2012 – Spring ’22 Class Letter
Greetings, Class of 2012!
Happy New Year, Class of 2012!
It has been great seeing so many updates on our Facebook group and beyond and, despite the past two years of the pandemic, it’s amazing seeing so many classmates thrive. Can you believe we will also be celebrating our 10-year Class Reunion this year? Please remember to save the dates of June 23-26, 2022, and we hope to see you on campus to reconnect in person and see the numerous upgrades around Ripon! During Alumni Weekend, in addition to celebrating our Reunion, we will also be recognizing three award winners from our Class of 2012. GISELA ORTEGA ’12 and ERIN SCHAICK ’12 are both being honored as the 2022 Outstanding Young Alumnae recipients. ARIS WURTZ ’12 is a 2022 Athletic Hall of Fame Inductee for his achievements on the basketball court. Congratulations to GISELA, ERIN, and ARIS! We look forward to celebrating with you at the 1851 Awards Dinner on Friday, June 24.
We are also actively looking for classmates to join me (BRANDON TAYLOR ’12) and ERIN SCHAICK ’12 as our Class Agents – please email ERIN and me to let us know you are interested!
Thank you to those who supported the College this past fiscal year (July 1, 2020 to June 30, 2021), especially those who supported the Ripon Fund, as well as #OneDayRally. We had 34 donors from our class and 2,773 total donors! #OneDayRally is scheduled for Wednesday, April 27, 2022, and more information regarding #OneDayRally will be forthcoming.
We hope you’re all safe, healthy, and ready to take on whatever you encounter in this new year!
Without further ado, here are the life updates you’ve shared with us recently:
HEATHER VANCUYK ANDERSON ’12 of Appleton, Wisconsin, had the opportunity to be a gestational surrogate and delivered a healthy baby last May. Heather and her husband will be celebrating ten years together this summer.
ARIEL DICKINSON ’12 of Madison, Wisconsin, welcomed a baby boy last July. Dorian is healthy, happy, and loves music. She has been working at Epic for six years now and still loves training there.
SHARON KLAPPERICH DOLL ’12 of Green Bay, Wisconsin, had the opportunity to take over the Advanced Placement Literature and Composition course at the school where she teaches. She could not love it more and has enjoyed working with motivated students who can discuss complex pieces such as “A Modest Proposal” but being able to stay grounded with her special education supported 9th graders.
RENEE DEBRUIN EISLEY ’12 of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, moved into a new house this past summer and is expecting her fourth baby soon!
RACHEL WEYKER FELDMANN ’12 of Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin, is expecting her first baby in early March!
KATHARINE SHADLE GAILS ’12 of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, left her manager job in September and has since been working on her art skills and is currently writing a children’s book! She is taking illustration classes to illustrate the book herself. She has a special shout-out to her amazing husband for his support through all of these recent changes.
ANNE RABACAL GROSS ’12 of Germantown, Wisconsin, is welcoming her first child within the next couple of weeks! She is looking forward to spending the remainder of winter and most of the spring inside, cuddled with her baby boy and her ten-month-old husky. She was recently promoted to Senior Research Analyst at Principia Consulting.
LISA HILLEREN ’12 of Chicago, Illinois, is looking forward to seeing people at our reunion! She is still in Chicago and has been at Adage Technologies for about six months and loves it. They are also hiring a bunch (full remote) so if you’re a project manager, programmer, or marketer, definitely reach out for networking!
AURORA POLLEI LAMKA ’12 and SPENCER LAMEKA ’12 of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, love being parents to their determined, smiley girl, Millie (eight months old). AURORA is teaching Kindergarten in Milwaukee and SPENCER works for a managed care organization.
BRYANT VANDE KOLK ’12 of Ellicott City, Maryland, finished his Ph.D. and moved to Ellicott City, Maryland in May. This past summer, he joined the Alumni Board for Ripon College and he became a godfather to his niece. He is still a principal systems engineer at Northrop Grumman, working with teams of fellow engineers to solve mission-level analysis questions for our customers. And, this winter he joined a local queer hiking group full of amazingly kind members.
JESSICA BRUNGARDT LARSON ’12 of Colorado Springs, Colorado, is expanding her family, adding another little boy in April. She still works at the County Attorney’s office in Colorado Springs, but her position has changed so she is working in Family Treatment Drug Court and Well Baby Court doing child protection cases and added adult protection cases to her caseload as well. She has really enjoyed the changeover to a more collaborative system.
KATE HAMM FRIEDL ’12 is a Business Process Owner for Bostik’s Americas region, in the process of remodeling her house and moving to Arizona with her one-year-old twins.
MEGAN MCGEE NORRIS ’12 of Kenosha, Wisconsin, just moved into a new house closer to work. She loves being a GAL in Racine County and continuing to take private cases as well. Somehow, she and the family continue to be relatively healthy, and she is just grateful for that.
GISELA ORTEGA ’12 and ZACH VORNHOLT ’13 of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, have been growing professionally this year! In November, GISELA was promoted to Director of Startup Community at gener8tor, a startup tech accelerator. Most recently, one of the companies GISELA worked with was able to raise $7M which was a huge win. ZACH has been working at G Strategies, LLC for the past eight years where he’s grown to his Director position at the company – working on political campaigns and with non-profits across the country. When they’re not working, they are spending a lot of time being active running, hiking, or riding their Peloton bike. They’re looking forward to splitting up their time further in 2022 in Wisconsin, California, and traveling across Mexico.
LAUREN PIERRE ’12 of Cedarburg, Wisconsin, is now the Access Services Librarian: Circulation Supervisor at Cedarburg Public Library and has been in the new position for about four months and is enjoying the change of pace.
AMY SPRANGER ROSSMANN ’12 is expecting her first baby in June 2022 and was promoted to English Department Chair last August at St. Cat’s High School in Racine.
BRANDON TAYLOR ’12, his wife, Christina, and his puppy, Waffle, are settling into their home in San Francisco, California. BRANDON is still at LinkedIn as a Senior Project Manager on the HR Enablement team and will be celebrating his one-year work anniversary in April.
ERIN SCHAICK ’12 of Concord, New Hampshire, is AVP, Director of Development and Community Relations at CATCH Neighborhood Housing in Concord.
Thanks again to everyone for sharing, and we hope to see you in person this summer!
Be well,
BRANDON TAYLOR ’12
2162 43rd Ave., San Francisco, CA 94116
(406) 274-4708
ERIN SCHAICK ’12
82 Warren St. Apt. 3, Concord, NH 03301
(920) 312-3825
Your 2012 Class Agents