2010s

10 Growing Families

 

Katie (Teitgen) and Dan Tryniecki welcomed their first child, Ian Thomas, on July 20. Madison (Prieto) and Lucas Brommer welcomed their first child, Augustine Anthony, on Aug. 12 in (coincidentally enough) Augusta GA. Laura (Cassel) and Scott Andrews welcomed Joseph Scott into the world in January 2018. His big sister, Margaret Marie, 3, is already trying to teach him the fight song. Sarah (Pastorek) and Matthew Cossack welcomed their third son, Peter, into the world on Sept. 7. Within a month, he had already experienced his first snow in Duluth MN. Maggie ’10SMC and Michael Sayles welcomed their third child, Rori Sayles, on Oct. 15. She joins sister Ava, 5, and brother Keegan, 3, on the ND bandwagon. Katherine (Schilling) Clark and Christian Clark welcomed a second child, Thomas Augustine, on May 1 in New York. Big brother Henry, 2, loves his new role. Thomas was baptized on July 22 in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. His godparents are Megan Schilling ’16, ’18 MEd and Nicholas Schilling Jr. ’14, ’17JD. Aidan Gillespie and his wife Angela Moret welcomed their first child, Gustavo (Gus) Robert, on Sept. 3. The couple was married in 2015 at Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Chicago where they met while working. The happy family lives in Chicago. Mary Kusek and Michael Rohman were married Oct. 6 in Denver. The wedding party included Katie Peralta, best man Tim Rohman ’08, Neal Kopec, and Brian Alexander. Marc Cohen married Nicole Buckley on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina in September. The wedding party included Chris Adcock, Nick DiMascio, Matt Howard, and Cameron Randle. Dhairya Doshi was a surprise guest, traveling from Japan to spend 36 hours with his best friends. Eva Binda started working as strategic partner development manager for Google. She lives in Manhattan and is completing her MBA at Columbia U. Stay warm this winter and while you huddle up by the fire, send me an update. — Matt Molloy; ndclass2010@gmail.com

 

10MBA Another New Addition

 

Kelly (Brennan) Heller has awesome news to share. On June 25, Kelly and Eric welcomed their son, Brian Bond Heller, to the family. Mom, dad and big sister Sloane are thrilled to have Brian join the clan. Kelly is a vice president of program development for Synchrony Financial. Eric is a director of product management at GE Transportation. The Heller clan resides in the Chicago area. This wraps up another quarter for Team 2010MBA. Now take a moment and send me some details of “what’s good” to include in the next update. Share your news anytime. Go Irish. — John Gerberich; cell 847-331-4707; jgerberi@alumni.nd.edu

 

10JD More Beautiful Babies 

Baby Fever is high for the NDLSers. Erin and Matt Clark gave birth to a perfect baby boy, Dominic Liam Clark, on August 28th. Facebook pictures show him in more Michigan clothing than Notre Dame clothing thus far. Hopefully that will change as he gets older. Julie (Wiorkowski) and David Mallen spent a long day in labor to finally meet their big boy, John Paul Mallen, who was born at 1:12 am on August 31. Mom and dad say he has some big shoes to fill with a lot of great Johns and Pauls coming before him. Mary and Warren Dubitsky met the youngest of their family of five, Anne Patricia Dubitsky, on October 6th. She is such an adorable addition to their family. My husband, George Laffitte, and I met our baby boy, Logan John Laffitte, two weeks early on October 22. He has already made it very clear, he operates on his own timetable. Megan and Ryan Duffy welcomed an adorable little girl, Grace Kathleen Duffy, into their lives on October 29th. She’s already doing her civic duty and went to vote with her parents this election. Megan and Michael Gerardi welcomed baby girl Alice Monica Gerardi to the world this fall and mom and dad couldn’t be happier, as evidenced by all their smiles. In other non-baby news, congrats to Drew Rundus, who completed the 2018 Chicago Marathon on October 9th. Also, Tim Beaubien married wife Karla Neuschwander on November 3rd, congrats to the newlyweds. Please send me your updates for my next column. Until next time. — Jennifer (Hernandez) Laffitte; 10310 Southwest 128^th Avenue, Miami FL 33186; res 305-322-7154; bus 786-762-3815; jherna11@alumni.nd.edu.

