While it doesn't feel remotely like spring yet, the spring Alumnae Quarterly has updates on what your classmates have been up to. Have a note to share? Email scribe06@mtholyoke.edu. Have photos for the website? Email amy.cavanaugh@gmail.com.
After spending the last 5 years in graduate school, Elissa Barratt is excited to announce that she’s a lawyer! She’s currently practicing bankruptcy law in Los Angeles until Aug. when she will move to Atlanta to become a federal judicial clerk for 2 years. Right now she is trying to complete her California bucket list with the help of Rosalba Gonzalez.
Christine Leonard writes, “I just got back from the amazing wedding of Eva Visscher-Simon in Nosara, Costa Rica. She married Dustin Bryant on Dec. 13 in a beautiful ceremony overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Laura Valente, Elisa Aigamaua, Sulaiha Schwartz Olatunji and Rhea Ghosh were in attendance. I have to say, it was one of the best weddings I've ever attended... full of love, new and old friends, and great times.” Congrats, Eva!
Congrats also go to Melissa Masoom, who was married in Houston in Nov. Jessica Dupont and Lauren Richetti Chaplin '05 were bridesmaids.
Drew (Silver) Joseph recently moved to Wisconsin to begin a Ph.D. program for science education in curriculum and instruction at the U. of Wisconsin-Madison. She writes, “I also became active in local and national babywearing organizations, and am a volunteer babywearing educator with Babywearing International of Madison.”
Elliot Ruggles accepted a position as gender and sexuality resource center director at SUNY Oneonta and writes, “Since the move, I completed my Ph.D in human sexuality from Widener U. I've been living in upstate NY with my partner, who just started a nurse practitioner graduate program and have been spending time with Zanna McKay '13, who is also currently living in Oneonta.” This fall, they celebrated their first joint Mt. Day.
Erin Alexandria Rocchio earned a doctor of osteopathic medicine from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. She is doing her residency training in Internal Medicine at The Cleveland Clinic South Pointe Hospital, Cleveland, Ohio.
In Oct. 2014 Kate Minette married Jon Chapman in Rockport, MA. Fellow class of 2006 alumnae Elisabeth Sterling, Molly Catchen and Helen Dailey-Fallat were beautiful bridesmaids, while Allison Doran Benenson, Ije Okpokwasili '05, Anne Sterling '09 and Julia Worcester '17 were in attendance.
In Aug. Dani Ryan uprooted herself after spending three years as an English teacher in South Korea and spent the rest of 2014 traveling across America visiting a bunch of mohos. She walked across the Golden Gate bridge with Molly Aplet; went to Glacier National Park and Mount Rushmore with Marjorie Hakala; unsuccessfully searched for ghosts in Saint Augustine, Florida with Lane Wallett; staged a mini-reunion in the Pioneer Valley with Molly Aplet, Marjorie Hakala, Liz O'Grady and Katie Sullivan; and wandered around mid-town Manhattan with Dory Charlesworth and Laura Blaguszewski. Now she has a temporary job in Northampton for the first half of 2015 and is looking forward to figuring out what comes next.
Eva Visscher-Simon was lucky enough to see several MoHo's recently at her wedding. She writes “My partner, Dustin, and I exchanged vows in Costa Rica so that our guests could enjoy some margaritas on the beach. The MoHo's who got a tan included: Sulaiha Olatunji (Schwartz), Laura Valente, Christine Leonard, Esa Aigamaua, Rhea Ghosh '05, Rebecca Frank '96. They even elfed me on the day of the wedding! It was unreal how incredible and fun it was to gather our friends and families together. We had such an amazing time that there's even talk of an "Anniversary party" in two years time (MHC reunion style). Since our return to Amsterdam I'm busy finishing my LLM in Public International Law from Utrecht University and we're busy packing up our apartment. In Feb. we're moving to San Francisco. I'm really looking forward to (re)connecting with MoHo's out on the west coast. However, I will definitely miss the MoHo crowd in The Netherlands (especially Mary Tressider, Katya Ivanova ‘05, Evelyn Kapusta ‘05, Silvia Maulini ‘80, and Claire Brouwer ‘57). Looking forward to my last NL MHC Alumnae group cooking class in January.”
Carly Pulver writes in “I had an exciting year! In July, I had a mini-reunion trip with fellow Junior Year in Montpellier alumnae Wakana Nikai, Layne Raczkowski, Joanna Pushee and Simar Singh in Northampton, Amherst, MHC and Boston. We greatly missed the rest of the Montpellier group but met up with Diva Dhar in Boston for a quick brunch, too. Boston soon became my new home. In August I started a web development bootcamp and was hired by a healthcare IT company in December as a QA Engineer. Thanks to Simar, Lauren Mulcahy and Emily Colgan '05 for the support and couches during the job search! I'm excited to be in Boston near so many other Mohos and look forward to reconnecting with more '06ers.”
After spending the Summer in New York City running a mobile letterpress project, The Press Cycle, Erin Fae is back in Auckland. Erin published two new zines this year, including Mess of a Dreamer, a Taylor Swift fanzine. Erin will be completing her MFA at ELAM next year and just accepted a job as the Digital Marketing Coordinator at Vector Arena. While in the States, she was thrilled to visit with Molly Aplet and Diana Pho ‘07.
