Falmouth Academy Alumni News

Falmouth Academy Alumni News
as of May 24, 2014
Congratulations to Laura (Lorusso) Peterson ’87 who was elected to the Falmouth Chamber of
Commerce board of directors. She is also a Falmouth Town Meeting Member, Falmouth School
Committee Member, Member of the Board of the Falmouth Service Center and a Corporator at
Cape Cod Five Cents Savings Bank where she serves on the CC5's Charitable Foundation Trust's
Human Needs and Economic Development donation advisory committee.
Randy Goux ’89 was the visual effects supervisor for the new film Non-Stop, starring Liam
Neeson. Randy was also a driving visual effects force in The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix
Revolutions and Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring and many, many more. To learn more
about what Randy has been doing in the field of digital visual effects, check out this article from
Art of FV, http://www.artofvfx.com/?p=6185
Shelby Walker ’90 was named director of the Oregon Sea Grant College Program run out of
Oregon State University. She was previously the strategic planning team leader for the Office of
Policy, Planning and Evaluation in NOAA’s Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research.
Shelby was responsible for the agency’s research and development planning efforts. She was
also associate director for the NOAA RESTORE Act Science Program, an initiative funded
through civil penalties resulting from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill that aims to increase
scientific understanding of the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem and improve the region’s
sustainability.
Kristen Roupenian ’99 graduated from Harvard in March with a PhD
in English, and she is currently teaching in the History and Literature
program there. Her fiancé’s name is Schuyler Senft-Grupp. He's
originally from New York, and finishing up a PhD at MIT in
environmental engineering. Here she is with Mrs. Hobbie at the
Boston Museum of Arts alumni event.
Mr. Lamb, a short film starring Hanlon Smith-Dorsey ’99 was
accepted into at least eight film festivals around the country since
2013. The film won the Audience Choice Award at the Williamsburg
Independent Film Festival and Best Costumes at the Chicago Comedy Film Festival. The film
has also appeared at the Dallas International Film Festival, the San Francisco IndieFest,
Woodstock Film Festival, Big Apple Film Festival and Boston Underground Film Festival.
Fourteen members of the Class of 2003 got together
over the December holiday break at the Swanbecks’
house to celebrate their 10th reunion. Pictured here,
front row: Erika Fox, Nat Trask, Tim Sennott,
Jesse Bruhn, George Porteus; back row: Sam
Messer, Jeremiah Atwood, Sarah Swanbeck,
Alyssa Gantz, Norah Schneider, Michaela
Leblanc and Anna Christensen. (Out of the room
and missing from the picture are Kristen Garcia
and Sarah Chu, Laura Swanbeck ’04, Sonja
Swanbeck ’08, and Max von der Heydt ’02.)
Jana Pickart ’05 will join the Arts Politics M.A. program at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts
where she looks forward to doing a creative thesis on how to use poetry as a peace-building tool
in the adult education classroom. Jana read one of her poems at The Bowery Poetry Club with
the NYC-based performance group, Poets in Unexpected Places. She is also in the process of
establishing an "Emerging Writers" open mic night at Baba Cool Cafe in Brooklyn.
Under the name 3V3T3A and Eve Tea, Sonja Todorovich ’05 self-released an EP called
WWW. It's available on iTunes and Google. Visit www.3v3t3a.com or tweet @3V3T3A to
download and check it out.
Sara Dilegge ’06 graduated from the Tufts Cummings School of
Veterinary Medicine in May. She received her Doctor of
Veterinary Medicine and is off to Bath Maine where she is joining
Bath Animal Hospital. Here she is pictured with her mom and
step-father, Ginny Edgcomb and Richard Sperduto.
Many thanks to Debbie Hutchinson Gove (parent of Matt ’05
and Abby ’10), who snapped this photo of Dylan Meyer ’07 at
the American Geophysical Union (AGU) meeting in San
Francisco in December. Dylan was presenting a poster on
"Thermodynamic state of hydrate-bearing sediments on
continental margins around the world." His co-author was his
graduate school advisor at UT-Austin, Peter Flemmings. The
AGU meeting is one of the premier international
geological/geophysical meetings of the year. (Think really big Science Fair, said Debbie.)
“Dylan did a terrific job explaining his poster to the many colleagues interested in what he was
doing. While not many presenters had a coat and tie, Dylan showcased the best of FA
preparation!”
In May Julie Taylor attended the wedding of Stephanie
Pommrehn ’07 to Matthew Marshall, which took place in
a 14th century church in Hundon, Suffolk, England. A
reception followed at Ickworth Country House in Bury St
Edmunds. Stephanie earned a duel Master of Arts degree in
Economics and International Relations and Matthew a
Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science, both
alumni of the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. They
currently reside in the Royal Borough of Greenwich,
England and work in London’s financial industry.
Melora Armstead ’08 is an Associate Producer at HuffPost Live, the Huffington Post's online
streaming news network (http://live.huffingtonpost.com), where they do news segments
throughout the day on different kinds of topics, such as politics, science, entertainment, trending
etc. Melora looks for guests from around the world to participate in the segments and has them
appear via Google Hangouts, which is like Skype. At Northeastern University, she studied
Communications with a focus in Media Studies and a minor in Production. A production
assistant when she was first hired, Melora’s duties included finding and interviewing guests for
segments, testing them on Google Hangouts, scheduling meetings, and helping with in-studio
guests. As the AP, she also has more of a hand in the overall outcome of the segment. “I make
sure all of the guests are in the Google Hangout for the segments, I help write scripts, I pick clips
that can be promoted on the Huffington Post's website among whatever else is needed. It's a great
job and an amazing first job to have and I really like it.”
