Hi everyone! I am excited to be our new class reporter––and even more excited that I have received so much news to share from our classmates. First, everyone should put June 7-9, 2013, on their calendars for our 10-year reunion! Jennifer Fair Milas and I are co-chairs, and we have been working with the office of alumni relations to put together a great weekend. Speaking of Jen, she had a pretty exciting summer. She was married on June 23, 2012, to Matthew Milas and then promoted to tax manager at McLean Koehler Sparks & Hammond on July 1, 2012.

Carolynne Fitzpatrick Keenan recently started a new job as a public affairs specialist for the Frederick National Laboratory (FNL), down the road from Hood at Fort Detrick. Naomi Levine Levinthal accepted a new position with The Advisory Board Company as a consultant in healthcare information technology. She will work out of her home office in Cary, N.C., where she recently moved. Her new address is 5031 Cary Glen Boulevard, Cary, NC 27519. Elizabeth Stacks Millhouse currently lives in Monterey, Calif., where her husband Scott is studying at the Naval Postgraduate School. She is working at the Dudley Knox Library on campus and although she misses the East Coast and all of her family and friends there, she really likes the weather in California! They have two spoiled dogs and were expecting a baby girl at the beginning of February.

I also heard from Kaye Brown Hamilton, who has been pretty busy. She recently returned to the states after living and working in Adelaide, Australia, for three years. She was married there on Sept. 23, 2011, to Australian Adam Hamilton and followed that with a United States ceremony and reception on June 23, 2012. After working as a school-based counselor for two years in Baltimore, Atiya Smith began a doctoral program in counseling in fall 2012 at the Univ. of Rochester, N.Y. She plans to study identity development, the impact of social support on the success of students of color and, multicultural issues in counseling, testing, training and clinical supervision. Atiya is also an adviser to underrepresented undergraduate students interested in pursuing advanced degrees. She is participating in research focusing on children in foster care; leads a young musicians group; and offers private lessons to young violinists and participates in community service activities sponsored by Alpha Kappa Alpha.

Lee Goetz just finished her doctorate in chemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology. She defended in October 2012 was set to graduate in December. Her thesis research was crosslinking lignocellulosic fibers and nanocellulose whiskers with a polymer system, then evaluating the material properties and crosslinking chemistry, with a focus on improving water absorption. She moved back to her hometown in June 2011 and has been working for Contact Technologies, Inc. Her email address is leeanngoetz@yahoo.com.

Julia Sirak Pacilli recently changed positions within Montreat College in North Carolina. She went from being the Asheville regional campus director to the director of enrollment effective July 1, 2012. She also started her doctorate in education with a higher education specialization in June 2011 with Walden Univ. Lauren Guerieri McCrea and her husband Jessop welcomed their son Henry Jessop McCrea on June 18, 2011. After finishing a tour as group surgeon for II Marine Expeditionary Force Headquarters Group, including a deployment to Afghanistan, Stephanie Bulka Smith has moved back to Maryland, along with her husband Kevin Smith ’05 and their daughter Allison who is 4½ years old. Steph is now stationed at Quantico as a family physician. As for me, Leah Giambarresi M.S.’10, C’05, I had a lovely visit with Larry Smerk, MBA ’06, Mary Northrup Smerk, M.S. ’07 and Taryn Chubb this fall. Larry and Mary just built a new house in Springtown, Texas, where they are living with their kids: Wesley, 4½; Cassie, almost 2 years; and their newest addition, Marcus Emmett, who was born on July 30, 2012. Taryn also has some exciting news to report––she finished her doctorate at Cornell Univ. this August. She is working at East Central Univ. in Ada, Okla., as assistant professor of art and the director of the Pogue Art Gallery. Keep your updates coming, and I cannot wait to see everyone at reunion weekend!

Class Reporter:

Happy New Year class of 2002! It is hard to believe that it has been more than 10 years since graduation, but seeing pictures of classmates at the 10-year reunion certainly made it hit home. There have been a lot of moves, promotions, degrees and more for all of us in that time and I am excited that as the new class reporter I will get to share all of those things with everyone reading. I, Megan Mills, currently live in San Diego with my husband and our three children, Christiana, 6, Gavin, 5, and Bryony, 2. I love my work in nonprofit development at the San Diego Food Bank, but I am looking forward to our next U.S. Navy adventure sometime in summer 2013.

