its creator to
travel the country. His was a simple concept – to correct the
small orthographic mistakes that may have the consequence
of greatly impairing communication. This desire was not
solely a local or literary endeavor, but a nationwide quest.
Jeff, along with co-author and fellow orthographic master,
Benjamin D. Herson ’02, negotiated people and places as
they crossed America correcting typos, all the while encouraging shop owners, sales people and many others from diverse backgrounds to think about the way we write and the
messages we convey.
Amazingly, the book melds language, grammar, and life,
and it’s a damn good read. It’s a light-hearted rendition of
a road trip with a purpose; there’s humor, self-reflection,
and a touch of romance. Most interestingly, it’s chock-full
of social commentary on everything from race relations to
our labor force. Most importantly, it’s about dreams coming
true and finding your own path in the world. Both Jeff and
Benjamin had aspirations of becoming full-fledged authors
and they did it – in a way uniquely their own.
As a fellow alum and TEAL supporter, I wholeheartedly
recommend the Great Typo Hunt to you. After reading it,
you’ll find yourself catching grammatical errors quicker
than you can say “dangling participle” and you’ll have fun
doing it, too.
To learn more about TEAL and the Great Typo Hunt, please
visit http://greattypohunt.com/.
Raisha is currently living just outside Philadelphia and
works as the administrative coordinator for the Office of the
Provost while completing her Master of Liberal Arts degree
in Creative Writing and Anthropology at Penn.
The Class of ’02 Turns 30
By Kate Frankel ‘02
Thirty – the promise of a decade of loneliness, a thinning
list of single men to know, a thinning brief-case of
enthusiasm, thinning hair.
– F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
When I first proposed this article, several concerned ’02s
half-jokingly asked me if I really wanted to dwell on the fact
that we’re all getting old. Didn’t F. Scott Fitzgerald have a
point? Maybe, but as so many of you made clear through
your stories and pictures, there’s still plenty of fun to be had
and amazing experiences to look forward to.
Take Katie Price, for example, who writes that she turned
30 in Kathmandu, where she had a Fulbright Scholarship to
study Bhutanese refugees living in Nepal. Now she has an
UNESCO Fellowship and is living in Paris. Incredible!
Tim Bartholomaus spent his 30th birthday in a very different – and much colder – location. He writes, “I spent my
30th birthday doing fieldwork in Icy Bay, on the Gulf of
Alaska, a long way from most of my friends and all of my
family. A year ago, back when I was 29, I began a PhD program in glaciology at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks.
I’m studying Yahtse Glacier, a 40-mile-long glacier that ends
in the ocean, and specifically the things that make the glacier
speed up or slow down, advance or retreat. One of the
factors that may well play
an important role is the
warm ocean water the glacier has its icy toes in. For
my 30th birthday, I traveled
by three jets and one small
prop-plane from Fairbanks
to Icy Bay, where we staged out of a fishing lodge 100 miles
from the nearest road and surrounded on three sides by the
largest glaciers in North America (the Pacific Ocean/Gulf of
Alaska made up the fourth side). Once in Icy Bay, we set
out a mooring, anchored by a rusting, decrepit wood stove
found at the lodge, to measure the temperature and salinity
of Icy Bay for a year near the Yahtse Glacier terminus. Data
later retrieved from this mooring will allow us to assess to
what extent changes in ocean conditions are associated with
changes in glacier motion. The night of my birthday, my
coworkers and I toasted to our successful mooring deployment and my next decade with scotch poured over small icebergs fished from the waters we were working in that day.”
