1994-Spring ’19 Class Letter
Class Agent:
Kimberly Woolley ’94
www.facebook.com/kimbo.woolley
www.linkedin.com/in/kimberly-woolley-a903959
Spring 2019
Greetings, Class of 1994!
I hope you are all doing well. I returned to campus in February during the Polar Vortex for trustee meetings. It was a good reminder that I am a wimpy Californian now unable to withstand killer temperatures (literally). I am really looking forward to returning to campus in June when it should be warmer!
June 27-30, 2019 is Alumni Weekend and the 25th year reunion for the Class of 1994. I hope you will join me in celebrating this milestone. Here are a few fun reasons to join me:
- I plan to puzzle over the question of how I got this old this quickly while drinking beers and eating Roadhouse – it’s still there and the mozzarella sticks are still delicious. In addition, the town of Ripon has improved since we graduated and now includes J’s BBQ; it has great pulled pork and is run by two cool women. So you won’t go hungry!
- If you eat a lot at Roadhouse and J’s, you then need to visit the newish Willmore Health and Wellness Center (former Storzer Center). Many of our classmates contributed to the fund to build the Willmore Center, which is named after one of Ripon’s very successful female alums, DENA WILLMORE 67. It’s unrecognizable as Storzer and is now a beautiful, airy fitness center.
- Those were the carrots and now the stick. If you don’t come, CARRIE ROCA- DAWSON ’94 wants me to remind you that you won’t be able to defend yourself against the pictures from the 90s. There was no social media when we went to school but there’s nothing to stop us loading old photos to websites at the reunion…
If you come to the reunion, please come with an appetite, stories from the good ol’ days and funny photos. I’ll hit you up for money for our class gift in a separate letter.
Class Notes:
Thank you to the classmates who reached out to me with updates. Here are what some of our classmates are up to:
MIKE BASILE ’94 retired as the coach for the Pewaukee High School boys basketball team after his twins graduated from Pewaukee and headed off to college.
MICHELLE BENEDICT ’94 of Honolulu Oahu, Hawaii, spends up to 20 hours a week teaching tricks to puffer fish at the Dolphin Quest in Hawaii. She has taught over 15 species and more than 50 individual fish impressive cognitive games that can take between a few sessions and a few months. Her video of a trained puffer fish has gone viral with over 13 million views. Read more at: https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/wellness/any-fin-is-possible-meet-the-reel-y-obedient-fish-who-can-perform-tricks-from-swimming-through-hoops-to-recognising-shapes-and-colours/vi-BBLU3Eb
KATHY BRADY HAUSCHILD ’94 of Tustin California is working as a Senior Environmental Scientist at APTIM, an engineering and construction firm. Her work includes groundwater and soil remediation reporting, Phase I environmental site assessments, Phase II environmental site assessments, asbestos and lead reporting, soil gas surveys, storm water reporting, compliance, and health and safety.
TODD JOHNSON ’94 was featured in a short documentary film about veterans working in the National Park Service. He works as a park ranger and social media coordinator for the Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area in Lovell, Wyoming. Todd also wrote a blog titled
“President Trump Needs to make some Huuuge Changes, and Soon.” My favorite line from
the blog is “The Trump decision-making matrix seems to have more in common with an Etch-A-Sketch than a deliberative process”. You can read the full blog at:
https://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/the-administration/335317-president-trump-needs-
o-make-some-huuuge-changes-and
Oscar Nominated Film from Ripon Alumna
This has nothing to do with our class but I think it’s very cool so sharing in case you missed it. DIANE MOY QUON ‘79 has received an Academy Award nomination as a producer of the independent documentary film “Minding the Gap.” Quon majored in economics at Ripon. By the time you read this, she may have won the Oscar for Feature Documentary. The film portrays three young men who bond together to escape volatile and violent families in their hometown in Illinois. You can watch it on Hulu and hopefully on Netflix soon. We watched it with a group of friends recently and enjoyed it.
All the best,
Kimberly