Maggie Laabs started a new job in June as an associate director of marketing at CEB in Arlington, Va. Rika Hudson is in Memphis, Tenn., working as an academic adviser for communication majors and just finished her master’s degree in Romance languages and literature, with a concentration in Spanish. Damina Notnagle works as a K9 officer for Customs and Border Protection at Washington Dulles International Airport and has been with customs for going on 10 years now. Gina Dillman and her husband welcomed their third child, Colin Michael Dillman, on March 15, 2012. Big brother Caleb and big sister Ava adore him. Melissa Carter bought the lovely little house she now calls home in Thurmont, Md., in December 2011. She loves the place and is coaching soccer with Catoctin Youth Association in an attempt to give back to the community.

Melissa Spade continues to support communications efforts for The Nation’s Report Card. She and her fiancé recently purchased a home in Arlington, Va., and are planning their May wedding. Mandy Stevenson McHugh is a federal agent with the U.S. Air Force, and has just started an assignment as a full-time student of Mandarin Chinese. She is married to Jacob McHugh of Danville, Pa., and they currently live in Monterey, Calif. Marie Rachel Carter Ballman was married to Shane Ballman on Oct. 8, 2011, in Luthersville, Ga. The wedding came to life with an aviation theme from save-the-date luggage tags, passport ceremony programs, boarding passes as escort cards, and a first dance to Sinatra’s Come Fly with Me. Everyone had a blast!

Kate Shank Buckley finished her doctorate in biology at The George Washington Univ. and is currently working at the Univ. of Toronto as a postdoctoral fellow studying the evolution of gut immunity. Patricia Reagan is in her fifth year as an assistant professor of Spanish at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Va. She is author of a new book about contemporary Latin American literature, The Postmodern Storyteller, and was also awarded the Thomas Branch Award for Excellence in Teaching in May 2012. Tricia was excited to see “Aunt” Denise Robinson Simms for dinner in July and her children, Sarah (age 13) and Liliana (age 5). She loved seeing “Aunt” Rita Zaledonis compete in the Pink Power Triathlon in Richmond, Va., in August 2012. Tricia also ran her fifth marathon in Richmond as did Tammy Snyder Rall ’84, whom she met at last year’s Richmond Marathon. Tricia can be contacted at patriciareagan@rmc.edu.

Samantha Hall Oravec moved back to Walkersville, Md., in 2009. She wears many hats these days, mostly as a stay-at-home-mom to Oscar (age 6) and Henry (18 months). In addition to her duties as mom, she also works part time for Frederick County Public Schools as a substitute teacher and continues to teach American Sign Language classes at venues throughout the county and baby sign classes for parents and their younger children. She meets as often as possible with Bridgett Byrne Bassler ’06, M.A.’09, C’06 and Stacy Nelson Wright ’99 for play dates (and “mom’s night-out” scrap-booking.) Dyneisha Felder ’02 is working as a program manager for the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine overseeing a program located at the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center. She has completed her master of business administration degree as well as a master of science degree in project management. When not working everyday with Tele Tarpeh ’02, she enjoys cruising and reading the latest bestsellers. For more updates throughout the year, be sure to join the new Hood College class of 2002 Facebook group.

Class Reporter:

Thanks and congratulations to all who heeded the call for updates via email and Facebook. Charvann Bailey earned her doctorate in cancer biology in May 2012 from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tenn., after successfully defending her dissertation on April 30. Charvann has accepted a post-doctoral position at Wistar Cancer Institute in Philadelphia. Kristy DeCola earned a master’s degree in international relations and conflict from the American Public Univ. in November 2012. Katrina Fauss received a promotion in 2011 to program manager of bridging at the Watershed program at the Alice Ferguson Foundation (an environmental education nonprofit). Katrina and her partner Susan recently joined the ranks of proud homeowners with a three-acre plot of land just north of Hagerstown, Md. The ladies hope to have their own flock of egg-laying chickens by next year!