 

11 Updates Galore

 

Father Peter (Chris) Gautsch, OP, was ordained to the priesthood on May 19 in Washington, DC along with eight other Dominican friars. Lots of family and ND friends were there for the ordination, which was a tremendous joy. After a summer of parish ministry at St. Louis Bertrand Church in Louisville KY, Father Peter is back in DC for a year of studies. Please pray for him as he begins his priestly life. Katie Sample and Matt Robinson were married at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Charlotte NC, on May 26. The wedding party included Kate (Weber) DeTrempe, Kelly Pierson, Kelly (Paulius) Wallace, Bridget Mullins, Jeana Caminiti, Kaitlyn Maloney, Pat Robinson ’13, Luke Stavole, Colin Goodman, AJ Tran, and Wade Sample ’07. Countless other Domers were in attendance, and all that was missing was Ritter’s. Torie Roig ’11, ’13 MEd and Brian Argus ’12, ’14 MEd were married at the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on Aug. 12, 2017, by Father Lou DelFra, CSC. The bridal party included many fellow alumni: Bridget (Mahoney) Smith ’10, Caitlin (Donnelly) Lawrence ’10, Sheila Keefe ’12, Maura (Sullivan) Hill, Jamel (Nicholas) Debri ’10, ’12MEd., Kevin Argus ’12, Derrick Toups ’14 MEd, and Joe Terranova ’13 MEd. Torie and Brian live in Boston. Chris Gattis ’11, ’18 MDiv, married Allyse Gruslin ’16 MDiv on June 22 in Pawtucket RI. Pete Hlabse served as best man. In attendance were Beth (Simpson) Hlabse, Michelle Bailey, Ryan Jansen, Maria Llamas and Kyle Nickodem. Sierra Skelton married Daniel Saucedo on Sept. 1 in Piru CA. Scott Whalen married Karen Hanley ’12SMC on June 15 at the basilica. The bridal party included Keenan guys Kyle Maierhofer, Andrew Mok, Matt Coyne, Brian Castello, Ashley Cooke, Colton Ortolf, and Hank Jenkins ’10. Other ND grads in attendance included Eileen Flanagan-Lanier, Dan Kamp ’10, Chris Bathon ’10, Marty Quintana ’10, Tony Klausing ’10, and Kevin Hanley. Father Tom Hurley was the celebrant. The couple lives in Chicago, where Karen is a teacher and Scott is an attorney. On June 16, Aleksandra Koryzno married Michael Breault in Lake Leelanau MI. Notre Dame graduates Caitlin Ferraro and Ann-Marie (Woods) Strickland ’10 were bridesmaids. Notre Dame guests included Betsy Busch (O’Neill) ’10, Garrett Busch ’09, Kyle Strickland ’09, Kelly Hogan ’10, Sara Peterson (Lamoureux), Meghan Huff (Sweeney), David Huff, Charlie Blumberg, Molly Harding (Casanova), Maureen Champa, Lauren Nogel (Boulay), Rebecca Lischwe ’12, Conor Rogers. On June 30, Ryan Schwab ’11, ’13 married the lovely Aileen Kernan ’16 at St. Anthony de Padua Catholic Church in South Bend, where they met while teaching. Father Ryan Pietrocarlo, CSC, ’11 presided over the wedding Mass. The groomsmen included fellow Domers Paul Hotovy ’11, ’13, Michael Sheridan ’12, James Maslar, Joseph Klinker ’10 and Kameron Mayne. The bridesmaids included Caroline Kernan ’18, Marta Kernan (Present), Kathleen Schwab ’13, and Madison Overly ’16, ’17. Jordan and Nicole Smith welcomed their first child, Henry, on April 25. Meagan (Smith) and Tom Pecsok welcomed their son, Patrick Finnegan “Finn” Pecsok on May 21. Tom received his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern U in June 2017. Meagan and Tom celebrated their fourth wedding anniversary on July 12. The family of three lives in Tom’s hometown of Virginia Beach VA. Kevin G. Murphy got engaged to Maddie Goralski (Fairfield U Class of 2013) in Glens Falls NY, on July 13. They are planning to wed in fall 2019. John Ryan ’10 married Alexandra Mallozzi in July 2016 in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. They welcomed their son, Jack August Ryan, in June. Jack is named after the bride’s late grandfather, August Ventura ’49. Ashley (Herrmann) and Jeff Ham welcomed their first son, Logan Charles Ham, on March 11. The couple resides in Charlotte NC where Jeff is starting a fellowship and Ashley will be starting as a general pediatrician. Beth Cotter started working at Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford as a registered dietitian in outpatient nutrition counseling for adolescent eating disorders, weight loss, and bariatric surgery. Liz (Devany) Moore started a residency in optometry at the Yale West Haven VA Hospital. Liz’s husband, James Moore ’10MSA, joined the Innovative CPA Group in Connecticut. Please submit updates. — Evan James; ndclass2011@gmail.com

