May/Jun 2002

In this, our last column before our first reunion, I'd like to make a last-ditch effort to encourage you to get in touch with your friends and make sure you join classmates in Ithaca June 6-9. Five years is a long time, and there is a lot to catch up on! Visit www.classof97.cornell.edu for details. It is also easier than ever to pay class dues now and submit magazine news on-line! Just point your browser to www.alumni.cornell.edu. Help us continue breaking records in class participation by becoming a duespaying member of the Class of 1997 and, while you're at it, give something back to Cornell! You can designate how you would like your gift to be used, of course, but the Class of 1997 scholarship and unrestricted use are always great bets!

And now, the news. Michelle Cirino married Kyle Peterson on June 17, '01, in Florham Park, NJ. Cornellians in the wedding party were the bride's brother, Peter Cirino '94, maid of honor Jill Morganstern, MD '01, and Elizabeth Soto-Seelig Cushing. Other Cornellians at the wedding included Bryan Hitchcock, Mary Gasco, and Joe Arencibia. After returning from a honeymoon in Italy, husband and wife both left General Mills for Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management. Will Templin married Desiree Petitbon in September 2001. The couple resides in New Orleans. Heather Adivari, JD '00, and Robert Riva, JD '00, a fellow class of 2000 Cornell law grad, tied the knot in January 2002 in New York. Heather is an associate at Piper Marbury Rudnick & Wolfe; Robert left Altheimer & Gray in Chicago to prepare for the New York bar exam.

Sarah Wilkinson (troutlily@juno.com) married Scott Alessandro '96 in August 2001 in Plymouth, MA. Trevor Connor '95, Zev Eigen '96, JD '99, Jill Eisenhard, and April Bruning were in the bridal party. The couple has lived in Media, PA, for three years. Sarah reports April is a landscape architect in Marblehead, MA; Jill is in NYC; and lots of Lambda Chi alumni have visited her and Scott recently. Samuel Unglo (sam-unglo@hotmail.com) married Lynne Sykora on Dec. 29, '01 in Atlanta. Renee Sato (renee630@hotmail.com) married Joseph Kotowski III on June 30, '01. Renee plans to graduate from the John A. Burns School of Medicine in Honolulu in May 2002; Joseph is completing his second year of law school at the U. of Hawaii.

Dyana Fichera graduated from the Vet college in 2001 and is working in the Finger Lakes area. She married Adam Welch in August 1999 and had a son, Jacob Welch, in November 2000. Joshua Baum (jsb3000@yahoo.com) is also a 2001 Vet college grad and is completing an internship at the Animal Medical Center in NYC. He still sees Rebecca Propis. Also in NYC is Mark Canlis, who left Air Force Special Operations to work for Danny Meyer and help with the opening of Bluesmoke in February. Mark supported the first flights over the World Trade Center and prepared his unit for deployment in Afghanistan. He's traveled a lot and visited with Randy Garutti, Dan Unger, Ben Hatz, Travis Rosenthal, and Jason Matyas.

Lisa Koenigsberg (lkoenigsberg@kbpwest.com) has been in San Francisco for the past three years, where she's worked at a restaurant-related dot-com and in advertising. Anna Moore (annaolivia@mindspring.com) is living in San Francisco and has kept up with Dave Silverstein, Dave Bolger, Gretchen Snoey, Bill Trenchard, Andy dePasquale, and Jason Bender. Elliott Schneider (elliotts21@aol.com) is also in San Francisco, where he returned to school to study industrial design/transportation design. He's having a blast sailing competitively, mountain biking, and skiing and snowboarding in Lake Tahoe in his spare time. Amit Bobby Nandi (abn2@hotmail.com) moved to Boston and is working for Medtronic AVE. James Hamblin (hamblin@math.wisc.edu) will be completing his PhD in math in May 2002. He's spent his time this past year finishing up his thesis and looking for jobs at small liberal arts colleges. Gajan Haas (ghass@autumnharp.com) moved from NYC to Bristol, VT, in 2000 and works for a small local research and development lab. Gajan visits New York frequently, but is really enjoying living in rural country.

In August 2001, Jonas Chartock (jchartock@teachforamerica.org) started work as executive director of Teach for America in Houston. Xiomara Padamsee and he returned to Ithaca to interview applicants for the Teach for America corps. Jonas writes he "already had the boots and hat, but I've since added a truck so that I feel much more at home here in Texas!" Kristen Corbosiero(Kristen@atmos.albany.edu) received her master's of science in 2000 from SUNY Albany and is now working on her PhD in meteorology. She spent her summers between 1998 and 2001 "storm chasing," à la the tornado thriller Twister. Maura Cahill Cowan (mcc8@cornell.edu) left the world of sales, marketing, and consulting to return to Ithaca, where she is a student at the Johnson School of Management. Christian Santangelo (santa@mrl.ucsb.edu) is in graduate school studying physics at the U. of California, Santa Barbara. David Rodin, MD '01 (daverodin@yahoo.com) is a surgical intern at Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School. While on vacation in October, Dave saw Adam Chazan, Sami Lewin, Michael Lifland, MRP '98, Lauren Israel Siegal '98, and Robin Vora, MD '01, in New York; he also saw Aaron Hutman in Boston last year.

Scott and Kathryn Boniti Wallace (kathrynwallace@cs.com), James and Michelle McKee Cubbon, Brian Miller '98, and Kelly Patel participated in a November 2001 Hell's Kitchen pub crawl that was arranged to raise funds for the Tom Collins Memorial Fund (Collins was lost in the World Trade Center attacks). Kathryn said they often see Zoran Filipovic '96, who recently became a father to baby Danijela, and reports the gang has already been making plans to attend reunion. Allison Maggart (allisonmaggart@yahoo.com) moved to NYC after four years in Las Vegas. Allison is in graduate school for psychology at New School University. Steven Froeschl (stevenfroeschl@hotmail.com) graduated from NYCC and is a licensed chiropractor in Long Island. Rajen Shah (rajenshah@yahoo.com) is working in New York for a small venture capital boutique focusing on biotechnology.

Edward McGurrin (edm2@cornell.edu) last year took a job as an importer for a company near the Canadian border. He attended the wedding of Tim Rogan '81, where he saw Ann Rogan '74, MS '77. Heather Fiore finished her master's in health education in December 2001 and is working for the Rochester City School District. Heather sees Rob Unckless, MS Ag '99, Brad Marshall, Paul Papierno, Russ Giasomo and his family, Jenn Thome, Elizabeth Soto-Seelig Cushing, and Melissa Carey. She also spent a week in Ithaca last summer for the Sage Chapel wedding of Amy Unckless '94 and Marc Gallagher '94. She reports Heather Storrud got married in December 2001 in Wyoming.--Erica Broennle Nelson, 303 Vine St., #308, Philadelphia, PA; e-mail, ejb4@cornell.edu.