K. Alice Fox (formerly Kelly Lindsay) recently accepted a position as laboratory technician II to the Althoff and Segraves Laboratories in the department of biology at Syracuse Univ., in New York. K. Alice graduated from Hood in 2001 with a bachelor’s degree in communication arts and Spanish literature. She then began work at Cornell Univ., in the department of plant pathology as an administrative assistant III in October 2001, serving both the department and Dr. Rebecca Nelson and her many exciting endeavors. In 2004, K. Alice began her long journey through the employee degree program to earn a master’s degree in horticultural biology in 2011. K. Alice specialized in plant propagation and greenhouse management under the guidance of Kenneth Mudge and Bill Miller. In May 2012, K. Alice moved to Syracuse, N.Y., after marrying husband Christopher. Her current position at Syracuse Univ. involves not only horticultural crop management, but also learning molecular techniques, as well! K. Alice is currently assisting Dr. David Althoff and Dr. Kari Segraves in several of their projects involving species interaction and speciation. K. Alice is working on micro satellite arrays for Prodoxus, a species of yucca moth; examining parasitoid-pea aphid interactions, observing mutualism in yeast colonies, as well as managing a greenhouse full of plants used for insect rearings. More information about these projects can be found on the Althoff Laboratory, website: http://althofflab.syr.edu/.

New parents Dave and Kate Lease Tummino ’01, M.S. ’06 welcomed twins Michael Gary and Rosa May on March 13, 2012. Sabrina Quaraishi was also blessed with a bundle of joy on July 29, 2011. Now 15-month-old son Nabil Chowdhury has eight teeth, weighs almost 26 lbs., and is merrily running around like crazy! Wedding bells rang for Alexandra Gayhart Ross who tied the knot with husband Bill on March 24, 2012, and took his last name. Up in Vermont, Katherine Scrivner Wagenbach, married mom of two boys (ages 3 and 7), is teaching horseback riding lessons. Lisa Zaleski finished her dermatology residency at Naval Medical Center San Diego in June 2012 and passed her dermatology boards. Lisa is now the dermatology department head at Naval Hospital Okinawa where she will be stationed for two years. Thanks again for all of your news and please keep it coming!

Class Reporters:

Christina Collett relocated to Lancaster, Pa., in February 2012. Shortly thereafter, she and husband Jeff Owens welcomed their second daughter Lakyn Elizabeth on April 17, 2012; big sister Emerson will turn 4 in January. Christina was promoted to senior sales director with Mary Kay this past June and is driving her third free car from the company, a new 2012 Chevy Equinox! Christina will celebrate her 10th year with Mary Kay in May 2013; she and Jeff, who married at Hood’s Coffman Chapel, will celebrate their 10-year wedding anniversary, May 25, 2013!

Vanessa Voundy Hawkins lives in SW Washington, D.C. (right around the corner from twin Venette Voundy). She has spent three years working in Montgomery County Public Schools, where she feels life is a little better as a teacher. She has a beautiful, busy 7-year-old daughter who takes up all of her time and energy! Lynn Whelchel-Wilson, M.S. ’07 and husband are all settled after their cross-country summer move from southern California to Lancaster, Pa. She is still working from home as a technology transfer associate for Fort Detrick’s USAMRIID. Lynn “misses California shopping, but is very happy to be near her family again.” Tracey K. Adams still lives in Catonsville, Md., and is about to celebrate 10 years of working at The Johns Hopkins Univ. She started nursing school in the fall of 2012 at the Community College of Baltimore County’s Essex campus and is looking forward to becoming a practicing nurse. She can be reached at traceykiddy@gmail.com.

Jenifer Kilpatrick Sincevich, husband Alex and son Xander are thrilled to announce the addition of baby girl Triana Antoinette, born at home on July 2, 2012. The family moved to Hagerstown, Md., one year ago, and is happily settling in; Jen also enjoys being on the board for Hagerstown Regional Childbirth Resources. Jennifer Babu is coming up on her 10th anniversary at Verizon in February 2013 and remains in Purcellville, Va. She is busy keeping up with her two sons, Aaron and Nicholas, and has been married to husband Vino for 10 years. She enjoys staying connected to fellow alums online and also holiday get-togethers.

Erica Crispens Sowash has completed her third semester of nursing school at the Community College of Baltimore County’s Catonsville campus. She anticipates completing the program in May 2013 and sitting for her boards sometime during the summer. In addition, she and husband Eli celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary in October with a trip to New Orleans. Nellie Daugherty still lives in San Diego and works as a contracting officer for the U.S. Navy; two of her sons now live in that area as well. She has two grandsons, ages 5 and 2, who live in Maryland. She occasionally gets together with Heather Roth. Aimee L. Kaplan is an associate at Collard & Roe, P.C. in Roslyn, N.Y., where she focuses on trademark prosecution. She is also an adjunct instructor at St. John’s University College of Law, a member of the bulletin committee for the International Trademark Association and serves on the board of directors for the Nassau County Bar Association. She was recently named a New York Super Lawyers Rising Star in 2012. Aimee married Justin Wright in August 2011.

