2003 – Fall ’20 Class Letter
Co-Class Agents:
LIZ MATELSKI ’03
(920) 475-7415 / [email protected]
ELAYNE MONNENS NORWEB ’03
(917) 509-4826 / [email protected]
Happy Fall, Class of 2003!
Students returned to campus this fall to a very different feel: masks, socially distanced classrooms, and some larger enrollments are taught in hybrid-learning or completely online formats. The College experience looks very different than when we first arrived at school, but the important things have stayed the same. Students will still receive a first-rate liberal arts education from a dedicated staff and faculty invested in their success and wellness in and out of the classroom.
EMILY HANSON BROOKS ’03 had her third baby on May 13, 2020—Odin Benjamin Brooks. Odin joins siblings Liam (4) and Hadley (2).
BRITT STEIGER FRANK ’03 and her husband, Dave, welcomed a baby girl on July 22, 2020. Grace joins her sister, Addy, and brother, David, at home.
MICHAEL FRITZ ’03 of Yuma, AZ was named Principal at Yuma High School in early August. He had been an Assistant Principal at Cibola High School for the last five years and was a teacher and coach at Cibola for 11 years prior to becoming an Assistant Principal.
BRIE TERRELL HADFIELD ’03 writes, “We’re still living in St. Louis and I’m a PA in Ortho Trauma. We’ve been working through COVID-19. Maya just turned 6 and Gracyn will be 3 ½ next week. Maya will be starting kindergarten in the kitchen in a couple weeks.”
ROB LENNOX ’03 writes, “My wife, Amy, and I had our first kid, Archer, at the end of January. Last month we purchased a house in Indianapolis and will be remodeling that. We’re not sure as to when we’ll actually be able to move out of Chicago as the house and its 10 acres needs extensive work. My wife has accepted a position at a local hospital, and I have started remotely as Manager of Operations at enVista, a logistics and consulting company in Indianapolis. We are excited to start this new adventure in Indy and attend future Ripon events there!”
ELIZABETH MATELSKI ’03 was promoted to Associate Professor of American History at Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts, where she has taught for the past four years.
ANNE NEGRI ’03 writes, “I completed my 10th year of teaching drama in the Evanston public schools as a K-8 educator. Despite the COVID-19 shutdown of the school in the spring, I still directed a full-length play written by one of my 8th-grade students as a radio drama that we recorded and released episodically through Google. Also, despite the pandemic, I got hitched this summer in a backyard wedding in a home I purchased in Skokie. It was movie-themed, of course, and the Zoom wedding opened with a half-hour movie/slideshow that my now-husband, Mark Lewinthal, and I created together.”
BRIDGET WHITEHOUSE THOMAS ’03 and her husband Matt welcomed their first baby, Griffin Martin Thomas, on August 11, 2019.
TONY VENEZIANO ’03 writes, “My wife, Kelly, and I moved into a new home this past weekend in Brownsburg, Indiana. While we have a bigger yard and an extra garage/workshop, the most important thing is, the house has a big garden window and 3-season room for Trinity, our cat.”
JENNIFER WHITE ’03 is a Flight Dynamics Engineer on an Earth-orbiting satellite called Landsat 8. It is operated by USGS, but it is based at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, Goddard has been shut down to all but essential personnel, so Jen has been working from home. In addition to maintaining the current satellite, Jen is also busy developing a new operations center and ground system to get ready for the Landsat 9 launch sometime next year. Last year she became certified as a Collision Avoidance Operations Engineer which is also based out of Goddard. They monitor potential collisions between NASA satellites and other satellites and space debris. Jen notes that she’s been very fortunate to continue doing both of these jobs exclusively from home.
Thank you again to everyone who continues to send updates. Remember that you don’t have to wait for the twice-a-year call for updates in order to share your latest news. Be sure to check out the online version of R Connections (www.ripon.edu/rconnections) where you can upload updates, photos, and more!
Liz
Elayne