Our Island School alumni have gone on to do some incredible things since their time with us on Eleuthera. Read below to hear about what some of them are up to now! To submit your own class note, email alumni@islandschool.org.
SPRING 1999
Class Agent: Joshua Lichtman
FALL 1999
Class Agent: Lee Taylor
SPRING 2000
Class Agent: Monique Johnson
Monique Johnson is training for the Spartan Sprint race in a few weeks. It’s an obstacle course race that involves 5+ kilometers and 15+ obstacles. It’s the closest thing to an Island School run, bike, swim morning workout. Monique says to all her S’00′ers changing the world one day at a time… keep up the good work and she hopes you are enjoying the liberty of life wherever you are in the world! Maryam Moody and her partner were married on August 31, 2014 at Slide Ranch, which is a place-based environmental education center on the California coast (not quite The Bahamas, but as close as we could get!) Maryam is finishing her master’s degree in clinical social work and expects to graduate in August 2015. They bought a house in South San Francisco, CA, last year – and they welcome visitors!
FALL 2000
Class Agent: Richard Woodhull
SPRING 2001
Class Agent: Nina Kumar
FALL 2001
Class Agent: Mary Coleman Farrell
Meg Bunn will be starting an executive MBA program at UVA’s Darden School of Business this coming fall. She met up with Mary Coleman Farrell in NYC in May. Mary Coleman Farrell recently moved to Richmond, VA with her husband and two children.
SPRING 2002
No Class Agent, email alumni@islandschool.org if you are interested
FALL 2002
Class Agents: Mike Cortina, Skyler Hopkins, Sara Rodell
SPRING 2003
Class Agent: Melissa Buck
FALL 2003
Class Agents: Kylie King Ebbutt, Kate Parizeau
Kylie King Ebbutt just finished up the school year teaching 7th grade English Language Arts. She and her husband have been living just outside of Nashville, TN for about a year now and loves it! She is looking forward to her summer off and a trip back to Michigan where she will hopefully have a chance to see Cam Powel (F’04).
SPRING 2004
Class Agnets: Bekah Klarr, Candice Springs Hipp
Bekah Klarr is still working as a full-time outdoor writer and traveling frequently with her dog Goose. Their favorite places are Texas and Michigan and are looking forward to spending the summer in northern Michigan again this year. Recent adventures include two trips to South America so far this year. Bekah gets back to Eleuthera often and is really looking forward to the on-island reunion in September. Izzy Cannell has spent the last year in Seattle since graduating from my Master in City Planning program at UPenn last spring and she is thoroughly enjoying the new city and new job! Izzy works as an urban planner in a small consulting firm and loves being able to take in views of the Puget Sound, Olympic Peninsula and Mt. Rainier from her desk every day as well as the opportunity to travel around the state for work. Unfortunately she will be missing the on-island reunion but envies anyone that is able to make it down to Eleuthera. Steady onwards! Charley Friedman got married in 2013 and now lives in Portland, Maine with his wife Victoria and dog Ollie. He has been working hard to grow Flowfold, the outdoor gear brand he launched that builds tough and lightweight carrying accessories. He founded the business in 2010 with friends Devin McNeill and Nick Power. The company has since reached over 45,000 customers and is sold in more than 350 outfitters. You can keep up with his business venture by following @flowfold on Instagram or visiting www.flowfold.com. Candice Springs Hipp got married on May 2nd in Pawleys Island, South Carolina to her now husband Will Hipp. Candice wanted her favorite place, Eleuthera, to be represented at her wedding so she served Kalik, the beer of The Bahamas, and conch fritters at the reception. She is looking forward to attending the Island School reunion with her siblings and parents in September and to show her husband the Island School for the first time. She and her husband will reside in Greenville, South Carolina. Jensen Lowe is still working for CipherHealth, a healthcare technology company based in New York City. Jensen lives in Manhattan currently and is hoping his Island School friends living in the city get together soon! He’s also hoping to make the trip to Eleuthera for the big reunion in September.
FALL 2004
Class Agents: Patrick DiLoreto, Katie Garratt, Jen Groverman Olechowski
Cam Powel is still living in Boston and working for The Island School. However, after the winter she had in Boston, she’s questioning why she doesn’t work on Eleuthera full time…Cam recently got together for brunch with some fellow F’04 alumni in the area including, Nick Emmons, Lucy Minott and Stephanie Pitts. Cam will be at the on-island reunion in September and hopes some other members of F’04 will be there too!
