CLASS NOTES | FALL/WINTER 2025 | 55 ’02 Laura (Schwamb) Carino, lcarino@att.net ’03 Jessica DeSantis-Berg, jessicadesantis berg@yahoo.com Hi, everyone! Several folks have shared updates in the Class of 2003 FB group. Come join us and share your story! There we learned that one of my first-year hallmates, Rachel (Goodman) Walsh, moved to Washington 10 years ago. She works at Amazon, managing leadership development programs to support customer service leaders. Neil Raghoo shared that he moved from Germany to London 14 years ago. Then, in 2017, Neil took a role working in product development for Air Products. He is married to Maria Elizabeth Ulmer ’02G. Linda Sung also shared that while she did battery research in New Jersey, she is now teaching high school chemistry in the greater Boston area. She has three children. Thanks to Rachel, Neil and Linda for sharing! If you haven’t already, join the group and let us know what you’re up to! ’04 Michael Zurat, 202-549-2222; mzurat@icloud.com Greetings, Class of 2004! I hope this finds you thriving in your various corners of the world. It’s been an exciting year following the accomplishments of our classmates across many different fields. Carlos Barrera continues making headlines with Atlas Renewable Energy, recently securing nearly $180 million in financing for solar projects across Latin America. Not to be outdone, Dr. Halima Amjad has been featured on CNN as a leading expert on Alzheimer’s research! Speaking of making names for themselves, Gelsey Bell has been taking the experimental theater world by storm with her latest productions getting coverage in The New York Times. And our very own David Duquette is helping rebuild the Charlotte Hornets as director of basketball strategy! It’s remarkable to see how our paths have diverged since those days of cramming for finals in Linderman Library. From renewable energy CEOs to Broadway performers to NBA executives, we’ve certainly spread our wings. The Charlotte metro area seems to be a popular landing spot, with over a dozen classmates now calling it home. Keep the updates coming! Whether you’re closing million-dollar deals, performing on stage or just keeping up with the chaos of family life, we want to hear about it. Life moves fast, but staying connected makes the journey so much richer. Drop me a line with your news, career updates or recommendations for that next great vacation spot! Michael Zurat on social media at @mzurat on LinkedIn, @therealzur.bsky. social or via email at therealzur@icloud.com. ’05 Jessi (Schimmel) McMullan, jessi.mcmullan@ alum.lehigh.edu In June, over 50 classmates gathered on campus for the Reunion, and we had the best time. We started on Friday with HawktoberFest, ReunionFest and then our own special gathering at the F&A Groghouse (which used to be McGrady’s), with Aaron Browner deejaying! On Saturday, an intrepid part of the group marched in the rainy Parade of Classes. This was followed by the ice cream social (courtesy of Brendan Kelly and his Pop Pop’s Ice Cream Shoppe) in the new Clayton UC. It was so fun to watch the next generation run wild together. Then it was off to our class dinner at SteelStacks, where we competed to see who had traveled the farthest (Fafa and Akwete Bortei-Doku from Ghana)! In other news, Erin Iwaskiewicz sent me a note to catch us up on what she’s been doing since graduation. “I live in the seacoast region of New Hampshire and work as a video editor and motion designer with Van Wagner Sports & Entertainment. After graduating from Lehigh, I earned master’s degrees from Bucknell and Boston universities and spent six years as a college soccer coach before transitioning into creative production. I returned to Bethlehem to work for Lehigh’s Athletic Department for a few years, then moved to Boston, where I spent nearly a decade as the creative director for the America East Conference. “At Van Wagner, I now help create the in-venue shows for major sports events, and I’ve had the opportunity to work at the last two Super Bowls, NFL international games, MLB’s London and HRDX Series, the College Football Playoff and March Madness and just wrapped up my 10th Women’s Final Four this past April. “Outside of work, I enjoy hiking in the White Mountains and paddleboarding with my rescue pup, Frida. I still play some soccer and have stayed close with Shannon (Trexler) Gray and other LUWS alumni. I also would like to mention that I’m grateful to Lucy Gans and my other professors in the art department for laying the foundation that helped shape my path.” ’06 Kevin Frost, Kevin.Frost@ alum.lehigh.edu Hello, Class of 2006. I have a lot of fun updates for you this time. Thanks to everyone for contributing, and please keep them coming! I try to send a reminder email to everyone a few weeks before each deadline, but please email me at any time and I will save it for the next column. Michael O’Donnell checked in: “Last summer, my fiancée and I got married. We owe our introduction to fellow Lehigh alumnus and friend Victor Chiu ’04! We just purchased a house in Tarrytown, N.Y.” Jonathan Feldman and his wife, Vela, welcomed their first baby, Talia, in June! Luis Lizarazo, regional director for the East Coast at Trip.com Group, represented the Americas team with a live performance for an audience of 6,000 in Shanghai during the company’s 25th anniversary celebration. Sumona (Basu) DeGraaf checked in to say: “I started a company in 2022 to bring more humanity to the workplace, and the Lehigh roots run deep. On our team at Idealis is Allison Williams, former dean at Lehigh, and Mike Psathas (‘06 president), who is a board member for our firm. Stephanie (Martorelli) May sent the following: “I don’t have much news to share, but I have a fun story! I took my daughter to a show at Zoellner Arts Center recently, and I got to give her a quick driving tour of the campus. She enjoyed seeing where Mom went to school and hearing some of my stories about spending time at Zoellner back in my Lehigh days. It was a fun day!” Finally, I enjoyed another great golf trip to Scotland last summer. On the final evening, we stopped in St. Andrew’s to walk around and grab a pint at one of the many famous spots around the 18th hole. We were at the incredible rooftop bar at the Rusacks overlooking 17 and 18 when I spotted a Saucon Valley logo (Lehigh golf’s home course). And that led to an unexpected and very enjoyable conversation with fellow alums Patrick Donnelly ’17 and Matt Bonshak ’17. It was fun to swap golf and Lehigh stories with those guys at one of the best spots in the world—at least for a golfer. Just another reminder that Lehigh is a small and great community. Hopefully, we will all tee it up soon. ’07 Brian Roth, Lehighclas sof2007@gmail. com ’08 Olivier Lewis, olivier.lewis@ alum.lehigh.edu As customary, the Class of 2008 has many good tidings to share. First, we celebrate births. In May, Katy (Jacobson) Wilcox was joined by her child Grace Dallas Wilcox, and Christina (Deaver) Lawless welcomed
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