 

11JD Class Secretary — Lauren Sharkey;

 

lksharkey@gmail.com

 

12 Weddings and Get Togethers

Congratulations to William Cernanec and Kristen Metzger ’11SMC, who were married on Sept. 16, 2017 at Saint John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Indianapolis. William is the son of Phil Cernanec ’75 and Scott and Marybeth Weber ’76. In attendance were Domers spanning several generations. Also, congratulations to the happy couple on the birth of their son, Brady O'Brien, on July 25. The Cernanec family is happily residing in South Bend. This summer, Megan Robertson studied desert and marine landscapes through ecological and social field methods in Miami U’s Earth Expeditions Global Field Course in Baja. Check out more information about her experience at earthexpeditions.miamioh.edu/higher_ed. Anne Whitty, Mike Della Penna and Molly Campbell had dinner together at Corndance Tavern in South Bend in August. Wine, green bean fries, and good times were had by all. Please send in your class updates. —Tyler Harmsen; Ricardo Lyon 361, Santiago, Chile; tharmsen@alumni.nd.edu

 

12MBA Class Secretary — Chris Villani;

 

christopher.villani@gmail.com

 

12JD Old News, New News

 

Hello, classmates. Before we dive in to the updates this quarter, I want to make a public correction and apology. In the last column, I let everyone know that Bryan Bond and “Jenna” had a baby. This is incorrect. Jenna and Brian Boyle, however, did have a baby. Cary Boyle is doing well, and Jenna and Brian were very good sports about my embarrassing gaffe. Bryan, who reportedly did a spit-take when he saw the news, was also quick to forgive. Thanks Br(y/i)an and Jenna. And now, for the new news. Melesa Freerks and her husband Nick Weeks had a baby girl in July. Melesa was kind enough to send along a few snapshots of Nike Olivia Boston Weeks, who is named after the Greek Goddess of Victory. I can't print ’em, but trust me, Nike is one cute baby. Oh, and Melesa says that she and Nick are doing well, too. Philly (Meluch) O'Hare and her husband Bill also had a baby, John William O’Hare. John joins siblings Edward and Maureen to round out the O’Hare crew. Philly tells me she had John in her arms 27 minutes after checking into the hospital. It seems Bill was worried that he was going to have to deliver the baby in the car, so he’s happy about how the whole thing turned out. Congrats. Moving on to new jobs, Steph Rochel accepted a position as vice president and associate counsel at Capital Automotive. She’s pumped to transition from litigation into an in-house role, which I get. Living the dream, Steph. And finally, Alvin Adjei and I recently met up to take a road trip across the American Southwest in a rental car. We ate a bunch of spicy food, bought some matching belts with turquoise buckles, and did a whole lot of birdwatching. We learned a lot about ourselves, and plan to self-publish a book about our experience soon. Thanks for sending in all those updates. — James Champlin; james.c.champlin@gmail.com

 

13 Family Feud

 

