2015 – Fall ’20 Class Letter
SAMANTHA KAY ’15
(414) 587-5958 / [email protected]
KAYLIE LONGLEY ’15
(262) 212-7394 / [email protected]
Dear Class of 2015,
Let’s just say it… Nothing’s normal.
If this feels like yet another COVID-19 conversation, maybe it is. But this pandemic is a very real thing. When writing this letter, we debated reaching out to people. We struggled with the words you’re reading now. But we need to respectfully represent our collective voices and be honest about this time:
It hurts. It’s painful to see friends and families lives shortened, livelihoods taken away, and no sense of an end in sight. It doesn’t make any sense. We hear you, we feel it.
Of course, the pandemic has given opportunity for some. Maybe it’s that down time (hello, privilege) to actually work on learning a new language. Maybe you’re still working on that sourdough starter, or you’ve picked up a new book. Hopefully, you’re taking some time to fix your car, or at least clean the cobwebs out since it hasn’t seen more than a 10-mile radius since March.
All these activities are really filling some sort of void. While learning to make your own carbs is a very cool activity, and may become a passion for some, it doesn’t come close to replacing human interaction. We need people! We need in-person connection, rather than Brady Bunch references from yet another Zoom happy hour.
It’s unsettling and difficult to think of all the lives lost, some of whom passed alone. This disease has taken so many things, situations, opportunities, and humans we’ve taken for granted. It’s stolen jobs and depleted industries, some lost forever. It’s divided folks, those who wear a mask and those who don’t. Those who can access the Internet, treatment, and a bank account… and those who cannot.
Now it comes down to the choices we make that will impact our communities (and ourselves) the most. Maybe there’s some learning? For me, I choose how much to care, how much energy to give. That includes being sensitive. Wearing a mask not just because it’s required, but because it helps build back our community.
We’re thinking of you. We’re still here. And hope some sort of “normal” returns in time for the next letter.
Class notes:
KATIE BIEDLER ’15 has been working as a Client Relationship Consultant at U.S. Bank as of last December. Thankfully, she is still employed as an essential employee & doing her best to not get sick.
ZACH CONNERS ’15 moved back to Madison to work as a recruitment coordinator at Raven Software which is part of Activision. So far, he has had the opportunity to work on releasing Call of Duty: Warzone. It was just announced that they will be teaming up with another studio to release the next Call of Duty title later this year.
SAMANTHA KAY ’15 did not get to go on any of her planned trips due to the poorly managed public health crisis. She was promoted in July to Advocacy and Global Outreach Manager with the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy. Her work focuses on improving regulatory pathways for novel therapies and improving access to these therapies in low- and middle-income countries. Sam spends her free time calling and writing her elected officials, protesting police brutality, and informing her friends and family about vote by mail. She will be volunteering as an election worker in November, to ensure that we can still vote in the middle of a pandemic that the current administration fails to address.
SKYLAR LIEBZEIT ’15 of Appleton, Wisconsin is the new football coach at Green Bay West. He spent the past two years as an offensive assistant and wide receivers coach at Lawrence University.
KAYLIE LONGLEY ’15 of Milwaukee, Wisconsin did not go to Ireland, Portland, or Grand Rapids. She is learning how to use media ethically with Google Ads courses. She’s still working for Bardon Bowling Centers across the state, marketing fun, safe spaces.
CHELSEA MOLDENHAUER ’15 of Ripon, Wisconsin completed her Ph.D. in May at the National University of Health Sciences at UW-Madison.
RAQUEL MACSWAIN ’15 did not get the chance to experience her graduate school graduation this last spring due to COVID-19. However, she did accept a job as a school counselor at Dalles High School.
KARENA SCHROEDER ’15 was promoted in June to Club Manager and now runs her own Sam’s Club in Apple Valley, Minnesota. This summer Karena and her fiancé also purchased a house in the area and adopted a sweet little pup named Charlie!
KARISA SIMONSEN KRUEGER ’15 and ANDY KRUEGER ’14 of Redgranite, Wisconsin had a baby boy, Decker Andrew Krueger, on December 11, 2019.
ABI QUACKENBOSS-KARPF ’15 continues to serve on active duty in the United States Navy… but not for much longer! Abi has decided to resign her active duty commission in Spring 2021. If you know of any companies or organizations looking for an engaged and dynamic project manager to support a great mission in the San Diego area, please find her on LinkedIn. She and her husband, Brandon, hope that the decision to become a civilian will lead to them FINALLY getting a dog.
Cheers!
Sam
Kaylie