1998
Blythe Chambers
blythe.chambers@gmail.com

Greetings Nuns! This time of year reminds me of when we received our very first assignment from Hood College during the summer of 1994, right after we graduated high school: we were to read Diane Ackerman’s, A Natural History of the Senses. I remember it being the most delectable book I had ever been assigned to read after four years of high school exposure to English literature’s finest selection of books on paranoia, such as Clockwork Orange, Macbeth, A Brave New World, 1984, The Metamorphosis and The Lord of the Flies. The lush book cover alone was enough to begin a brand new journey on the most optimistic of feet. Piled into the auditorium to listen to Ms. Ackerman speak those first couple of days of orientation, our friendships marked only by timid greetings and pre-determined roommate situations, the space smelled and creaked of old wood and history. The air in the auditorium was thick with the sense that the next four years were going to be nothing short of awesome! The magical world of the Hood College campus left imprints on all our senses: snow touching skin while running through the pergola on frigid night; decadent desserts served abundantly in Memorial; Handel’s lyrics “His yolk is easy, his burden is light! His burden, his burden is light” ringing in our ears like sleigh-bells; emotional bonds of friendships forged forever. Now, unbelievably nearly two decades later, I do not know about you but I still wear the same ragged Hood College heather-grey sweatshirt I wore back then: every stain a memory, every frayed edge a moment. It is somewhere around here. I would wear it now just to write the class column if it were not so darn hot in Texas! So, let us wait no more for what we came here for: the news! Jennifer Massagli became engaged to Timothy Morgenthaler in December. Her wedding will be in Sykesville, Md., Messiah weekend. Jamie Szocinski Gillette, M.S. ’01, C’02 and Erin Janney Kanner ’00, Jennifer’s “little sister,” are bridesmaids. Shannon Mack ’99 is the wedding planner. Sally Schaeffer is the director of public policy for Girl Scouts of the USA. As the president of the Women’s Congressional Golf Association, Sally presented a First Tee of Greater Washington, D.C. LPGA/USGA Girls Golf $1,500 college scholarship to Attiyah Jenkins ’18 who will attend Hood College in the fall. Renee Endia Hargrove , mother to an active 23-month-old son, became the director of business administration/chief financial officer and family engagement chair for the Cristo Rey Network of Schools. She is in the executive education program at the Kellogg School of Management and hopes to bring innovation to pre-school and secondary education institutions. Stephanie Gordy Clark recently enjoyed three weeks traveling to Japan and South Korea, visiting with friends and touring solo. She recently met with Hoodlums Sally Schaeffer and Allison Bell Barrett ’99. Stephanie completed the Dirty Girl Mud Run and looked forward to her annual trip to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Ann Frances Price-Davis became president of the Ladies Auxiliary Maryland State Firemen’s Association in June 2014 for a one-year term that takes 13 years to achieve. Becky Turner Finberg attended the ceremony. Danielle Adgerson Clarke became a licensed minister in October 2012. Fellow Hoodlums Tami Brasfield Smith ’99, Vanessa Voundy Hawkins ’00, Venette Voundy ’00, and Melinda Miller Wright ’00 were in attendance. Danielle founded The Sister Network, a nonprofit, and is joined by Hoodlum Dzauya “Dizzy” Nkuchwayo ’99 on the board of directors. As for me, Blythe Chambers, I am the happy single-mother of an amazing 4-year-old whose summer 2014 will be known as the summer he went camping with his mommy for the first time, learned to fish and attended nearly every Vacation Bible School in San Antonio, Texas. In my independent consulting practice I serve as the editor and director for the Marcus & Millichap publication, Mobile Quarterly, and in other advisory capacities for multiple clients in various fields. And with that, fellow nuns, I bid you adieu a final time. This will be my last class update for the Hood Magazine as your dutiful and faithful class reporter for more than a decade.  I am now passing the torch to the lovely Pamela Wilson Colaluca who will be contacting you all for the next issue. Thank you for letting me into your lives for the past decade-plus! Cheers to your successes, hugs for your struggles, smiles for your Hood memories. Be well and God bless. Onward! “We are the nuns, nuns, nuns of Hood College!”