SPRING 2005
Class Agents: Jane Kinney, Peter Meijer
Isaac Reyes is doing well and misses everyone and every rock and tree and creature from SP’05. Nonetheless, he is enjoying life in NYC for the most part (been there since June ’14) but of course misses Boston sometimes and people like Miles Douglass not being around. He requests that you definitely let him know if you’re in NYC, and he is happy to catch up. He is also excited to attend the ten year reunion in NYC during the second weekend in June! Miles Douglass is living in Boston and working as buyer for Boston Organics, an organic food company that does home and office deliveries in the Boston area. He does not see IS kids nearly enough but would like to remedy that situation. He is looking forward to a fun summer after such an awful winter up north. Rachel Clement is also living in Boston and enjoying the city life. She begins my new job in June as a On-premise Sales Representative for the Martignetti Company promoting a selection of fine wine and spirits from around the world. She is excited for the new career move and hoping to visit some beautiful vineyards in the near future. Katie White is also lives in Massachusetts and is currently living in Cambridge. She is excited to meet up with Monique for drinks soon if she ever returns from her travels to Africa. Monique Guimond is wrapping up five years of work at a fun Healthcare Design start-up in Boston and Rwanda called MASS Design Group. She will be taking the summer off in Maine to welcome her niece and nephew (twins courtesy of Chloe Farrell S’00!!!). She will be heading to MIT Sloan in the fall to pursue an MBA. Jane Kinney sadly had to leave her dream job in Mission Control at NASA due to unforeseen circumstances. She is currently working for a real estate development company, which she hates, but is back in Dallas with her family which is nice. She is reevaluating her life and will hopefully start in a new direction soon! She looks forward to attending both the NYC reunion in June, as well as the on-island reunion in September!Over the last year, Caroline Giguere (nee Springs) hasn’t moved or changed jobs so she is still living in Greenville,SC and working for Greenville Health System in a physician practice as a Cardiac Device Specialist. This summer she will be heading back to Eleuthera for a family vacation and to enjoy the on-island reunion in September! She can’t believe 10 years have passed since our time at IS in the Spring of 2005. Not a day goes by that she don’t think about all the memories she made at The Island School! Ellen Oshinsky spent the winter as a ski instructor at Deer Valley Resort in Utah. She begins her Master’s in Elementary Inclusive Education at Teachers College at Columbia University this summer. She hopes to reconnect with ISers while in NYC! Melissa Nixon recently graduated from dental school and is starting as an associate at a private dental practice in Florida this June. Joan Cusack is currently living in Los Angeles, working in social media. She recently got married and honeymooned in South America, where her favorite destination was Patagonia – she highly recommends trekking down there! After a year and a half working for an NGO in Afghanistan, Peter Meijer is moving back to New York to start business school at NYU in the fall. He’s excited to be closer to so many lovely SP’05ers (of whom there were none in Central Asia). Alec Faggen says hello to all Island Schoolers! She is still in medical school. Right now she is studying for my medical boards, so unfortunately has not much to report besides the fact that she is rapidly losing her mind trying to memorize every drug interaction and nerve in the body. She hopes everyone is well. Aaron Hamm has been back from Costa Rica for about a year now. He is working odd jobs here and there. He just started classes for an elementary education teaching certification in language arts and science at Ferris State University and loving the little rescue dog that he found on the beach in Costa Rica. Her name is Lycah. She came to his classes everyday and the kids would read books to her.
FALL 2005
Class Agents: Stephanie Chaston, Justin Drazin, Anne Sholley
Kara Quirke is moving to Alaska next month to work as a biologist studying marine mammals. She has been living in Washington state since 2010 when she moved there for school and then stayed after graduation because it is so beautiful with lots of hiking, sailing and mountain climbing. Stephanie Chaston is still living in South Boston until the end of the month – then I’m moving to Cambridge. She spent all of her free time this winter skiing and shoveling. Drew Fink says his time in Boulder with Colton “Colty Colt” Coughlin has been awesome, but he is packing up in a month and moving to Cambridge, MA to get his MBA at Harvard. He’ll be there for 2 years, and is looking to seeing much MUCH more of the Boston crew! Antonia Leavitt (Pryor) had a very exciting spring. On April 18, she got married to a wonderful guy named Will Leavitt. They both graduated in May of 2015, he from Wharton with an MBA and Toni from Yale School of Nursing as a family nurse practitioner. After graduation, they are moving to Fort Worth, Texas! If anyone is ever in the area, please reach out. Leah Downey is moving up to Cambridge, MA in August to start a PhD in political theory at Harvard. Justin Drazin is heading to law school in NYC. He would love to see more Fa05ers as the months roll on towards our 10th anniversary. Time flies! David Blake is still up in Michigan slingin’ hard cider, apples and doughnuts at the farm! He’s traveling a lot with the family’s hard cider events and getting into new states. The family farm is just about to open up the cider mill for strawberry season and farming, planting, etc. David also got engaged over Christmas and is working on plans for wedding in northern MI and honeymoon to Thailand! Besides that he’s just trying to get in a couple camping trips this summer. Be on the lookout for the new Blake’s Hard Cider video! Brittany Sherman is married with two boys (two and 9 months). She is working with her sister-in-law at her law firm contemplating whether on not to go into law herself. She is still living in Nassau and not sure if she will be able to be make any of the reunions, but if she can she will. Annie Sholley is still living in Cambridge, MA and now works in the Grad Affairs/Development office at Noble and Greenough where she and several other F’05ers went to high school. This summer she and her manfriend have ambitions to travel to Iceland and Montreal and a few places in between. She is THRILLED to hear that so many FA’05ers are moving to Cambridge. Luke Charrington is in LA playing with startups. He recently ran into Nate Wellin who has been traveling around SE Asia and now back towards Maine. If anyone comes through southern CA, let him know. He’s planning