CLASS NOTES | SUMMER 2024 | 73 wanted to join the Peace Corps ever since high school, when she first learned of the program and became aware of some of the ethnic conflicts in the world. Her motivation grew at Lehigh through her psych and HMS courses as she learned more about human development across cultures, global health disparities and health psychology. She applied to the Peace Corps in 2020 but, due to COVID, had a three-year wait time until new volunteers were accepted to restart programs. During this time, she found work in the behavior analysis side of education, which has provided her with additional tools for her current position. Varen says, “Ke thabile go bolela le lena, re tlo bolela kapela” (“I am happy to speak with you; we will talk again soon!”). We wish Våren the best during her remaining time serving in the Peace Corps. We are also happy to announce that Eve Freed will join Skyler as a class correspondent. While at Lehigh, Eve studied mechanical engineering, design, theater and entrepreneurship in the IDEAS program. Outside of class, you could find her pursuing her passion of community building as the Student Senate president and an Office of First Year Experience orientation coordinator. After graduation, Eve accomplished her dream of moving to California. After three years working in product marketing at VMware, she’s recently started a new job on Cisco’s cybersecurity product marketing team. Now living in San Francisco, Eve has taken on many hobbies that involve California’s incredible natural surroundings. Having camped in five out of nine national parks in the state, she hopes to check the remaining four parks off her list this coming year. Eve became a class correspondent to get more involved with the Lehigh alumni network and is looking forward to reconnecting with peers. Please feel free to reach out to Eve or Skyler to share exciting life updates and achievements. ’22 Clare Fonstein, clf222@alum. lehigh.edu Hi, Class of 2022! I hope everyone is doing well wherever they may be. One of our classmates, Dave Jha, has kept his entrepreneurial hustle going since graduation. You may remember the launch of an app he developed, called Hungry Hawks, on campus our senior year of college. The app is designed to limit food waste and address food insecurity at schools. Using the app, people on a college campus can post when there is leftover food from club meetings or events, and others in the campus community can find it to take what is left. While working at Netflix as a software engineer, Dave has expanded Hungry Hawks to more universities including the University of Southern California and the University of Michigan, and the app now has over 2,600 users. Another one of our peers, Isabel Heslin, graduated with a master’s in archaeological studies from Yale in May. At Yale, her studies focused on the evolution of the human diet in eastern Africa. In the master’s program, Isabel spent a summer in Malawi working on an archaeological project looking into the hunter and gatherer diet and behavior. She will be returning to Malawi—which she described as the highlight of her master’s program—this summer to organize what has been excavated. In the fall, Isabel will start her Ph.D. in anthropology at Colorado State University and said she is excited to venture beyond the East Coast to the Rocky Mountains. She made a special note that her Lehigh professors have continued to be her biggest cheerleaders as she progresses in her education. Congrats to Dave and Isabel on their accomplishments! As always, feel free to reach out to me with any life updates you would like to share—or to just connect! ’23 Editor’s note: We’d like to welcome Declan Coster to the role of correspondent! He can be reached at declanmcoster@gmail.com. ’24 Samantha Gropper, shg224@ lehigh.edu Hello, Lehigh community! I hope everyone is having a great start to the new year. It’s hard to believe that graduation has come and gone for the Class of 2024. Not many people can say they began their college experience in the middle of a global pandemic. Still, despite COVID restrictions, campus quarantines and social distancing, we have managed to overcome the unique circumstances and obstacles that impacted the beginning of our Lehigh experience. It has been such a rewarding experience to be the correspondent for the Class of 2024. I’ve been able to connect with so many students with different interests, experiences, hobbies and paths at Lehigh. I’ve also connected with various alumni and other individuals who were interested in learning more about the Class of 2024. As I write my final correspondence as a Lehigh undergraduate, I want to thank everyone who has read and stayed engaged with our graduating class. I know that the Class of 2024 is grateful for the memories, experiences and opportunities we’ve been afforded at Lehigh. From opportunities working with the UN to traveling around the world on educational trips and taking on leadership roles throughout campus, there are so many experiences students have engaged with at Lehigh and beyond. I enjoyed hearing about the variety of opportunities and lessons learned from these different programs and different individuals. I know we will all carry what we’ve learned at Lehigh to the next stages of our lives. I’m excited to bring the Lehigh spirit to the next chapter of my life. The Lehigh alumni network has always been so supportive of our class endeavors, from speaking with different students to attending networking events or hosting professional development workshops. I know the Class of 2024 is looking forward to supporting future undergraduates and helping others through our Lehigh connections. Lehigh has prepared our class for the next chapter of our lives—whether entering the workforce, continuing education, traveling, volunteering or still figuring out the next steps. I know the Class of 2024 will do amazing things and make the Lehigh community proud. Again, thank you, all, for staying engaged with our graduating class! Editor’s note: Many thanks to Sammie for all she has done to share her class’s stories through their undergraduate years. Kyra Boston will be taking over as the class enters the alumni community. She can be reached at kruthb11@gmail.com. ’25 Stephanie Kasulka, sek225@lehigh.edu ’26 Amanda Rowan, abr226@lehigh.edu Hello, Lehigh! It’s great to be back with yet another column and crazy to say that I have finished my sophomore year! As exciting as that is, it’s also bittersweet knowing that I only have two years left here. I’m halfway done (insert crying emoji). Anyway, I can’t get too
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