Other ’02s lounged
with friends on the
California coast for
their birthdays. Katie Pasciucco writes,
“Frankki
Bevins,
Lauren
(Weissmann) Milman, Ali
(Piper) Fox, Sue
(Beagan) Garland,
Karen Hart, Kristin
Barlup and I celebrated our 30th birthdays with a reunion in Santa Barbara,
CA this October. Our significant others joined us to make
it a co-ed trip (including Cortland Barnes ‘03, Karen’s fiancé!). Though SB was shrouded in a heavy fog for most of the
weekend, we saw the sun when we ventured into the Santa
Ynez Valley-- “Sideways-style”-- for a tour of four wineries, capped off by a hearty meal at The Hitching Post. The
ladies also enjoyed a relaxing spa day to celebrate our entry
into a new decade. While it was sad to part ways when the
trip came to an end, fortunately, we won’t have to wait for
our 40th birthdays to see each other again; we’ll be meeting
up this spring for two weddings (mine and Karen’s).” (See
picture 7).
And last June, Matt Frankel and Chris Masone celebrated
their 30th birthdays in California with a group of mostly
Rees, happily married to Andrew Rees (McGill ’02), who
makes a good martini but is otherwise totally unremarkable.” (I’m sure she’s kidding…right?) She adds, “The local
and organic food and drink must have gone to my head,
though; my 30th year’s already brought plans of starting
a digital fabrication workshop in Austin, TX, training for a
half marathon, and saying slightly outlandish things like,
‘I’m with the phlebotomist / D. J.’” She concludes, aptly,
“Dear 30s, Bring It!”
Dartmouth friends, including Emily (Quetone) and Shuja
Khan (and their son, Nas, future member of the Class of
2031 – but no pressure), Lisa (Matsubara) ’00 and Bjorn Erickson ’01, Stephanie Chen ’00, and me. We rented a house
just north of Mendocino and spent the weekend lounging in
the hot tub, eating delicious food, enjoying cowboy margaritas, and exploring the Ocean cliffs in and around the town
of Mendocino.
Jamie Colligan also
celebrated his birthday in California,
though he chose a
location a bit further inland. He
writes, “I turned
30 on January 25th,
which was a Monday. I got the day
off and left San Diego to head up to
Disneyland for the
day. I was lucky
enough to be joined
by my girlfriend,
Brooke, and Dan
Brown ’03 (who’s
in the Marine Corps and based at Camp Pendleton). There
were very few people there, so we rode every ride, got some
ice cream and cotton candy, and took some pictures in one of
the carts outside of Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride (Dartmouth sweatshirt and all). It was a total blast to get back to Disneyland
and feel ten years old again.”
On the opposite coast, Elizabeth Badger celebrated her 30th
birthday in Washington, D. C. with Abigail Clark, Kate
(Murphy) Voltz, and J. T. Leaird, who all made the trip
down from New York City.
Across the pond, Kristen von Minden spent her 30th birthday in London, “making merry with a group of wonderful
friends, including the beautiful and talented Erica (Preiss)
Still other ’02s spent some quality time with their significant
others. Jesse Singer writes, “My wife, Alyssa, and I went
to the North Shore of Oahu to celebrate my 30th. It was
my first trip to Hawaii – we took a surfing lesson, explored
the island in our Jeep, went on several waterfall hikes, did
some snorkeling, golfing, bird watching, beach laziness, and
tried almost every shrimp truck and shaved ice stand from
Haleiwa to Kahuku. Definitely a slower pace than life in LA.
Alyssa gave me some memorable words of encouragement
on turning 30 – she said, ‘You no longer need to pretend that
you’re an adult.’”
Though not in Hawaii, Jeff Heminger arguably had the
most memorable birthday of all of us. He writes, “On my
30th birthday, which was May 9th of this year (also Mother’s
Day this year), I proposed to my girlfriend of two years, Susan Smoots. She’s from Renton, Washington and we met
performing in musicals three summers ago for Leavenworth
Summer Theater.” Jeff and Susan were married on September 25th in Leavenworth, Washington, followed
by a two-week
honeymoon in
London. He continues,
“We’ll
be living in my
hometown
of
Wenatchee after
the honeymoon.
So, my thoughts
on turning 30 are that turning 30 is awesome and this was
the best birthday I’ve ever had, even though my hair is already rapidly turning grey.” Congratulations, Jeff!