to head back through DC/MD this summer, and likely up to burning man in August. Michael Kratz has had a busy year: he and his wife Ellen were married, got a dog, and bought a house. He’s on board a ship 8 months a year for work as a Bridge officer. He dreams of taking a job on a research vessel and moving down to IS for a semester to run the dive boat. Colton Coughlin is still working for a Civil Engineering firm in Boulder, Colorado and has been in the position almost two years in a few short months. He had an enjoyable ski season with Drew Fink, his family, and his girlfriend Dani. He says it has been great having them live in the same town. He was also able to see Drew Melby and Kylie Atwood over new years in Beaver Creek, CO. He will be traveling this summer to more weddings than he can count. Most weddings will be in Portland, OR so let him know if you’ll be in the area! Nick Zbitnoff spent time traveling around the Philippines. He is now working in Alaska all year saving up money for his next big trip. Starting sometime next year he is going to spend a year backpacking across south and Central America. Jac Battjes is moving back to the USA in July after 4 years in Chile. She’s hoping to bop around the states for a while trying to see people she hasn’t seen in years, go to a few weddings, and start the job hunt! She will probably be in Boston and NYC. She recently met up with Dan Shea in Peru! Olivia Jacobsen made the career change from management consulting to nursing. She will either be attending Quinnipiac, University of Rochester, or Vanderbilt in the fall. She lived all over in the past year – she started the fall in Charleston and saw Dave Seamans before her boyfriend was traded to another farm league hockey team in Kansas City. Now she is spending the summer in Palm Beach! Jake Cerf is still living in San Francisco, rooming with brother and F’04 alumnus Bart and working in the tech scene. His whole family is out there now and his sister is expecting a girl in a few weeks so he’ll be an uncle x2 in no time! He is heading to Italy on Wednesday to reunite with his Italian roommates from his study abroad days and to get to know a few new places (hiking in Dolomites, hanging in Porto Fino).
SPRING 2006
Class Agents: Taylor Hoffman, Wes Norton
FALL 2006
Class Agent: Sydney DeVos
SPRING 2007
Class Agents: Tom Bunn, Dominique Keefe
Mark Portman started graduate school for aquaculture and marine policy at the University of Miami’s marine institute last fall after working for the USDA in fish nutrition research for a couple years in MT. Mark is neglecting graduate work and heading back for a third season guiding for a fishing outfitter in Mongolia this summer. He loves being back by the ocean, and it’s giving him some serious flashbacks to his time in The Bahamas when he first got to IS. Sam Rosen has continued fishing after college and is currently (and shall continue to) be on a 8:4 month regime where he runs his lobster boat for 8 months and then takes off traveling for 4 months. These 4 months have recently meant hiking, fishing, traveling, and teaching scuba in a variety of places. Sam is currently in New Zealand and will be returning for the fishing season in several weeks. Lindsay Becker recently took an incredible trip down to Roatan, Honduras and went scuba diving with some college friends. She has to say it wasn’t quite the same without Annabelle and the old dive shack and the boat that would break down in the middle of the ocean, but it was quite spectacular. It certainly made her think of all of you! After graduating Mauricio Lopez moved to Chile to work for a boutique investment banking firm for almost 2 years. (This was a great experience, Chile is a place he highly recommends). Mauricio then moved back home to Colombia (after 8.5 years) and started working for BCG opening their first office in Colombia. This too has been a great experience but as you can imagine quite far from the ocean. Henry Zimmerman has been surfing around a bit- he worked in Utah outside Zion national park for a small residential architecture firm right after he graduated and got to go hiking in the canyon every weekend- couldn’t be further from the ocean. Henry actually couldn’t stand it despite it being so beautiful and about a year and a half ago he moved up to Seattle where heh as been working for a large commercial firm on a new skyscraper going up in the city. And!, Henry sold the owner on putting solar panels on the top of the tower!! Super cool! Not something he ever expected he would be doing but it’s nice being near the ocean and the mountains. Matt Wetherall is a week away from finishing up his first year of medical school at Tufts, which has been going really well! He is participating in the Maine Track Program, spending his first two years primarily on the Boston Campus, before moving to Maine for the entire clerkship period in year three/rotations in year four. The highlight of living in Boston so far has been a chance encounter with Julianna Lord on a morning run which has resulted in a wonderful reconnecting of friends with her – if you are ever in the area let Matt and Julianna know! Robert Little has been working for himself as a video guy since graduating college. He has been trying to work on as many environmental pieces as possible, but cool projects never pay like the commercial ones do. Luckily he has been decently successful with the commercial stuff and that has given him the flexibility to work on some more nonprofit and ecology education projects. The job is busy, but life right now is even busier right now. Robert got married last year and just a few weeks ago he and his wife found out we are having a kid. Its kind of crazy how things move along, but there it is. Robert can’t wait to bring his kid out into the wild and start teaching him or her all about what he learned at The Island School. Sam Howard got married on May 23rd! And will start medical school at Michigan state on June 15th! Sam bounced around a lot because he wasn’t sure what he wanted to do. He had the incredible opportunity to go on a few medical missions trips which really opened his eyes to a lot. He fell in love with the medical field and now he thinks he wants to be an orthopedic surgeon. Tom Bunn has really enjoyed being back at The Island School in a teaching role. It’s a great feeling to give back to something that has given him so much. Tom will be back stateside this summer and is always up for a reunion! Dominique Keefe just moved from NYC to San Francisco in February to join a new solar team at NRG Energy, where she is working as a financial analyst to acquire solar projects. This is the first time she has lived on the west coast, and so far she is really enjoying exploring a new city and taking advantage of all the mountains and beaches in the area. If anyone’s ever visiting out here, definitely give her a shout!
