2011 – Spring ’22 Class Letter
Dear Class of 2011,
Greetings! I come bearing zero gifts. Sorry. I did just see the Uncharted movie and honestly, it was pretty decent. It was a fun, adventure-type movie without requiring much thinking. So, if you’re in the mood for something easy, I’d suggest it. Based on that review I don’t see much of a future in movie criticism for me, so here are a few updates from the College for this upcoming year.
Set aside the weekend of June 23 to June 26, 2022, for Alumni Weekend. It’s not a reunion year but the College still gives us “free” beer! Better to drink on their dime than on our own! Fun fact, Alumni Weekend registration opens April 1 online and we can register for the whole weekend for a modest amount and eat and drink to our heart’s content.
From July 2020 to July 2021, our Class had a total of 20.31% participation in donations made to the Ripon Fund. I think that’s an exceptional accomplishment, especially given the circumstances and uncertainty we’ve all been enduring the past year. Obviously, it’d be awesome if we can get the number higher. Any donation counts towards participation so I encourage everyone to participate if they can. Thanks to all those who participated this past year in any way, shape, or form. This year, #OneDayRally is set for Wednesday, April 27.
Entering year three of the COVID-19 pandemic, I find myself reflecting on what this past year (and, really, the whole pandemic) has done to my own relationships – professional and personal. I know I’ve lost touch with some people I wish I hadn’t, that my friendships have changed in how they look, and even my own actions and reactions to things have changed. Just a friendly reminder to go easy on yourself – everyone reacts differently and I think it’s safe to say that we’ve never experienced something like this before nor have any of our role models. We’re all sorta just figuring it out as we go. So be kind to yourself.
I hope you continue to stay healthy and happy and that you consider reaching out to me and maybe to someone you haven’t in a while. I’d welcome the chat and I’m sure they would, too!
Class Notes:
AMANDA HASSEN ’11 of Deerfield, Illinois, recently got promoted to Lead Operations Data Specialist! (SHANE’s note: Congratulations!) She also has a trip planned to Paris this spring after postponing four times over the last two years.
PATTY DETERMAN TAKAWIRA ’11 of Henderson, Minnesota, shares that if she suddenly woke up as JORDAN SALZER O’BRIEN ’11 Freak Friday style, she would immediately run to her enormous pantry filled with 1,000 different kinds of candy and eat it in her kitchen that had been meticulously cleaned by BRENDAN O’BRIEN ’11. Then, PATTY (in JORDAN’s body) would get into her nice car, also meticulously vacuumed and polished, drive to Minnesota, and figure out how to get her regular body back.
CARISSA TURK ERICKSON ’11 and her husband, GRANT ERICKSON ’09, bought a house in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, and moved there in April 2021 with their three sons. GRANT owns his own law practice and CARISSA is working for the YMCA of Dane County.
SARA SISCO ’11 of Bothell, Washington, married her best friend, Mike Newman, in the summer of 2020. They live in the woods with their two Vizslas, Dexter and Dobbins. They are expecting their first baby this spring. SARA recently was promoted to Senior Manager of Mobility Education & Outreach at a Seattle-based non-profit.
NICK OSENBERG ’11 of Royal Oak, Michigan, is continuing to teach high school drama during a pandemic. He shares that it is super fun with the ever-changing COVID-19 regulations and diminishing respect for the teaching profession. In what little spare time he has, he has begun reading again with a special interest in books by the classicists. He’s currently listening to the 2004 tour version of Mamma Mia since he’s scenic designing it in the spring. NICK also suggests that his favorite book is “A Fatal Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: Murder in Ancient Rome” by Emma Southon. He’s hoping to go to NYC to see the Funny Girl revival and to Toronto in the near future. (SHANE’s note: He answered one of my prompts rather inappropriately so if you’d like to know what he said about his Freaky Friday experience, text me).
KRISTIN MERKER GREENBERG ’11 of Chicago, Illinois, shares that Baby Greeny is expected in April of 2022!
ZACH SMITH ’11 of St. Louis, Missouri, shared that he got hitched, got a new dog (SHANE’s note: He put a “?” after this so the jury’s out on whether he actually did get a new dog), and “ef the man.”
TIFFANY SEERING WATERS ’11 of Ormond Beach, Florida, shares that she’s a science teacher at Seabreeze High! Go CRABS! She and her family are living on the Atlantic side of Florida and mention that nothing is better than sand and surf. TIFFANY also got to see her two best friends, CANDACE ELLEFSON DORO ’11 and CASSY ZUMMALLEN ’11, and that none of them feel as old as they are and, in fact, it felt like they were just walking through Johnson Hall yesterday.
MISSY MEIERHOFER ’11 has been working as a postdoctoral researcher at the Finnish Museum of Natural History in Helsinki, Finland. Her current project is focused on identifying viruses carried by bats found in Finland. Since she’s been in Finland for a couple of years now, she’s grown accustomed to the ways of sauna and ice swimming. Her future travel plans include more traveling around Europe and hopefully Japan. MISSY is likely going to end up in the U.S. in August for a conference and is excited to visit family in Wisconsin.
AMBER RICO ’11 is working in Madison, Wisconsin, for Thermo Fisher.
ANGELA AUDLEY ’11 of Cedarburg, Wisconsin, started her MBA this year. She’s working in the lab at Kemps Dairy and has a new horse named Gent that she’s currently riding.
Take care and stay healthy,
SHANE ROEBER ’11
M: (262) 617-7707 / H: (262) 695-0555
Your 2011 Class Agent