Kelly Brooks is enjoying the autonomy and flexibility of working from home in Frederick as a freelance writer and editor; she is the editor of Johns Hopkins Nursing magazine and contributes to other national and local publications, including Frederick Gorilla magazine. Cheron Jones lives in a newly designated historic neighborhood of Baltimore City, where she has resided for four years. After completing her master of business administration degree from UMUC in June 2011, Cheron joined the board of MATHS Middle/High Charter School and also promotes STEM through the Univ. of Maryland President’s Outreach Council; she even started writing a business plan for a nonprofit organization of her own. Cheron is excited that her son Dorian Hale will be entering into Gilman’s middle school this fall; she also welcomed her first niece into the world on Sept. 17, 2012. Overall, Cheron is excited about the possibilities for 2013!

Sarah Gulnac Wirth and family just bought a single-family home in Frederick. Her daughter started kindergarten this past fall and her son is now 2½ years old (“Do not forget the half,” he said). She stays in contact with many Hoodlums via Facebook. She and her family met up with Lisa Brown ’01 (who currently lives in Ireland) for the annual kite flying festival in D.C. this past spring. On Dec. 17, Sarah planned to be busy baking cookies along with Rachael Mock Phillips ’01 and Katrina Fauss ’01 for their 2nd annual Christmas cookie bake-off. Suzanne Benson recently bought a house in Parkville, Md., (just north of Baltimore) and is still working as a financial analyst with The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Her daughter is currently in second grade––at the same school where Nora Bucke’s son goes and on the same block as where Cheron Jones’ son goes to school. She keeps in touch with a lot of fellow Hoodlums and enjoys collecting news for the Hood magazine.

Adriane Eader Shell and husband Nick just celebrated the first birthday of twin daughters Raegan and Kendal and third birthday of son Coledon in late September. It was a very full, but fun year. Professionally, Dr. Shell was promoted to managing partner at Crossroads Animal Referral and Emergency (CARE) and founded Maryland Necropsy Service, both in Frederick. Check out www.carefrederick.com and www.mdnecropsyservice.com. Do not hesitate to contact her anytime at ashell@carefrederick.com or (240) 405-8252 with questions or concerns about your fur children! Shaunquetta Johnson is in her second year of teaching after having received her master of science degree in elementary education and certification from the Univ. of New Haven in 2011. Her daughter is in her first year of high school and is a varsity cheerleader. Shaunquetta still resides in Connecticut.

Class Reporter:

Happy holidays, classmates. I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays with their nearest and dearest. As for me, Amy Countryman Stavely, I was looking forward to celebrating with my newly expanded family. My daughter Elizabeth Claire Stavely was born July 8, 2012. With her birth also came a life change for me as I went from working full time outside the home to being a stay-at-home-mom! My oldest, Alexander, is 9 years old and has been a huge help when we are not busy with cub scouts and basketball practice. So far, being home has been a wild ride; but, I am loving every minute of it! I am also excited to be participating in yet another year of the Hood moms secret sis exchange, just like we did at Hood! If you are a mom and would like to join the Hoodmoms group, you can find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/HoodCollegeHoodMoms/. It is a closed group so you will need to be approved, but that will happen quickly! And now, news from the rest of our classmates.

Nectaria Kordan earned her master of business administration degree from Northeastern Univ., where she was inducted into Beta Gamma Sigma, the international honor society for business. She has accepted a role at State Street and is looking forward to making an impact in her new career. Heather Howell wrote, “I plan to graduate from Northwestern Univ. with a doctorate in microbial pathogenesis and immunology in December 2012. I will be starting a new job and moving to Seattle, Wash., in the beginning of 2013 and will be working at the Infectious Disease Research Institute (IDRI) in their TB Drug Discovery group.” On Dec. 1, 2012, Angel Venable married Simon Jones from Wales, U.K., during a small ceremony held in Portland, Ore. Angel and Si will continue to live in Portland.

Lori Spiering Fowlkes moved with her husband Dan and five children to Fredericksburg, Va., at the end of 2011. Lori serves on the Board of Mary’s Shelter, a homeless shelter for pregnant women and their children (www.marysshelterva.org). In addition to serving on the board of directors, Lori also donates her photography services to the shelter. The Fowlkes family is currently homeschooling grades pre-K to 6! Her son Xander’s First Lego team recently won first place for their research in this year’s “Senior Solutions” competition. Her daughter Molly enjoys participating in American Heritage Troop 0128 where fellow Hoodlum Heidi Bonnett Adams ’03 is the troop leader! Lori was looking forward to Easter 2013 when her middle son Maximilian Kolbe will receive his first communion at St. Mary’s of the Immaculate Conception. You can keep up with Lori via Facebook or at www.lorielizabethphotography.com.