FALL 2007
Class Agents: Stan Burnside, Robby Spalding
Julie Thomsen is living in a cabin in Grand Teton National Park. She is in a graduate program at the Teton Science Schools. She is studying to get her Master’s of Science degree in natural science education. She takes kids on hikes while teaching them ecology and geology. Besides Eleuthera, she can’t think of a better place to teach outdoor education! Nina Fisher spent a year traveling and working after she graduated from Lafayette. She started physical therapy school this past week. Emily Lovejoy spent the past year working and traveling in Australia. She recently moved to Washington, D.C., where she is working in the Recruiting Department at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, LLP. Sam Lagor recently finished his master’s thesis in geology at the University of Vermont. His research proved that a giant body of magma crystallized during the exact same time as the mountain formation event known as the Acadian orogeny. This research will encourage geologists to reconsider the timing and nature of granite formation in Vermont and New Hampshire. He will be in Burlington through the summer. He hopes to start working in environmental remediation this September. Jennie Meglathery passed her licensing exam to become a Licensed Practical Nurse in August of 2014. She then continued through the Registered Nurse program at Vermont Technical College. She got married in September, and is expecting a baby boy in June. After becoming an RN, she will pursue a Bachelor’s degree in nursing, and then a Master’s degree in Nurse-Midwifery. Nicky DePaul is currently living in Los Angeles and working at Locent, a tech company that helps merchants sell products and services through text messages. He recently published a hilarious web comic with Frederator Studios (producers of “Adventure Time”). He volunteers with SeedLA, an organization that provides pro-bono strategic consulting services to environmental and public health non-profits. Rob Spalding is living in Boston and working at Boston Medical Center. He works in the cardiac electrophysiology lab, where doctors fix electrical conduction problems inside the heart. He helps the doctors during surgeries by measuring the voltage and timing of the heart’s electrical conduction.
SPRING 2008
Class Agents: Ned Adriance, Becca Williams
Phoebe Hyde is living in Boston in the North End and working as a consultant for FactSet. It amazes her what a real lifetime bond is formed at the Island School and she is so happy that we were able to have a reunion in NYC this past February after 7 years! It’s all about showing up SP08 – keep it going! Becca Williams finished her first year of law school at University of Michigan. She is working in Detroit this summer and getting her yoga teacher certification during the weekends. After graduating from Davidson in 2013, Ned Adriance has been living in Washington D.C. for the past few years working in the press office of Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi. He is so looking forward to being back on Eleuthera in September for the on-island reunion! Tucker Blake is currently stationed in Okinawa, Japan at 3rd reconnaissance battalion. He is living right on the ocean and getting to explore all of Southeast Asia. He finished combatant dive school in March and is currently working on his master diver certification. Kendall Axt recently accepted a job with the Peace Corps. She will be leaving for Fiji in august 2015 to promote environmental awareness and healthy lifestyle practices amongst Fijian youth. She is extremely excited for this next chapter in her life but is super bummed that she won’t be able to attend the upcoming alumni reunion! Michael Siladi has officially been graduated from college for two years and enjoying the “real world”. His father recently retired and he has taken over the family business of remodeling and building houses. The hard work has been paying off! He has been able to take trips to places such as Canada, Utah, and New Orleans with friends to explore the communities and culture. While work is fun and tough, he is always looking forward to the next adventure as well. Lastly, he is looking forward to seeing everyone at the reunion in September as well as be back on the improved and expanded Island School campus. After graduating from Bates last spring, Emilie Geissinger has finished her year as a Biology Teaching Fellow at Noble and Greenough School and will be a Flats intern at CEI this summer. Grace Lucas is currently living in NYC and working at a luxury pr firm called Nike Communications. She spends most of her time working and visiting friends/family (including several island school friends). She is looking forward to possibly visiting Eleuthera this summer because she’s passed on the love for the island school to her best friend from college who is working there this summer. She misses her semester and island school! She can’t wait to be back in september for the reunion! Kit Norris moved to NYC a little over a year ago now and is loving the big city – where S’08 hosted a big reunion recently. He also really enjoyed meeting up with the NYC Island Schoolers from S’08 on our exact 7 year anniversary of going to IS (March 4, 2015). Grace Lucas, Halle Biggar, Ryan DeVos and Kit met up for a beer at flat iron hall and just reminisced for a few hours. It’s always nice to be reminded that the connection is still strong.
