CLASS NOTES | SUMMER 2024 | 71 ate a display of colors ranging from red and pink to green and turquoise. The mountain has an elevation of 17,000 feet. She said her highlight of Guatemala was climbing Acatenango, which consisted of a six-hour steep incline up to base camp followed by an additional hour and a half up to climb up an active volcano, where she witnessed a volcanic eruption from 600 meters away! She said, “Witnessing the raw power of nature’s fury amidst the serene beauty of the Guatemalan landscape is a memory that will live in my head forever!” Finally, our 10-year reunion is coming up next June! If you are on Instagram, make sure to follow us at @lehigh15reunion. If you are not on Instagram, you can email me, and I’ll make sure your contact info is updated so you can get the email updates as well. ’16 Rachel Sholder, rachelsholder@ gmail.com Matt Feinman proposed to his fiancée on Dec. 28, 2023, while scuba-diving 40 feet below sea level. The two are celebrating his fiancée being 25 years cancer free by participating in a 10-week fundraising campaign full of events, raffles and giveaways. Visit this website to learn more: pages.lls.org/voy/nyc/nyc24/ mfeinman. Since graduating from Lehigh, Cheyenne Begley has been working in the medical device industry in various roles (at GE Healthcare and at Integra LifeSciences). She graduated from Cornell with a master’s of engineering in 2019 and is currently studying at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, where she will graduate this June with an MBA. Recently, Cheyenne summited Mount Kilimanjaro on March 14, 2024; it is the highest point in Africa and globally the highest free-standing mountain. ’17 Robert Hillman, robert.j.hillman1@ gmail.com Hello, Class of ’17! I hope this summer is going well for everyone. I’ve seen many posts on the @lehigh_youngalumni Instagram of alumni getting together in cities all around. There have been a few tagged ’17 members in those posts, and it is great to see that our class is involved in hosting Lehigh alumni events. Speaking of, there are many members of the Class of ’17 on Lehigh’s Young Alumni Council as well. Congrats to all of them for their positions and commitment to Lehigh! I have reached out to a few classmates and am looking forward to sharing their spotlights in future columns. To start, I got in touch with Jenn Bateman, who is currently living in Rutland, Mass. Back at Lehigh, Jenn earned her B.S. in biology, and she did all of the classwork for a minor in environmental science. (The only difference between her minor in envi sci and mine is that I filed paperwork for it, but this column recognizes her achievement, for what it’s worth.) In her spare time, she played on the club water polo and was a member of the Lehigh University EMS. For the past six years, Jenn has been an ER tech at a level 1 trauma center. She worked on the frontline through the pandemic while also volunteering as a vaccinator with the medical reserve corps. She did OR and ER shadowing, she earned her master’s degree in public health, and in August, she will be starting a physician assistant studies M.S. program at Ithaca College! In any spare time she has left after all of that, Jenn does ski patrol each winter at multiple mountains, rock climbs, plays co-ed indoor soccer, hikes, camps and is generally outdoors. We wish Jenn all the best as she takes this next step in her career. Best of luck with the two-year program! I was always so impressed by our classmates who took on the responsibility of being on LUEMS. It is awesome to see that the people on that team have gone on to do amazing things. To close, I wanted to share that I once again had a chance encounter with a Lehigh alum— this time, in Florida. I happened to be wearing the brown and white LU baseball cap and a member of the Class of ’23 leaned over and asked if I was a fellow classmate of hers. She was in the college program at Walt Disney World, had graduated from Lehigh and moved right down to Orlando. It is always fun to connect with Lehigh alumni wherever I go, so please keep doing it because I’ll keep writing about it. Please get in touch with me about whatever you want to share with our classmates. We would love to hear from you! Email me at robert.j.hillman1@ gmail.com, find me on social media or go to alumni.lehigh. edu to connect with the alumni relations network! ’18 Megan Olivola, meolivola@gmail. com ’19 Alexis Parsells, lex. parsells@gmail.com and Claudia Cohen, claudiacohen10@gmail.com Dixie Miller’s journey since graduation has been nothing short of remarkable. After a year at Eurofins in Lancaster, Pa., honing her skills in microbiology testing, she embarked on her medical school odyssey at Penn State College of Medicine in 2020. Throughout medical school, Dixie’s academic prowess shone brightly, but it was her dedication to community service and extracurricular initiatives that truly set her apart. Founding “Band Together,” a student organization aimed at providing exercise courses for senior citizens, exemplifies her commitment to community well-being. With more than 12 locations and 200-plus members, the impact is palpable. But Dixie’s involvement didn’t stop there. From coaching a local volleyball team to participating in the Global Health Scholars Program in São Paulo, Brazil, her passion for making a difference transcends borders. Her dedication to addressing substance use care and sexual assault advocacy underscores her commitment to holistic patient care. Amidst her academic and community engagements, Dixie found time for personal growth, adopting her first pet, Chunk, a chinchilla with a penchant for treats and ear scratches. And now, as she embarks on the next chapter of her journey, Dixie has matched into her top program choice, OBGYN at UPMC Harrisburg, setting her sights on a potential subspecialty in minimally invasive gynecological surgery. Despite her rigorous schedule, Dixie still finds solace in her cherished pastime of hunting with her father, showcasing the balance she maintains between her professional and personal passions. As she steps into the world of OBGYN, Dixie Miller’s journey is poised to continue its trajectory of excellence and impact. Lauren Pyfer’s journey is a testament to her unwavering commitment to making a difference in health care and beyond. Graduating from Lehigh with a B.S. in biology in 2019, she wasted no time diving into her passion for health care by starting the health care systems engineering master’s program at Lehigh on a prestigious presidential scholarship the following semester. With her sights set on eventually applying to medical school, Lauren recognized the value of a systems engineering degree in addressing complex challenges within health care. The tools and skills she acquired through the program provided her with a unique perspective to analyze health
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