Katherine Signell ’08 graduated with honors from the University of Oregon in June and in July
began working at Austin Architects in Cambridge. The firm designs schools, colleges and
universities in addition to other projects.
Suzka Sottova ’08 completed her undergraduate studies in the UK (International Relations and
French), and is receiving a Masters diploma from Central European University in Budapest in
International Relations and European Studies. “I am currently looking for job/internship
opportunities, and have applied to several NGOs on the East Coast (mainly NYC, DC and
Boston) in the field of international relations and development. I was wondering whether any FA
alumni work in that field? Both Juraj (Sott ’10) and I have very fond memories of the time we
spent at FA; I think I can speak for both of us when I say that it was a truly life changing
experience, both in terms of academics as well as personal growth.”
Molly McDermott ’09 was in Germany all year, where she was teaching English in a village
about 45 minutes outside of Heidelberg “I am definitely enjoying myself and gaining valuable
teaching experience. Additionally, I am learning a lot about the differences between the
American and German school systems. Naturally, coming from FA, my perspective on
‘American high school’ is a bit askew...which has led to its own sort of challenges (i.e. cheating
is actually an issue here). Although given the option, I would actually consider staying another
year to teach here, but I can safely say that I prefer to live and teach in America.” St. Olaf
College has a program that sends a recent grad to this school every year andMolly is the 31st
guest teacher from St. Olaf to teach at this particular school.
Isabel Stearns ’09 has a photography exhibit at the Maine Farmland Trust Gallery in Belfast,
Maine. Isabel’s exhibit features portraits of farm apprentices in the Penobscot Bay area. Each
portrait is accompanied by a statement that begins with: “I farm because…” “The inspiration was
my admiration and wonder for the life of an apprentice. I hope to share the beauty I see in their
work,” she said. The exhibit will also be on display at the Blue Hill Coop in July, where these
farms sell their produce. View Isabel’s work at http://ifarmbecause.weebly.com/
Seeing her students experience flashes of comprehension in the classroom is 2009 alumna Bene
Webster’s favorite thing about teaching. A member of Teach for America, Bene is teaching third
grade at Akili Academy in New Orleans. A recent staff spotlight article, features Bene and her
reflections on being a teacher. Check it out: http://crescentcityschools.org/2014/05/07/staffspotlight-bene-webster/
Congratulations to Clea Baumhofer ’10 who received the Civil Engineering Award for the
Whiting School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. Clea has been very involved with
Engineers without Borders, and did a service project in Guatemala this spring. Her sister Signe
’12 has also been traveling and was in Peru working on a WOOF farm! Their parents said, “We
are thankful for our FA years and continue to see the results.”
Elliot Camarra ’10 served up her senior illustration show at
the Rhode Island School of Design in April. Her etchings
covered one wall and she used another to project a film she
produced, starring a friend and her sister Isabel ’13, who is
also a student there. Additional FA visitors to her
perspective included photo teacher Susan Moffat, who took
this picture, Annie Stimson ’11, Gina Camarra and Jill
Neubauer.
Kallie Leschen-Lindell ’10 was accepted for a fellowship in Ghana to work for a non-profit that
partners with rural villages to establish clean water businesses. As part of the program, which
took place in January, each fellow was in charge of raising money for the supplies necessary to
build and implement a sustainable water treatment system.
Julia Signell ’10 graduated from Smith College where she majored in engineering and was
inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and Tau Beta Pi. She applied for a Fulbright to do water-related
research in Kenya.
Juraj Sott ’10 is currently in St. Petersburg, Russia, finishing his year abroad. Next year he will
be back in Sheffield, UK, at his home university, finishing his bachelor degree in History and
Russian.
2012 classmates got together at Smith
College to congratulate Marney Rathbun
(see the poster) at her debut of Cabaret
performed there in November. First row:
Marney, GianPaula Hulten, Pippa
Ryan; second row: Keegan Krick,
Rachel Dragos, Alex Carbone (a friend),
and Tyler Barron.
An article featuring Alisa Dalpe ’12 appeared in the Norwich Bulletin
commending her achievements in the net for the Connecticut Varsity Womens Lacrosse team.
Check it out: http://www.norwichbulletin.com/article/20140418/Sports/140419436
Congratulations to Morgan Peck Opie '12 on being one of 14 recipients in the United States to
win a one-year Churchill Scholarship to study at Cambridge University for a year. A senior at the
University of Massachusetts Amherst, Morgan majored in physics and mathematics. At
Cambridge, she will seek a Master of Advanced Study degree by completing Part III of
Cambridge’s Mathematical Tripos, a centuries-old examination famous for its difficulty and
history.
Many Falmouth Academy alumni have become involved in music
and some have even followed paths to becoming professional
musicians. A duo of 2012 graduates, David Pickart and Thomas
Aviles, is well on their way after releasing their debut album. Calling
themselves "The Impressionable Youth," they were featured on the
front page of the Falmouth Enterprise in an article that talked about
how they created their original songs while they were thousands of
miles apart. Thomas attends Yale in Connecticut and David attends
Carleton College in Minnesota. The name of the album, which was
recorded at a local music studio in Falmouth, is "Seasons Apart" and
you can download it at https://theimpressionableyouth.bandcamp.com/.
It is with deepest sadness that we announce the passing of Lizzie
Stimson ’13. A freshman at Bard College, Lizzie was studying
creative and performing arts there, and sang with the college’s a
cappella group, the Orcapelicans, as well as with various other choirs.
Hers was a beautiful voice in the Falmouth Academy Chorus, and she
excelled in FA’s studio arts as well. As a senior, Lizzie received the
Olson Award for the Love of Learning and the Choral Music Award.