FALL 2008
Class Agents: Hadley Dawson, John DiLoreto
Valeria Zhao is graduating from Dartmouth in June and will be moving to Boston after a summer of traveling. She’d love to meet up with anyone who happens to be in Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, or Singapore! Hadley Dawson moved to San Francisco and has enjoyed seeing lots of pugs, pretending to be a surfer girl, and exploring the city as a total newb. Most days she is confused about what to wear after going to school in Maine. She loves meeting new people in this city of unfamiliar faces so if you are in SF, let her know! Maddie Andres graduated from Colorado College this May and will be spending the summer traveling around eastern Europe with friends. Next year she will be working with the geology department as a paraprofesstional, leading field trips and organizing labs. She is excited to stay in the west and gain some teaching experience. Thanks for doing this! Vatasha White will be graduating Smith College Spring of 2015 (a couple of weeks). She will be moving out to NorCal for work at GE Software as a software development leader. Vatasha also started playing tennis recently and she absolutely loves the sport. Margot Goldstein is an analyst at Goldman Sachs and living in Salt Lake City, Utah. She hopes to make it to the Island School reunion in Sept! Leslie Panella just finished her second to last semester at Middlebury College studying neuroscience and global health. Leslie will be spending the summer in Vermont doing research and hiking if anyone wants to come visit! Tyler Goddard will be starting his senior year at Elon University (finally) in the fall. He is working for Keller Williams and Next Step Realty currently so if anyone needs help finding housing in the city or really anywhere for that matter hit him up. Also to anyone visiting NC during the school year feel free to swing through. Chrissy Maruyama is currently living in the city of the Great Salt Lake and working in a research lab at the University of Utah. Outside of work, Chrissy has been playing club ultimate frisbee with “Elevate”, skiing, camping, and missing the ocean. Simon Mann-Gow graduated from Lewis and Clark College with a degree in International Affairs. He is currently living in Portland, Oregon, though he will likely be moving back to the east coast in 2016 to pursue a career in international security. Kevin Delaney is in his last year studying marketing in Sydney. He is also working part time for Tribe Marketing and amislooking to get a job in advertising in Australia after graduation. Sage Scheftel is living in Denver, working on Governor Hickenlooper’s legislative team and part time for a non-profit called The Global Livingston Institute. Todd Carson is currently living in South Boston. He is making the move down south this summer to New York City to work in Times Square. Todd and Brian Kiley still have regular sleepovers. Conor Hunt has been working as an instructor at Weaponcraft in Maine. In August he will be starting Basic training for the military. John DiLoreto has had a great first year post grad living in Manhattan and working at JP Morgan. John met up with Chris Kachadoorian, Sarah Tarika, Marty Morris, & Jane Rew for dinner in NYC this past winter. John has also run into other IS alumni Katie Delaney and Sage Disch throughout NYC. John is looking forward to getting out to the beach this summer, planning a F 08′ reunion in NYC, and hopefully heading down to Eleuthera in September. Marty Morris is currently working at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City in the Department of Surgery doing clinical research. He just finished taking Post-Bacc courses at Columbia and is in the process of applying to medical school. Chris Kachadoorian graduated from Duke University in 2014 and joined Accenture as a Management Consultant in New York. He keeps the IS spirit relevant by leading his office’s Eco Volunteering Team- through which he has helped organize outdoor education events with community organizations around the city. After graduating from Colorado College, Sarah Tarika moved back to the east coast. Sarah currently lives in NYC and works at Faherty Brand, a beach inspired, eco-friendly, sustainable clothing company. Sarah has enjoyed reconnecting with her F’08 friends in NYC. Alex Keefe graduated from UMaine with a finance degree and is currently in Quebec. He would like to congratulate Jack’s dreads on graduating. Scott Chaston is living in the South End of Boston doing commercial loan review for banks in New England. He graduated from BU and he owns more Island School t-shirts than collared shirts. Adi Baker received her Bachelors in Studio Art from Colorado College. She is currently living in Portland, Maine with her favorite people and cat, surfing the Maine coast, and dipping her toes in the Design/Fine Art/and Education fields.
SPRING 2009
Class Agents: Christine Brittain, Whitney Powel, Matt Vetter
Brian Porter graduated from UVA and will be heading to Brandeis in August to pursue a graduate degree in philosophy. Mollie Young graduated from Middlebury College in May 2014 and moved to Ne York City. She currently works in Public Relations at Weber Shandwick in the Corporate Practice. She says, “While it is nothing like being on Eleuthera, I am loving living in the city, surrounding by so many friends and lots of new adventures.” Whit Powel graduated from Denison University and is heading down to Eleuthera in June for her 3rd consecutive summer at the Island School teaching during Summer Term. She will continue to build on the previous summers’ food system and sustainability curriculum while also fulfilling the role of Dean of Students. After Summer Term, she is moving to New Canaan, CT where she will be an Apprentice Teacher at New Canaan Country School teaching in the middle school and coaching middle and upper school athletics. Colin Braun will be interning this summer at the White House doing project engineering and construction management. He will be graduating from UC Davis in March with a BS in Civil and Environmental Engineering. Matt Vetter, Christine Brittain, Heather Hoffman, and May Henderson all reunited on Eleuthera this past month to visit their siblings during Spring 2015’s Parents Weekend.