Some ’02s used turning 30 as an excuse to throw a party
close to home. Sarah Kate (Nelson) Fishback had a “Big”themed party at her place in Durham, NC, complete with
Rock Band, ping pong, and ice cream cake. She and her
husband, Luke Fishback, were joined by Katy (Cuneo) and
Sean O’Mara, who live in the area as well.
Writing from Providence, RI – the smallest state with the
biggest heart, at least according to my husband – Carrie
Swan reflects, “My January 11th birthday has tended to
slide by quietly over the last few years, so I wanted to do
something fun/big/crazy (but not too expensive, as I’m still in grad
school!) to celebrate such
a momentous occasion as
turning 30. So I decided
to gather my friends together and shoot them
with paint. Yes indeed,
we went paintballing! I’d
never done it before and
now I had a great excuse
to gather together about
30 friends from high
school, Dartmouth, and
grad school and take over
Providence Indoor Paintball. We spent 6 hours breaking into
two teams running around, hiding behind squooshy obstacles, and shooting the shit out of each other. It was awesome, scary and painful at times, and awesome! We went
to a brewpub for dinner/beer and some of us hit the Providence downtown scene later that night. The Dartmouth
crew included some of my favorite people: Molly Feltner
’01, Jen Feltner ’01, Julie Sleison Choiniere ’03, Jake Jurmain
’08, Anastasia Lambert Norman, and Dave Norman (MLS
’06). I had a blast – the best 30th I could have hoped for! As
for turning 30 – doesn’t really change much in my life, but
that might be because I’m still in school! Ask me again about
‘life’ once I graduate and have to land a real job.”
Not all ’02s have turned 30 yet, but appear to be mentally prepared to take the plunge. Meg Ahern, for example,
writes that her birthday will fall on Thanksgiving this year:
“I’ll get to celebrate at my boyfriend’s parents’ (they live
nearby) with his mom’s home-cooked Indian food – best
Thanksgiving meal ever!” She adds, “But I can tell you I’m
honestly psyched. Everyone says your thirties are way better than your twenties because you know yourself better,
and I believe them. In my own experience the last twentynine years, life just gets better and better: you make your
mistakes, learn important lessons, and get more and more
comfortable in your own skin. As the more superficial notions from your youth fall away, what you’re left with is
an increasingly intimate and substantive understanding of
yourself and the world around you, which provides you –
perhaps most importantly! – with an ever-expanding ability
to fully inhabit and *enjoy* your life. In my professional life,
in my relationship, with my friends and family – all across
the board – I’m having more fun all the time, not to mention
feeling more fulfilled. It’s a feeling of enormous freedom,
and I wouldn’t trade it!”
Jen (Morgan) Glass has her own words of wisdom. In reference to her 30th birthday, she writes, “I ignored it by going
to see Avatar with my husband. Great movie to remind myself to go after life’s dreams!” Take that, Fitzgerald! Happy
30th Birthday, Class of 2002!
Kate is a Ph.D. candidate in education at UC-Berkeley,
where she focuses on studying and tolerating her “chillax”
husband.
Refugee Volunteer Receives 2010
Distinguished Service Award
By Saleela Khanum Salahuddin ‘02 and Anne Delaney ‘02
Katie Price is the 2010 recipient of the Class of 2002 Distinguished Service Award. Katie received this recognition for
her volunteer, educational, and professional work to assist
refugees since graduating. A book inscribed with a nameplate in Katie’s honor will be placed in Dartmouth College
library.
Katie (left) with the head of
the Bhutanese Refugee Women’s Forum. Rupa Limbu, who
helped orient her to the largest refugee camp, Beldangi 1,
where over 15,000 Bhutanese
refugees currently live.
Katie graduated from Dartmouth with a B.A. in Comparative Government. Since her time in Hanover, she has
earned an M.Ed. in International Educational Development
and a Graduate Certificate in African Studies from Boston
University. While in Boston, she volunteered with the International Rescue Committee to help settle Bhutanese
refugees, an endeavor which inspired her graduate thesis.
