2005

Hello, welcome back to Class Notes! I hope everyone enjoyed their winter holiday season; it's Christmas Eve as I'm writing these notes!

Vanessa Vega writes that she's spent the last couple of years traveling. She spent four months in Cameroon in 2007 working at a rural health clinic in the maternity ward— she even assisted in a couple of surgeries and labors. She says, "It was awesome and my French vocabulary on breast health and sexually transmitted diseases has risen considerably." Last winter she completed masters prerequisites and this winter will begin at the Tufts University School of Occupational Therapy—putting her in the Boston/Medford area if there are any alums around! Before starting school she took three months off to work on an organic farm in Costa Rica with her boyfriend Jeff Coots '04. Wow, Vanessa! You're keeping busy!

She also updated on a few other '05s. This spring Matt Oppenheimer will graduate from Harvard Business School—congratulations! Marisa Clementi completed a certification in holistic and natural medicine. Saleema Moore is working toward a Ph.D. in public policy at Brandeis—good luck! And "Katherine O'Toole is pursuing her documentarian dreams in San Francisco." Thanks for all the notes, Vanessa!

Liz Noland tells me that Olivia Whitinger, who was working on her law degree at the University of Alabama, is now working on a joint J.D./M.B.A. Congrats and good luck, Olivia!

Liz also wrote to say that Katie Van Syckle and Codi Vachon both completed the New York City Marathon on November 2. What an accomplishment!

Tricia Shalka wrote to say that Ha Tran got married the week before Thanksgiving. Ha married Tuan Anh Nguyen; they met in Hanoi after Ha moved back to Vietnam. Both Tricia and Meghan Hill went to Vietnam for the wedding. Congratulations, Ha!

Tricia Shalka is living in Philadelphia. She finished her masters at the University of Maryland and is working at Drexel University as an assistant director in the residential living department. She says she's "loving it so far."

Tricia says that Meghan Hill is working on law school applications and moved to Guelph, Ontario. But she's planning to return to the United States this year.

Alexia Huffman wrote to say that she "ran off' to Germany after graduating with several other '05s. She says she outlasted them all, except Zeke McMullen-Laird (her visa expired earlier)—and now she is back in the United States. She says she "spent an exhausting but exciting week volunteering at the Democratic National Convention, where she did her best to keep the rowdy delegates from Iowa, South Dakota, Utah and West Virginia in line." Now she is the executive assistant to the president and CEO of the Atlantic Council in Washington, D.C. She said she hopes to have made it to Hanover this winter—I'll let you know next time if I hear that she did.

Thank you for the notes everyone. Please keep them coming. And please, no more fake notes that aren't true. I have enough to make an upcoming column entirely a gossip piece—don't make me do it.

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