1994

Greetings, faithful readers. This month's column will be brought to you courtesy of Shannon Sullivan, who wrote me an action-packed, alumnipacked letter a few months ago. Shannon lives down in Austin, Texas, where she works as a high school special ed teacher. She is enjoying Austin, and brushing up on her algebra skills as a math teacher, but when she's not in front of the chalkboard finding the slope of a line, she is usually on a plane to...anywhere. Here's what I mean:

The first and most important visit Shannon wrote about was, of course, her trip to Dartmouth! Shannon returned to Hanover in October '97 for the "Twenty-Five Years of Co-education" celebration. "It was veryinspiring to meet intelligent, creative, and strongwomen from many different classes," writes Shannon. While there, Shannon also saw BartBingenheimer, who is getting his master's in public health at the University of Michigan and working at a homeless shelter there. Michelle Seldin '95 is also at the University of Michigan doing graduate work. Shannon also saw her cousin, Amy Harman '96, who is now a first-year at NYU Law.

A few months later, Shannon rang in New Year's '98 (I know we're a year behind here, but just ignore the dates and you'll be fine) with Kate Novak in NYC. Kate is working for a PR firm there. Shannon saw many other New Yorkers while she was there, including Rebecca Obstler, who works for Oxford University Press; DanGarodnick, who is in his second year at UPenn Law; Sarah Stewart, who works for Norton Publishing; Lisa Tarchak, who works at The New York Times; SusanCordero, who works in the city councilor's office; and Alissa Peck, who I would love to hear from so I could find out what she's doing these days!

The next city Shannon hit was her hometown of Boston, where she went to a Dartmouth/Harvard hockey game, which brought back some memories of yesteryear, since "Texas ice hockey" is kind of an oxymoron. There she reunited with MaddiePooler, who teaches high school just outside the Boston area; Brian Crounse, who is an environmental engineering student at MIT; and Mike Schlenker, who is teaching and coaching tennis in Italy (you may win the Dream Job Award, Mike).

The next major city on Shannon's itinerary was D.C., where she visited with Meghan Dunleavy. Meghan returned to D.C. last year after working in Azerbaijan for an international relief agency. She is now working for the World Bank.

Shannon s next stop was a springtime jaunt to the Dominican Republic, where she visited Katherine Osborne, who was finishing up her Peace Corps stint. Katherine helped build a water system that brought drinking water to a community of 900 people. She and Shannon are now roommates in Austin, where they live with Katherine's Dominican dog, Coquette. Katherine is now getting a joint master's in environmental engineering and public policy at the University of Texas in Austin.

And how did Shannon spend her summer vacation, you ask? Well, let me tell you. After a trip to Seattle, she met up with C.J. Robochek '96 (who works at a lodge in the Swiss Alps Dream Job Award #2) and Joanna Tufts '96 in Northern California, where they hiked a section of the Appalachian Trail. From there, she attended the wedding of Maddie Pooler and Brian Crounse in Woodstock, Vt.

Did I mention that Shannon's letter was composed on a plane? Anyway, I do hope that Shannon is now safe and sound in Austin, busy teaching kids about graphing calculators, and most likely dreaming of how she will use the rest of her frequent flyer miles...Well, I have one word for you, Shannon, my dearest Alumni Magazine correspondent, and that is Reunion. Of course, that goes for the rest of you, as well Until then, please write.

3 Whittier Road, Milford, MA 01757-1229;

5th Year Reunion June 18-20, 1999