Class Notes, March/April 1997

Thursday May 01, 1997 Category: Archives Permanent Link

How ‘bout starting with a “this time last year” walk down amnesia lane? Were you juggling that tough cooking-wines- independent study schedule? Stressing about jobs and grad school? Greasing yourself up for that no regrets week down in Cancun or the Bahamas? Saying to yourself in that self- actualizing kind of way, “Hey, it wasn’t so bad … I could take the upcoming year off and work at Aladdin’s … “? Pining for those free nachos at Rulloff’s from Class Council? So, a year later, did you ever imagine ending up where you are now? Here’s the low- down on some other Sixers …

Gabriela “Gavi” Yariv is working at Walt Disney Imagineering in Los Angeles as a landscape architect, along with Matt Tager ‘83, and is living only five blocks away from Ann Wang ‘93 in Santa Monica. Rick Girards serves as research assistant for the Amplicon Corp, a biotechnology firm in Stony Brook, NY, and reports already being nostalgic for his days on the Hill. Suzanne Weidberg is working (and playing) in Aspen, CO, teaching skiing, and waitressing. She writes, “Colorado is so beautiful and more fun than you can imagine!” Karen Szczepanski is a first- year student at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, and just cross town from Robyn Tuttle and Tim Burns at Penn. Robyn is pursuing her PhD in molecular and cellular biology, and Tim is working on his MD/PhD. Chris Spahr is also in Philly, finishing up his first year at Jefferson Medical School.\

Jenn Tame opted for another year in fair Ithaca in the lab of pregnancy and newborn research at the Vet school. Kevin Hardy is at the “other” CU-Columbia, working towards his JD, and reports convening with Mark Goldstein, Kathy Prendergast ‘93, George Lakis ‘95, and Brian Kannry ‘95 at a recent Star Trek convention (hey, I just write the news … ). Andrea Stern and Michelle Cuccia are busy at Abbott Laboratories in Chicago. Andrea gave us an update on our classmates who opted for the only place colder than Ithaca in the winter-Neil Jain is an employee with the Motorola Corp, Erin McCloskey is attending law school, and Jeremy Miller is working for Kraft.

Matt Street spent the fall in Los Angeles working on a project for Deloitte and Touche for the Nissan Motor Corp. Becca Fraioli is a research assistant at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Inst., and is deciding between medical schools for the fall.

Matt Altman is working for Hyperion Capital Management, and enjoying life in New York City. Sheila Di Gasper is headed out to sunny California for a nutrition internship with Aramark. Although reluctant to leave the world of architecture, Stephanie Cockerl has been working freelance, designing Web sites for small businesses in Brooklyn, and is on her way to a career in cyberspace (I feel like a loser-I just figured out how to play solitaire.) Adam Lorenz is pursuing his MEng at MIT, and down Memorial Drive, Marci Levine is studying dentistry at Harvard. Also soon to be coaxing us to show our pearly whites is Stacy Reed, studying dentistry at the U. of Pittsburgh. Mike Killeen is a plant engineer with Pepsi, developing their new research and development (R & D) facility in Westchester County, NY. Mike reports that John Tolpa is in his first year at Cornell Law, Beat Niederoest is also in R & D with the Foamex Corp. in New Jersey, Dan Rech is consulting for CSC in West Orange, NJ, and George Botsakos is working for Andersen Consulting.

Deb Huret is getting acclimated to life on the East Coast, immersed in the advertising world at J. Walter Thompson in New York, and between trips to Niketown and FAO Schwarz, is preparing for our 5-year reunion. Cathy Simpson is working as a political consultant on the upcoming NYC mayoral race. While visiting New York, I had a nice “Hey, weren’t you in my psych class?” encounter with Rob Shavell, who is consulting in the city, as well as a “Hey, didn’t you drive me home for Spring Break?” rendezvous with Susanna Klein, currently with Neiman Marcus. Andrea Fuhr is working with DMB&B Advertising, and gave us the scoop on other Cornellians in New York … Gail Rosenberg just completed a production internship with ABC’s “Turning Point,” Gabe Jacobson is a first-year student at New York U. law, Meredith Resnick is employed with American Hi- Growth Portfolio Management, Karen Schnelwar is working in advertising for Ogilvy and Mather, Rachel Rosen is in marketing for the NBA, and Dave Hass is working in anesthesiology at Cornell Med, where he will be a student in the fall. “If anyone was perusing The New York Times around December, you might have recognized some classmates adorning the front page of the Metro Section-Gil Shapiro, Marguarite Carmody, Christina Feile, and Tim Whelan looked dashing in formal attire as they celebrated good returns at the Datek Co. Christmas party at the Plaza Hotel.”

Alicia Parlanti is working as a research assistant at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, Kim Chin is a first-year student at the SUNY, college of optometry, Christina Cellini is one of the many “red-red”s at Cornell Med, Lee Goldstein is studying medicine at Yale, and Andrew Brief is in the homestretch of his first year at Einstein Med. Mark Morrison is down in Puerto Rico, working at the new Westin Rio Mar, and hopefully not swamped with overzealous spring breakers. Amanda Claremon is happily settling down to life in Utah. Sarah Lambert is combining public health with nutrition studies at Columbia, Drew Ciancia is at law school in Pittsburgh, Anne Crum is working at the Hotchkiss School in the admissions department, and Rachel Berman is in Boston, completing her RD internship. Having a grand old time in our Nation’s Capital are Andrew McCollum working for the advisory board, Patti Jette working in public television and keeping DC lively, Maureen Richardson attending Georgetown law, and Lora Levy guiding our country’s youth with Teach for America and meeting some Redskins in her spare time.

Erin Chodkowski has returned to her native Atlanta, and is joined by Victoria Littler, who works for Bristol Management, and Heather Quall and Krista Green, who are first-year law students at Emory. And in one of those ubiquitous, “You went to Cornell? Do you know … ” conversations, I found out that Janine Abrams is having a wonderful experience at Mount Sinai Medical School.

So, all y’all, keep writing, e-mailing, calling. Send us news, memories, stories, business cards (they are fabulous! It’s like, so professional!). Even if you just want to see your name in print … drop us a line!

—Sheryl Magzamen, Class Columnist