1997 – Fall ’19 Class Letter

Kristin Bazzoli Piotrowski ’97 

 414-841-8577 / [email protected] 

 

Hello, Class of 1997. I hope this newsletter finds all of you well and enjoying the summer. It started late in Wisconsin, but it has turned out to be a beautiful one.

For those of you who attended Alumni Weekend at the end of June, I hope you enjoyed your time back in Ripon and on campus. I heard it was a fun weekend! 

Great things continue to happen on the Ripon College campus, as you will read in this edition of R Connections. I encourage you to visit https://www.ripon.edu/news/ often to learn about what is happening at our alma mater. You can also go to class pages through https://www.ripon.edu/rconnections/ and see updates from alumni from around the world and from every class year. Another wonderful way to stay connected is through local alumni events. There are a lot of fun outings planned over the next few months. Check them out at https://www.ripon.edu/rally-hours-regional-events/

Don’t forget to send along any news or updates to your contact information to me anytime. You also can connect with our class on Facebook via the closed group “Ripon College Class of 1997.”

Wishing you a wonderful summer, fall and winter!

KRISTIN

GAVIN ZASTROW ’97 published a book, A Marshland of His Own, through Orange Hat Publishing, in November 2018. Summary: A Marshland of His Own is author Gavin Zastrow’s first experience with death. Twenty-six years ago, Gavin’s friend committed suicide. One year later, Gavin decided at the urging of his friends, family and teachers to turn that experience from a short to a book. This book was written from the point of view of a high school student. Outside of grammatical changes and minor edits, all the thoughts and events hold true to that high school voice. A Marshland of His Own is divided into three parts: mourning, mending and moving on, which follows the grief process Gavin went through and how through that process he learned to heal and move on with his life. This event marked a turning point between the end of the naivety of childhood and the complexity of adulthood.