Hello, and thank you for tuning in to another installment of the Class Notes. It was a little sparse this time in terms of updates, and with a few months of burning the candle at both ends, I didn’t do as much Facebook sleuthing as usual, oops. I’ll start with what got sent my way, and end with a few tidbits I discovered on my own. Emily (Palid) and David Clatterbuck (MSU) were married in July at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Frisco TX. Frisco, if you haven’t been, is a beautiful place for a wedding. Frisco also happens to be my favorite kind of melt. Also in attendance were Andrew Brazas ’12, Christina Sanders ’12, Natalie Dehen ’12, John Hollkamp ’15, Serene Runkle ’12, Jason Runkle ’12, Theresa Palid, Katherine Kummeth ’13SMC, and Michelle Grojean. Emily and David met at a ballroom dancing competition. As if the wedding wasn’t enough wonderful news, Emily got a promotion; she’s now the senior security automation engineer at PepsiCo. Emma Richardson, in her fourth year as a medical student at Rush, was selected as one of the six Pisacano Scholars for 2018. The award goes to students who demonstrate a strong commitment to the specialty of family medicine, the best specialty. They must also be excellent leaders, scholars, communicators, community members, and people of integrity. It’s like the Heisman Trophy of medical education, except the committee holds true to the character portion. I found out that Joe Gradient spent his October preparing for Halloween by watching seasonal movies including Boo! A Madea Halloween and Spooky Buddies, the tale of puppies who defeat an evil wizard. He also watched Rudy, but that had nothing to do with Halloween. In what should have been a predictable turn of events, Lyndy ’85 and Patrick Toole ’84, parents of Robert Toole, were shocked by Aaron Stumpf’s assertion that his daughter is more adorable than their granddaughter, and even sent me photographic evidence. As such, I must concede the point to the grandparents Toole. At the risk of this becoming the “Letter to the Editor” portion of the Observer from our freshman year, I encourage Stumpf’s response. Finally, I was able to mosey on to Washington DC to visit Bobby Shields, Alvin Hu, Ryan Lion, Beau Dolan ’14 and Vincent Lynch ’14HC. It was nice getting to see them after several years. Alvin is doing coding with a firm in town. Ryan is about to graduate from medical school, Beau can eat an entire platter of nachos, and Vinny does something with Airbus. Thank you for reading; please send me more updates. — Chris Champlin; nd2013updates@gmail.com

 

13MBA Babies and Moving

 

Hilary ’14 and Ian Galbraith ’13 welcomed Karen Cecilia Galbraith in June. She already is wearing her blue and green Notre Dame onesies and is looking forward to visiting campus. The Galbraiths live in Dallas where Ian is a director at Foxworth-Galbraith Lumber Company and Hilary is a healthcare executive. Luke Gildner is happy to report that he and Britt welcomed Cora Susanna to the world in September. Britt and Cora are doing great, and siblings Max and Lucy love having a little baby around. Luke is still with S&P Ratings but the Gildners moved to Charlotte over the summer. The deadline for the next notes is Jan. 20. Send info. — Nick Imgrund; 314-775-7364; daimgrund@yahoo.com

 

13JD Reunion Recap

 

Thanks to everyone who attended the Class of 2013's five-year reunion: Kelli Mulder, Mark Molter, Matt Liebert, Grace Donovan, Megan Olmstead, Andrew Mathews, Ana-Paola Capaldo Escandell, Julie Araskog, Ryan Fulkerson, Lisa Fulkerson, Robert Cross, Lauren Riley Nunez, Jeff Nunez, Joseph Ganahl, Janae Lopes, John Iwanski, Shaun Kelly, Josh Kutch, and Matt DiCianni. Apologies if I forgot anyone but I am five years older than when I was a fresh-brained law graduate, and I am writing this note at the last minute as per usual. Oh, wait Joseph Miller was there too. Joanne Nachio reports she got engaged to Harrison St. Germain ’12JD in September at the Hollywood Brown Derby at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World. I would have said Disney World, but it's important to be Disney-specific when it comes to Joanne. They are planning their wedding for Notre Dame's 2019 bye week. Joanne recently started a new job at McAlplin Conroy PA in Miami, where she practices admiralty and maritime litigation. There’s an Arrested Development joke in there somewhere but I haven't watched that show since I binged it when I should have been studying for the bar, more than five years ago. Send me updates. — Alex Blair; apblair@gmail.com 

 

14 Wedding Bells

 

Margaret Pickard and fellow grad Daniel Gomez tied the knot on Aug. 11 in St. Louis. They had quite the Notre Dame alumni crew in attendance: Devlin Anes, Noni Brown, Ashley Bowman, Katelyn Campbell, Brenna Carlson, Dayna Evans, Nathan Evans, Addison Genenbacher, Addison Gomez, Greg Goodman, Mary Catherine Holt, David Howe, Kelly Keenan, Allie Kuhl, Dustin Liaw, Michelle Luna, Cameron Pickard ’19, Margaret Pickard (Margaret’s mom), Dea Satrio, Megan Schlitt, Tom Schroeder, Mike Stankiewicz, Hannah Yu and Ziming Yuan. They even had a “Marry Like a Champion Today” sign that they smacked on the way to the dance floor. Kaitlyn Kernicky and Christopher Trumbetta got hitched on Oct. 20^. If you didn’t know what a cookie table was before the wedding, then yinz guys surely know now. Michael Duggan and Shannon Lewry ’14, ’18JD were married on Aug. 18. They got to know each other while serving dinner at the South Bend Center for the Homeless, where they volunteered on Tuesday nights. With a little help from an SYR, great friends, and football tailgates, they started dating during their senior year and haven’t looked back. Sammy Bungum married Monica Lopez on Oct. 7 in Minneapolis. They moved to the Boston area as part of Monica's role as customer account manager at General Mills. — Michael Nichols; miketnicholsii@gmail.com

