Nov/Dec 1999

Hopefully, the advent of the millennium is granting many of us an opportunity to spend some time with fellow Cornellians. If you don't have plans yet, maybe this, the last column of this century, will remind you that there is still time to get in touch with friends who have been MIA of late and make plans to rendezvous with them. I'd wager you'll find a sizable percentage of our class in the perennial New Year's destination: New York City!

Christine M. Hewitt (cmhewitt@shellus.com) is well in Houston working for Shell and sees several ChemEs around Texas, including: Joe Salama, Pei-Lun David Ting, who's attending Baylor Medical School, and Susan Lee, who works for Motorola in Austin. Also in Texas are Amisha L. Patel and Penner Schraudenbach. Elizabeth J. Schepp shared news of a job change earlier this year. She's looking forward to returning to campus in her capacity as a human resource manager in charge of college recruiting and union labor disputes. Fellow Hotelie Carl Mittleman (carlorado@aol.com) is keeping busy in Denver, still with Aramark but now serving as general manager of concessions at CoorsField, and reminded me that roommate Steve Rusek, MS I '98, married his high school sweetheart in August 1998. After managing a local congressional campaign in New Jersey last year, James Blanco (jblanco784@aol.com) moved on to the governor's office and served on the intergovernmental relations staff. He keeps in touch with Bob Berstein, Mark Silbersher, and M. Michael Koby '95. Alison Terry (aterry@welchlink.welch.jhu.edu) last year performed research in a psychopharmacology unit at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Amy E. Kornbluth has spent the last two years in southern Ethiopia teaching English as a Peace Corps volunteer, and Mindy L. Hernandez (mlh21@cornell.edu) moved to Washington, DC, after establishing a program to teach English to poor children in Puerto Rico, also with the Peace Corps. Leslie D. Prence's (leslie.d.prence@ac.com) job at Andersen Consulting took her to Denmark earlier this year. Will Dalrymple settled southeast of London with wife Elena, where he finished a master's in history of science at Imperial College. Will credited Cornell's computing services for enabling him and Elena to share high-tech chats throughout their long-distance courtship and was shocked to find that his old dorm room in Sage Hall now serves as a computer lab at the Johnson School of Management's new home!

Lots of classmates are clamoring to make a difference by dedicating themselves to education. Colleen J. Zampier (cjz8@juno.com) has been working as a registered dietitian in Massachusetts and keeps in touch with Julie C. Platt, Sara M. Corsaro, and Heather A. Rauf (heather673@yahoo.com), whom Colleen describes as "one fine biology teacher"; Heather's also coaching girls' soccer at North County High School in Maryland. Nancy T. Liu, MAT '98, (ntl1@cornell.edu) teaches science at Evergreen, an alternative high school in Vestal, NY. Amy E. Turgeon wrote that she was a teaching intern in a third/fourth grade classroom while earning a master's in elementary education from U. of New Hampshire, and earlier this year said she planned to stay in the area to teach. Tracey S. Cornell (tcornell@cushing.org) returned from playing league hockey in Switzerland to teach marine science and coach hockey at Cushing Academy in Ashburnham, MA. Tracey keeps in touch with Virna and Maria D. Lisi. Jonas Chartock (jchartock@hotmail.com) reported he's enjoying teaching fourth grade and is involved in chess and soccer programs while working toward his master's in education. He keeps up with area educators Sandi J. Toll and Judy R. Gross, as well as Toby Sinton and Jon Reichard '96 in Mali.

Eric Saidel (esaidel@mindspring.com) married Tahl Ben-Yehuda '92 in 1997. Attending Cornellians included: Daniel Gauvreau, Jen Locascio, BA '98, Seth Stuhl '94, Jenna (Saidel) '94 and Michael Lebowich '94, Rob Covert '89, and Victoria B. Ritter '92. The couple lives in Yonkers, where Eric began a law program at Yeshiva U. and Tahl continues her studies to be a conservative rabbi at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America. Also married: Kathryn (Wilson) and Robert Friedrich, JD '95, in Sage Chapel in June 1998. In January, Kathryn said she was working for KPMG in New York as a real estate consultant.

In March, April E. Bruning (April_Bruning@hotmail.com) reported her move from New York to Boston, where she worked at Johanssen & Walcavage, a landscape architecture group. Meanwhile, Min-Je Michael Choi (mmc5@cornell.edu) moved from Oakland, CA, where he had worked with a grassroots organization since graduation, to New York to possibly pursue graphic design or business school and reunite with friend Kristel A. DeMay. Sean Cutler (Sean.Cutler@us.pwcglobal.com) worked in Chicago in the warehouse management systems division of PricewaterhouseCoopers. In February, Jasmine C. Abdel-Khalik (jcaz@umich.edu) had been anticipating working in Chicago this summer and beginning her third year of law school at Michigan this fall. Jillian B. Berman (jbberman@midway.uchicago.edu) and Alex Dyner are nearing the end of their time at the U. of Chicago law school. Jillian and Mary Alison Butterfield ran Chicago's 1998 Marathon, and Jillian has also seen Judy R. Gross, as well as Liz B. Pulver, Rachel W. Kelly, Andrea M. Madrigrano, Sally Librera, Will Hopkins, and Chris Decenzo. Also in Chicago, John Rodin (esafejr@aol.com) took a job as a mechanical engineer at Earthsafe Systems Inc., after the former Big Red kicker recovered from knee surgery. John says Luis F. Rodriguez, Nick Loeffler, Joe Greco, Mike Trevino, and Eddy Mordujovich, BA '98, are all well. Arif Rachmat, MS I '98, (arif.rachmat@lighting.ge.com) has been stationed in Ohio, where he's worked at several GE plants and has had the opportunity to meet GE Lighting's CEO, Dave Calhoun.

Christina A. Anton's (antonelli1@earthlink.net) job as a restaurant manager at Walt Disney World has brought her lots of visitors and allowed her to travel and attend several alumni events. Christina has seen Jamie Murdock, Donnelly M. Nariss, Leslie J. New, and Dennis Ortiz, and keeps up with fellow Floridians Brian Opre, Orion Corcilius, Quinn O'Sullivan '96, and Jeffrey W. Weinthaler.

You may have recognized that counselor in the Disney Channel's documentary series "Bug Juice," which follows kids at a summer camp, as none other than classmate Jonathan Griffin (Jonatha.H.Griffin@monsanto.com). After wrapping up his acting stint, Jonathan managed his family's dairy farm in Connecticut and then accepted a position as area marketing manager for Monsanto Life Sciences, which has taken him to Gainesville, FL. He catches up regularly with Scott Zuchorski, Joel P. Weiman, and Neil Rejman. At last report, Scott was working for Arthur Andersen's government services division in Washington, DC.

Finally, Ron Khosla '91 and wife Kathryn (Anderson) now have a firm tie to the Ithaca area: an organic vegetable farm, shares of which will be sold as "subscriptions." The Khoslas, both Ag college grads, opted to pursue their dream and traveled the world to observe similar ventures in community-supported agriculture.

It's scary to think that soon we'll be closer to our fifth-year reunion than we are to graduation. As our lives become increasingly disparate, I hope the millennium gives us some pause and time to reflect on our Cornell days. I encourage all classmates to send in an update and alert friends of plans for the first year of the next century! Best wishes to all!--Erica Broennle, 7681 Provincial Dr., #103, McLean, VA 22102; e-mail, ejb4@cornell.edu.