FALL 2009
Class Agents: Alexis Sommerfield, Christian Wierda, Catherine Wilson
This fall Catherine Wilson will be a senior at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she is double majoring in Political Science and Peace, War, & Defense. This summer she is interning for a Congressman in D.C. and would love to see and catch up with any IS alumni in the area! Eva McKinsey is still at Colorado College studying Political Science; however, she spent last semester in Peru and Chile on a studying abroad program. Eva loved South America so much that she is heading back down in a couple weeks to spend the summer in Argentina working at the US Embassy. Stephanie Dawson just graduated a week ago from Colgate University, where she studied International Relations. She will be moving to New York City this summer to start her next chapter in life! She has no long term plans, except to keep exploring her interests and to travel whenever she can. Adriana Banta is graduating from Barnard College, Columbia University in May 2015 and will be working at William Morris Endeavor (WME) starting in late June. She spent last summer interning at Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in Los Angeles and this past fall Adriana wrapped up her second season with “Saturday Night Live.” She will also be traveling post graduation to Bali – keeping up her scuba certificate!
SPRING 2010
Class Agents: Hannah Cope
SUMMER 2010
Class Agents: Grace Dennis, Ariel Verbrugge
FALL 2010
Class Agents: Chris Daniell
Clay Bales is going into his junior year at a small liberal arts school (Hampton-Sydney) in Virginia double majoring in econ/business and Spanish, but currently studying abroad on the Chilean/Argentinan border in the andes mountains. Clay has an internship at a big company in Virginia Beach after this program. Chris Daniell is going into his last year at Connecticut College, while taking classes and doing thesis work with the US Coast Guard Academy. Chris be spending the summer at CEI working with the shark research and conservation program. Meghan Kachadoorian, Catherine Pirie, Brandon Gell, and George Giannos will also be working on the cape.
SPRING 2011
Class Agents: Ami Adams
SUMMER 2011
Class Agents: Henry Ogilby
FALL 2011
Class Agents: Anika Ayyar, Grace Fowler, Griffin Hunt
SPRING 2012
Class Agents: Lauren Maida, Matti McAlpin, Hannah Piersiak
Matti McAlpin is currently a sophomore at Clark University majoring in psychology with a double minor in education and gender studies. She works as an academic assistant to Professor Michael Addis on psychological research which has fueled her interest in engaging in research on men, masculinity, and mental illness as well as influencing her efforts to reduce stigma associated with mental illness on campus. She is currently an intern in the youth and development programs of Massachusetts based non profit Screening for Mental Health. Taylor Lundeen has spent the last year as a Post Grad in the Comparative Arts program at Interlochen Arts Academy and will be attending University of Michigan next year. Casey Rutherford has just finished her freshman year at the University of Miami and she loves it! She is a marine science and biology major. Casey will be at home for the summer but goes back to Miami in August to move into her apartment! Peter Graham is starting his Junior year at Colorado State studying Natural Resource Recreation and Tourism. He spent last summer interning with the Bahamas National Trust doing Conch surveys on the Little Bahama Bank, Genetic research on the Seahorses in Sweetings Pond (the one next to the Hatchet Bay Caves in Eleuthera) and, helping the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park Wardens. In addition to that Peter has bought a boat and plans to start doing Fishing Charters.