Balancing studies and volunteerism, she also worked at a
higher education research and consulting company on a
wide range of educational issues.
From 2008-2009, Katie lived in Nepal as a Fulbright Scholar.
While there, she worked with the United Nations Refugee
Agency to research ways to improve the situation of Bhutanese refugees living in Nepal.
In 2010, Katie began a fellowship in Paris, France at the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), where as a UNESCO-Fulbright Scholar
she will work in the Bureau of Strategic Planning.
(Left) Katie meets with a Bhutanese refugee family that will be resettled in Boston
in 2012 (in 110 degree heat!)
(Below) Katie meets the children attending
pre-kindergarten classes organized by the
Bhutanese Refugee Women’s Forum
Q: What is your advice to alums seeking to have more service in their lives?
Volunteering – whether domestically or internationally,
short-term or long-term – has always been a wonderful way
for me to meet people, to gain new perspectives, and to have
a better understanding of the communities around me. Impressively, opportunities for service are growing every year,
and now more than ever there are opportunities available
where individuals can combine their experiences and interests to make an impact. For those interested in working
with refugees, I recommend the International Rescue Committee, which has 22 offices nationwide. Volunteer information can be found at http://www.theirc.org/volunteering.
Saleela lives in Bethesda, MD and works in Washington,
D.C. as an attorney for the Justice Department. Anne lives
in Seattle, and works at the private bank at JPMorgan.
Class Updates
In Her Own Words: Katie Price ‘02
Q: What draws you to service and how did your time at
Dartmouth influence your call to service?
To be honest, while I was an undergraduate, I did not realize all of the incredible service opportunities that Dartmouth
has to offer. It was not until my cousin, Rosie Hughes, Class
of 2006, was volunteering internationally - in Africa and
Central America – and domestically – in New York City and
Burlington – that I learned about Dartmouth’s incredible
support for service through the Tucker Foundation and the
Dickey Center. And, I am very excited to watch how service
opportunities will diversify and expand under the leadership of President Jim Yong Kim.
Thus, it was my cousin’s service experience at Dartmouth
that really enthused me. When Rosie was off to Central
America for her first service trip, she stopped to visit me in
D.C. where I was working as a legal assistant at White &
Case LLP. I was encouraged to start volunteering, and so
I became involved in a non-profit organization, Viethope,
committed to improving socioeconomic development in
Vietnam through education. This experience inspired me
to pursue a career in education and international development. I then went to Ghana to serve as a small business field
consultant for Women in Progress, a small business development and microfinance organization. Most recently, while
pursuing my master’s degree in International Development,
I volunteered with the International Rescue Committee
(IRC) as a family mentor for the first Bhutanese refugee family to resettle in Boston. Again, it was my service experience
that inspired me to continue my graduate research with the
Bhutanese refugee community on the ground in Nepal. My
service experiences have continually inspired me to seek
out new educational and employment opportunities, which
have, in turn, shaped my career interests.
Alex Roberts writes, “In September my husband and I celebrated with Kelly Burns when she married Shaun Gallagher
(NCSU ‘97) in a beautiful outdoor ceremony in Las Vegas.
Kelly got a great Dartmouth turnout for the event-- pictured
here with me are Missy McDaniels (01), Ivan Grant (‘04),
Jaime Singley (‘03), Katie Lieberg (‘04), and Geoff Stowe
(‘04). Not content to limit herself to one major life event at
a time, two weeks before the ceremony Kelly competed in
a half ironman triathlon, swimming, biking, and running a
total of over 70 miles. Kelly finished first in her division!”
Newsletter Editors:
Heather Pixley
Phil Mone
Vanessa Green Sinders
Contributors:
Katie Pasciucco
Raisha Price
Kate Frankel
Saleela Khanum Salahuddin
Anne Delaney
Webmaster:
Yvette Nameth