 

14MBA Class Secretary — Jessica Bonanno;

 

407-808-7148; jbonanno@alumni.nd.edu; Krick Cahill; 518-598-4222; kcahill1@alumni.nd.edu

 

14JD Dreams Come True

 

“Summer lovin’ having a blast” was taken very seriously this quarter. Law school couple Christina Sindoni and Henri Ciocca were married on Sept. 22 in Long Beach Island NJ. Was it the ND-theme flag, groom’s cake and groomsmen socks or the couple’s choreographed routine to “Dreams Come True” that gave ND its Wake Forest victory? It is hard to say, but attendees Mary Liz Brady, Kevin Battle, Reid Smith, Charles Vargo, Hannah Brothers, Heather Murphy, Laura Aronsson, and Lena Brinjikji agree that #boomcioccalockedup was a magical event. Wedding bells also rang for Patrick Cassidy and Melissa Bieri in Holland MI. Jason Cellier, Jon Heintz, and William McClintock joined Pat on this memorable day. They will likely also join him when he takes Melissa to her first Notre Dame game. On to babies. Congrats to Christina and Tom Giardina (and big brother Mark) on the birth of Jacob Thomas Giardina. Jacob’s favorite pastimes include sleeping and spitting up on new clothes. Special congrats also to Nikki Watson Abercrombie and Nick Abercrombie on the birth of Vanessa Nicole Abercrombie. Vanessa is also a fan of sleeping, as well as showering her big sister with smiles. Moving on to miscellaneous news, we send a special shout out to Maggie May Tague for her recent move back to South Bend to work in the law school. Maggie raised the “number of people from our class in town by 33 percent,” says Libby ArcTan. With our reunion coming up, this gives us an advantage. Shout out also to Elizabeth Scarola, who is still chasing her dreams and practicing health care law with her recent move to join Epstein Becker Green. Elizabeth is also one of the few who knows where to go to read my updates, so she will always get a special mention. That about wraps it up. I mentioned in the last column that I linked a sign-up for your email addresses, so I can send out updates for our upcoming reunion. As it turns out, the school will not post links in the online version of the magazine. As such, I will post the sign-up in our Facebook group. Have a great day. — Rachel Hanley; rachelhanley@gmail.com

 

15 Catching Up with Classmates

 

Kate (Disser) and Harrison Yates are very excited to have gotten married in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart on June 29. The wedding party included several Domers from the Class of 2015: Mike Noelke, John Hollkamp, Josh Bindon, Nick Organ, Katelyn Doering, Elizabeth Leader, and Rebecca Kudija, as well as Sadie Yates ’18, Griffin Yates ’21, and the father of the bride, Tom Disser ’81. To make the experience even more Irish, Harrison and Kate went to Ireland for their honeymoon. Updates from Maria McMullen: Alexandra Amorati, Amanda Bellomo, Joseph Copp and Maria went on an excursion to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon last spring. Highlights of the trip included unlimited salsa at Baja Fresh and a snowstorm. Also, though she is far too modest to write it herself, her friends aren’t. Our new Class Notes organizer Emily Flores tied the knot with Stephen Lovins in the Costa Rican jungle in August. Maddy Skorcz got married to Palmer Ferguson in June and celebrated with many ND family members and friends. Marielle Blumenthaler got engaged to Evan Reidy while in her final year of optometry school at Ohio State. Miranda Madrid started school at the U of Texas - Austin to get her master’s in marine science. Tricia Ryan began an MBA program at U of Chicago Booth School of Business. Jeannette Kim, Morgan McCann, and Caroline Valenzuela went to Europe together in September. They kayaked fjords in Norway, drank beers at Oktoberfest in Munich, and “czeched” out beautiful Prague. Aleshia (Faulstich) ’15, ’18MDiv and Steven Brus ’11, ’17 were married on Aug. 4, 2017. Right after our graduation, Aleshia went into the Master of Divinity program at ND and graduated in ’18. They recently moved to Los Alamos NM and had their first little girl, Grace Marie, on July 9. She’s being raised as a true ND fan and already had her first trip to campus for her baptism at the Log Chapel in September. — Emily Flores; Alexandria VA; eflores2@alumni.nd.edu