SUMMER 2012
Class Agent: Ben Charo
FALL 2012
Class Agents: Cate Ellison, Lauren Gould, Lexi Welch
Caroline Jones has just completed her first year at University of Richmond in Richmond, Virginia as an environmental studies major. This summer, she will be working with the Western Reserve Land Conservancy group as a Zero Waste intern in Cleveland, Ohio. Additionally, she plans on traveling to the Caribbean for a 17-day sailing trip that is based on college leadership skills. Accompanied by fellow Island School ’12 classmate, Lauren Catena, Caroline will also be receiving her Advanced Open Water SCUBA certification. Since embarking on her college journey, Caroline has been initiated into the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority and she is looking forward to her sophomore year at Richmond this upcoming fall. Cam Peck has just completed his freshman year at Florida Southern College as a double major in environmental sciences, marine biology. He is also minoring in business. Additionally, Cam played for the Florida Southern lacrosse team as a midfielder. Cam was also initiated into the Sigma Chi fraternity at FSC and this summer he is working as a sustainable commercial fisherman in conjunction with a local fisheries management program off the coast of his home, Newport, Rhode Island. He also enjoys coaching lacrosse to 9 year olds in his area and is excited to embrace his sophomore year in the fall. Having just completed her freshman year at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, Lexi Welch is looking forward to a busy summer and an exciting start to the upcoming school year. This past year Lexi was initiated into the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and she was an active member of the environmental club at TCU. She also enjoyed tutoring local middle school students in English in the Fort Worth area. This summer, Lexi will be splitting her time between her family’s new home in Tucson, Arizona, and Annapolis, Maryland, which is her hometown. This upcoming fall Lexi will become an active member of Army ROTC at TCU and she is planning on declaring her major in criminal justice while declaring a minor in environmental studies. Following her graduation from TCU, Lexi is currently considering enlisting in officer candidacy school for the United States Navy following time spent in the United States Peace CORPS. Cate Ellison is now a rising sophomore at Colorado College. During her first year, she joined the ultimate frisbee team and she is also currently involved in the GlobeMed club at her school. GlobeMed works to promote global health equity worldwide. Next year, Cate is thinking about declaring her major in sociology. She is excited to spend this summer with her family. Along with several of her Island School Fall ’12 classmates, Lauren Gould has just said goodbye to her freshman year of college. She is currently attending College of Charleston in South Carolina. This past year, Lauren joined the Zeta Tau Alpha chapter at Charleston. This summer, she will be working as a camp counselor at Kieve Summer Camp, located in Maine. James Boyce is a rising sophomore at University of California Santa Cruz and he is planning on declaring a double major in business management economics and environmental studies. This summer, James will be going on a 5Gyres expedition (like Island School and CEI employee, Kristal Ambrose) from Bermuda to New York. James will be studying plastic pollution in the North Atlantic Gyre. The remainder of James’ summer will be spent at home on Abaco where he plans on working but most of all, spending time with his family. Hannah Lessles has just completed her freshman year at Amherst College and this summer she is interning in the emergency room department at a local hospital. She is currently majoring in pre-med. This spring, Katie Holmes is graduating from high school and this upcoming fall, she plans on embarking on a gap year in Indonesia and later, Madagascar before she begins her college career. In Indonesia, Katie is planning to travel, hike, do volunteer service, and stay with local families on home stays. In Madagascar, Katie is excited to be working as a marine conservation volunteer. Hadley Edie has just finished her freshman year at University of Wisconsin, Madison. This past year, Hadley played club lacrosse at UW Madison and she was also initiated into Chi Omega. This summer Hadley is looking forward to working as a camp counselor. Along with many of her fellow Island School classmates, Eunna Oh has just completed her freshman year of college, and with flying colors. She is attending Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida and has stated that her first year was “an amazing experience.” Eunna is in the 3/2 accelerated management program at Rollins and will therefore finish her undergraduate in three years. She hopes to earn her MBA after two additional years at Rollins. This past year Eunna was also initiated into the Chi Omega sorority at Rollins and as a sophomore next year she stands to fill the Sisterhood Chair position for her chapter. Eunna is also excited to earn her Advanced Open Water SCUBA certification through her school later next year. She is excited to reunite with Island School classmates and friends from home this summer and she is looking forward to maintaining her academic track. Korinna Garfield is looking forward to graduating from Wellesley High School in June and she is excited to be heading to Williams College this upcoming fall. She plans on majoring in environmental policy with a focus in justice and law. Korinna will also be playing lacrosse for Williams. This summer Korinna has will be interning with the appellate tax board and she is also planning on traveling to Peru. She is planning on hiking Machu Pichu and later this summer, Korinna is also planning on traveling to the Galapagos Islands where she plans to spend most of her time SCUBA diving. She is very excited for this upcoming year. Isabelle Swearingon successfully completed her freshman year of college at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas and is currently planning on continuing her college career at Davidson College in North Carolina starting this fall. Isabelle will also be spending some time studying abroad this summer in Italy and she plans on teaching art for the remainder of the summer. She is looking forward to her new chapter that lies ahead at Davidson this upcoming fall.
SPRING 2013
Class Agent: Ben VanderWeide
SUMMER 2013
Class Agents: AJ McIntosh, Tim Gronet
Catherine Fleming will be attending the University of Virginia in the fall. Andrew Sommer will be attending SUNY Oswego. Abby Smith is going to the University of Richmond. Both Margot Werner and Ken Park will be joining the freshmen class at Cornell University. Jacey Sullivan will be attending University of Wisconsin. Noah Pollack will be enrolling at Tulane University.