Amy Dittrich “Ditty” Cooley is living in central New York with her husband and three boys. She works as a CT technologist at St. Luke’s Hospital and working on going back to teach at the local radiography school. Kelli Jessum Rokita reported that things are the same for her. She is still living in Gilbertsville, Pa., and working as an elementary school teacher. Her children turned 3 years old this past September. Until next time.

Class Reporter:

Nuns, friars, I may never get used to 75 degree holiday season weather in South Texas, and as I sit here trying to imagine the live oak leaves and limbs (still green) covered under millions of burdensome flakes of snow I am transported back to a time of magic and wonder that we all experienced this time of year on our beautiful Hood College campus, with a surprising aftertaste memory of Goldschlager and half-frostbitten phantom tips of woolen sock-covered toes in smelly Birkenstock sandals (don’t deny it!) and I hold myself there in that memory as if I were back in time for only the few minutes it will take to write this column to you. Remember for a moment the excitement of Messiah and the snow-covered steeple of our picturesque, yet simple chapel. The smell of our historic residence halls, old creaky wood that sagged ever so slightly under snow-covered heel, the immediate warmth from the radiator, and the buzz in the air that tonight there was a party on some floor of some hall and midshipmen coming in for the weekend, not knowing yet that the end result would be running out into the heavy snowfall of the evening, laughing, into the snow covered pergola, and landing hard on one’s back to make snow angels while watching your cinnamon schnapps breath steam upwards like a locomotive. And maybe in a moment of quiet bliss you could hear the snow falling in a failed attempt to bury you, and maybe you would hear Amy Zavada ’99 serenading you while hanging out of a 3rd floor window of Shriner Hall with “Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say on a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day! That’s the island greeting that we send to you from the land where palm trees sway!” could not be much further from a palm tree, but it was the spirit that captivated us on our beautiful little snow globe of a campus each holiday season, buffered from the world of professionalism and duty. With the reunion coming up this June it is hard to believe that our Hood rings really ARE that old, but so fun to recall that at one point in our lives that did not seem so long ago we made Goldschlager fueled snow angels and ran through the pergola and made our own mistletoe with whatever we desired. If there was even a speck of snow here in San Antonio I would relive the memory, after I put Stone to bed, of course, as I am far more responsible now than I ever have been, as you can all relate in your own way. And, with that, onto the news!

Congratulations to Jessica Myers-Staley, her husband CP and daughter Hannah who welcomed Christopher David Staley on Dec. 26, 2011. Pamela Wilson-Colaluca’s new phone number is (540) 631-5928 and new email address is pamelacolaluca@gmail.com. Erin Goley has started a Facebook group for our class entitled “Hoodlums ’98” to connect classmates for the upcoming reunion this June. Please join the group if you haven’t already! And, as for me, Blythe Chambers, I received my first professional athlete action-portrait commission, in watercolor, for a former defenseman of the San Antonio Scorpions’ soccer team who has since continued his career in Germany. I would like to close with this: I would like to hear from more of you. I welcome all submissions for the class news for the Hood Magazine. My email address has changed to blythe.chambers@gmail.com. I hope next time I can report some news from your life, too. Until then, happy holidays and a magnificent new year! Love, your faithful class reporter, Blythe.

Class Reporter:

Congratulations to Laura Stull Reifsnider. She and her husband Clint welcomed the arrival of her third daughter Emma on May 23, 2012. Emma joins her older sisters Kayla and Isabella. Congratulations to Dawn Maynard. She and her husband Ernie welcomed their fourth child, a daughter, Olivia Lee Maynard, on Feb. 28, 2012. She joins siblings Evan, age 9, Abigail, age 6, and Luke, age 3. In closing, Hood is sincerely appreciative to all of you making contributions. For those of you who have not already given and would like to do so, a little can go a long way. One gift. Any size. Visit www.hood.edu/giving today.

Class Reporter:

No news reported this issue.

Class Reporter:

No news reported this issue.

Class Reporters:

Lisa Boney Laubach
(610) 588-8664
llaubach1@frontier.com

Lucy Song Gilbart
(301) 305-2792
Lucygilbart@yahoo.com