           

15JD Weddings, Baby, Ironman

 

Wedding season continues for the Class of 2015. Molly Nick married Brett Heber on July 14 in Chicago. They honeymooned in South Africa and went cage diving with great white sharks. It was a romantic and courageous way to start married life. Molly and Brett are living in safer waters in Wicker Park, Chicago and Molly is practicing as a plaintiff’s personal injury lawyer in Chicago. Annie McKeon and Andrew Pomranke said “I do” at home under the Dome on a rainy day in July. Several NDLS classmates attended and, in proper ND fashion, closed down the Linebacker at the end of the night. The only casualty to the dance floor was half of a pant leg belonging to the bride’s brother. Annie and Andrew live in Chicago. Andrew is a private equity associate at Robes & Gray and Annie is an energy regulatory associate at Quarles & Brady. Nicole Tewolde married David Dormon in September in Chicago. An all-star cast of NDLS alums attended, but the best dancer ward went to Bryce Rucker ’14JD. After their wedding, Nicole and David left Chicago for the East Coast and moved to New York City. In Chicago, Nicole worked as a risk analyst at Braintree, a subsidiary of PayPal. Two other classmates got hitched this summer. Matt Jones married Monica Dougherty and Brendan Gibson married Amanda Perme. Ashely and Ruben Gonzalez will always remember the 21st night of September. The happy couple welcomed their first child, Adelaide Colette, on Sept. 21. Ruben is a product liability litigator at Faegre Baker Daniels in Chicago. He serves as co-chair of the firm’s Diverse Lawyers Resource Group and participates on the Special Olympics Illinois Leaders Counsel. After many months of training, Mary Shepro completed an Ironman in October. Apparently, practicing big laws is not enough punishment for Mary. She swam 6.2 miles, biked 112 miles, and ran 26.2 miles in the rain. Mary is an associate at DLA Piper in Chicago. Please send me updates on other exciting accomplishments and developments in your lives. — Alisa Finelli; 202-321-3731; alisafinelli@gmail.com 

 

16 It’s a Marathon, Not a Sprint

 

Whether you heard this from fans on the race course or parents at the night game tailgates, we’re proud of you for your strength and determination this past fall. Congrats to Mary Susan Kaetzer for running the Detroit Half, Michelle Feeney and Erin Bishop for running the Columbus Marathon, and Ellie Hoban for running the Cape Cod Marathon. Ted Cogan and Cooper Cohen ran the Chicago Marathon along with several other classmates. I’ve forgotten who else, but I probably liked your post-race Instagrams. Cooper also managed to compete in the Chicago Triathlon and the Boulder Ironman, and then went on to win Leon’s Triathlon. Audrey Kelly ran marathon after marathon after marathon, coming out on top as the first overall female in the Brooklyn Marathon, the Hamptons Marathon, and the 10K on Governor’s Island. You go girl. McKenzie Hightower started at Georgetown Law in the fall on a merit scholarship to pursue public interest law. Some of my other smart friends in law school are Michelle Wadolowski also at Georgetown, Connor Hayes at Stanford, Sarah Morris at UC Berkeley, Candace Castillo at St. Mary’s U in Texas, and Graham Pilotte at Notre Dame. Michael McLean has been working since graduation as an environmental and safety engineer at a manufacturing plant in Murphy NC. He transferred in September within the company to their plant in Torrance CA. He’s currently completing his online master's in biological and agricultural engineering through North Carolina State U. We had a few beautiful engagements on campus this fall. Congratulations to Kathryn Ruffolo and Philip Allen, Katie McCarty and Daniel Huggins, and Erin Rice and Hunter Smith. If you want to smile, find Erin’s post on the Dogspotting Facebook page about the puppies who were there to help them celebrate. Not on campus but still just as beautiful, congratulations to Matt Boomer and Elaine Landi on their engagement. Stay tuned for the column next September when we announce their wedding. Lindsey (Paris) and Andrew Lasher got married in July 2017. They’ve since bought a house and moved to Plainfield IN, near Indianapolis, and as we write this, they were expecting a baby at the end of October. Audrey Tatum and Jake Wardach married in July in New Orleans at the school where she taught during her ACE years. He’s a Michigan grad but we’re very excited for them. #WouldntitbeSteiss if I shared that Maggie Schmid and Jake Steiss ’17MEd celebrated their wedding in July after she graduated from ACE. Jessica (Keane) and Thomas Deranek married in June on Signal Mountain in Chattanooga, spent some time honeymooning in Hawaii and then moved to Overland Park KS. Jay LaFave married his high school sweetheart, Emily, in Denver in August. Brian Harrington would like you to know that Notre Dame has a camera on top of the Dome, and when you’re missing campus, you can watch live at dome.nd.edu. Tommy Schneeman can almost dunk a basketball on a good day and can also claim the title of Chicago’s Verified Laughs October Champion. To clarify on a comment I made months ago, it’s nice to learn that Brian Cimons did not in fact quit his job to play golf, but he is the 2018 Lake Isle Club Champion, shooting two under on the back nine to erase a three-shot deficit and take first place. Since they’re rebuilding McKenna Hall next year, I’ve moved desks. Come visit me on the lower level of Duncan Student Center in our VenueND office. As always, let me know what you’re up to. I’ll find out on social media anyway. Email me. I’d love to hear from you. — Bridget Doyle; bdoyle3@alumni.nd.edu