FALL 2013
Class Agent: Griffin Andres
SPRING 2014
Class Agent: Abby Gordon
This year has been pretty quiet for Patrick Friend, but Patrick and Charlie Mount’s soccer team won western New England’s division and then Patrick destroyed his knee so he’s just working and getting it back. (He ran for the first time the other day!) Patrick’s team became State Champions for history bowl and he actually wrote this update en route to nationals. This summer Patrick was invited to come continue his IS research at Bowdoin College. He will be working with a professor on studying populations of anadromous fish species in the Gulf of Maine and its estuaries, especially the Kennebec River. In addition to that, he will be working on doing chemical analysis of the substrate of mudflats that have been affected by the invasive green crab. Patrick will be using some of the information he gathers when he writes his global thesis on international fisheries regulations and alternative fish farming methods. Faith Isham’s junior year was filled with school, soccer, theater, snowboarding, and tennis. Her year started with a record-breaking season for the girls soccer team. Immediately after the season finished she began practice for her schools production of Legally Blonde in which she played a murderous stepdaughter with a tragic perm named Chutney. This winter she resumed her job as a snowboard instructor and was overjoyed with the amount of snow Vermont received this year. This fall she will play on her schools tennis team. Recently, Faith was selected as one of two American’s to go to the United World College in Norway, which is an intense two-year international school. She will finish high school in Norway and looks forward to meeting people from other countries and going on more outdoor adventures. Besides spending this summer traveling around Europe and Israel, Hugo Wasserman will be attending Reed College next year, where he plans to study philosophy. In this past school year, Abbe Easton has reestablished the environmental club at her school. Abbe and her club members have worked to better distribute their waste that their school produces. In their most recent project, the club built a garden on campus. Below is a picture of Abbe and the club planting some spring herbs! Carlos Sanni went to the LJM Maritime Academy and is studying to be a marine engineer. He has about four month left of school before sea time. In swimming, he improved his mile time to 12 minutes and is a swimming beast compared to everyone else, “like if you did take my boy Sir Leigh and add a dash of The Maxey.” Carlos also has the opportunity to work with B.R.E.E.F. anytime he can to assist them in their coral restoration. Since Robin Grathwohl returned home from The Island School last spring she has really tried to bring her experience into her everyday life. This past summer Robin worked on an organic farm. This school year Robin is the Sustainability Representative of her House at school and she works with the sustainability council to plan school wide events. This coming summer, she has a Welles Grant from her school to do a study on the imports and exports of fish in her hometown. In the coming year Robin hopes to do more work regarding sustainability at her school. She is happy with what she has done since she has returned from The Island School and is looking forward to what is still to come. Bella Walton is finishing up her senior year at Pingry and heading off to Tulane University in New Orleans next year! She is missing The Island School everyday but going on a new adventure to college, which she is so excited about! Since returning to Minnesota from the Island School, Abby Gordon has been busy beekeeping, photographing, exploring and most importantly… putting a plan together for the next few years! After graduating from high school Abby is taking a gap year before college. Her plans include: returning to The Island School as communications intern, traveling to Hawaii, working as an Intern in Oxford, England with The Children’s Radio Foundation and finally backpacking in the UK and Western Europe. After this year of adventures and learning, Abby will be attending Lewis and Clark in Portland, Oregon for college. But before all the fun begins in August of this year…Abby has a summer adventure bucket list of 187 things to keep her busy! Josh Lachs has been pretty busy at his school implementing a composting system for his cafeteria’s kitchen. He is heading the steering committee for it and they are almost done building the bin. If all goes well, his principal is going to give them the go ahead for a bigger system for the entire cafeteria next year. In addition to that Josh has been talking with his engineering teacher about putting in an aquaponics system for his school’s greenhouse next year and she is really into it. Josh is thinking of taking a gap year WWOOFING across America. Next year Colin Horgan will be attending Hamilton College in upstate New York,about 45 minutes east of Syracuse. He plans to either double major in Math and Computer Science or Math and Econ and will be running all three seasons for Hamilton (cross country in the fall and track in both the winter and spring). Since attending The Island School Kayleen Rice has started taking college classes though Running Start, a program that allows high school students the choice to take classes at a college. She is just finishing up 45 credits and next year plans to switch schools to get the most out of her senior year and high school education. Over the winter Kayleen’s Cheer squad went to competition for the second year in history, which was pretty exciting! The Island School helped Kayleen to be more confident in myself and my learning, and since has helped her to step out and take on more challenging adventures. Next Year Leah Charash will be a freshman attending the Lehigh University college of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Leah will likely major in something along the lines of Environmental or BioMedical Engineering, and hopes to look at marine ecosystems specifically as a minor or later on in graduate school. Lehigh was her top choice, and she ended up applying and getting in Early Decision. Lean still thinks about The Island School every single day, and hopes to take a gap year during undergrad to return for an internship at CEI. She found it really difficult transitioning back into the ‘real world’ after IS (especially because her appendix ruptured within 48 hours of Leah returning to the country), but she understands why the experience had to be 100 days. It is a challenge to maintain the principles and morals that Leah developed during her time on Eleuthera, but she works hard at it every day. IS taught Leah to make decisions for myself, not based off of what she had to do to impress or please those around her. This has led to Leah choosing the University that is actually right for her as a whole person, and has also given her the courage to quit a sport where she felt like an outsider in an unkind community and pick up Ultimate Frisbee. Leah misses each and every person who impacted her experience, and she wishes the best of luck for future students! Greta Poler is going to Amherst College in the fall, which she is super excited about. Jake Atwood reports he’s doing well and is going to Bates College next year. He’s hoping that any rising seniors from Spring 2015 semester thinking about Bates will come visit (and anyone else is more than welcome of course). Jake also going to work at a camp on Lake Winepesauke this summer. He’s pumped for the next reunion and hope we have it soon and of course misses everyone a lot.
SUMMER 2014</p