 

17 Finding Their Footing

 

I write this in the fall, when our beloved football team has yet to lose a game, so I hope you are reading this under a cozy blanket watching an incredible last game despite your busy schedules. Though that might be presumptuous, I know they are packed because I see how busy your classmates are. Without further ado, in her free time, Sophia Hooper volunteers as the creative services director for Movemeant Foundation, a non-profit organization that believes everybody is meant to move and raises funds to support their national body-positive middle school programs and international scholarships. Sophia creates graphics for Movemeant’s retail line, social media, and signature We Dare to Bare fitness festivals. To learn more, visit movemeantfoundation.org. Caitlin Murphy founded Cait’s nOMs in February 2018. These vegan, gluten-free energy bites are for sale at a Lake Forest yoga studio as well as Chicago Raw, a vegan restaurant in the city. She believes in the power of food to create community and to remind all of us of our interconnectedness to ourselves, to one another and to nature. Her hope is that people take the time to savor each nOM and are inspired to cultivate meaningful lives full of purpose, joy, and laughter. While some classmates are starting their own businesses or volunteering, we also have many individuals who have headed back to school. Last year Caitlin O’Loughlin was conducting HIV-related behavioral health research in Philadelphia. During that time, she co-authored 11 posters and presentations and published her first paper as first author this fall. She also started her own business, CO Candle Co. on Etsy. In August, she returned to ND to pursue her PhD in clinical psychology and will be working in the ASSIST (Affect, Suicide, Self-Injury and Social Triggers) lab under Dr. Brooke Ammerman. Frankie Wamsley also headed back to school after working at a residential home for foster children. There, he was the surrogate dad for 12 kids aged 7-11 which validated his desire to be a social worker. He is currently in his first year at the U of Cincinnati Social Work Program. He is interning with a foster care mentoring initiative and working for a program called LEND, Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities. In his spare time, he Ubers, visits dog parks (without a dog), and cooks meals using the two saucepans he owns since he refuses to buy a pot. Frankie will marry Rachel Thome in January. Other weddings that have happened since graduation include Kathleen Nester and Will Kasburg, Olivia Mogaka and Dougie Barnard ’15, ’18JD, Julia Murray and Lukas O’Donnell, and Brendan Galloway and Tabi Healy. All got through the multitudes of people calling in and wed at the Basilica. Those who tied the knot but did not make ND the destination are Arianna Rominski and Josh Dulany, Chelsea Padro and Joshua Broxson, Madeline Lewis and Michael Infantine ’16, Margaret McDevitt and Pat McMahon, Clare Carmody and Jack Connors, Emily Burns and Luke McVeigh, Luke Garrison and Makayla Pitney, Ana Guzman and Drew Walker, Walker Carlson and Kathryn Koch. Congrats are in order for those who have gotten engaged, including Sienna Wodwik and Aaron Bode, Eric Marasco and Claire Kampman, Henry Dickman and Ally Scruggs, Emily Foernssler and Josiah Williams, Patrick Connelly and Maureen Tracey, James Koci and Alyssa Mazurek, and Travis Wert and Emily Lenahan. If you would like to be included in the class update or know someone who should be featured, feel free to email. — Celanire Flagg; cflagg@alumni.nd.edu