2016 – Fall ’21 Class Letter
2016 – Fall 2021 Class Letter
Co-Class Agents:
SARA DRIEBEL ’16
(262) 347-1484 / (262) 439-8124 / [email protected]
ELIZABETH KONIECZNY YAMAT ’16
(414) 369-7430 / [email protected]
Hi Team!
It was so fun to see so many of you for our Class Reunion (when the rain allowed us to meet up!). Alumni Weekend brought prairie hikes, s’mores, socials, and a funky 5K in which yours truly took last place. Our connections to each other remain an incredibly valuable part of our Ripon experience and getting to reunite and celebrate our fifth year together was exactly what the doctor ordered. It’s time to gear up for the next Alumni Weekend, which is scheduled to take place June 23-26, 2022.
A few Ripon updates that you all may be excited to hear: Upgrades have taken place inside Farr Hall and Todd Wehr! The next time you are on campus, be sure to check out the upgraded McCullough Family Lounge in Farr Hall, and the new Data Visualization Lab in Todd Wehr.
We are so excited to hear the ways that our Alma Mater continues to make learning more exciting and innovative, and are thrilled to hear what you have all been up to! Now, on to the updates!
Class notes:
ALEX MORIARTY ’16 of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, bought a new car and got Lasik! Last June she also celebrated five years with her agency!
ALEXANDER MEHRE ’16 of Veazie, Maine, and his wife, Jessica, are settling into their new house with plenty of updates. He has been making Old Town kayaks and interning at General Electric. He is back for another year of studying mechanical engineering as the vice president of the Robotics Club!
ALISON LEAVER ’16 of Antigo, Wisconsin, graduated from vet school in May 2020.
ALYSSA KENNEDY ’16 of McHenry, Illinois, is in her second year of residency in Family Medicine at Mayo Clinic in LaCrosse.
ALYSSA NYCZ ’16 of West Hartford, Connecticut, was able to swing a trip home over the past summer for a week of Northern Wisconsin lake life, which went by way too fast! Whenever they get the chance, she and Kevin (who wishes he was a Ripon alum, but sadly missed out) make day trips to enjoy the beaches in Rhode Island. She even learned a few emergency medicine tricks during the last beach day, as one of them (not Alyssa) dislocated a shoulder in the pre-Hurricane Henri waves.
BRANDON MASTALISH ’16 of Mayville, Wisconsin, moved back home to Wisconsin and has been working for Wisker A Automatic Litter Box factory in Juneau, Wisconsin!
CHRIS WEAVER ’16 and NIKKI GLASHEEN WEAVER ’14 of Genoa City, Wisconsin, are married! They bought a home together and now reside in Southern Wisconsin.
ELIZABETH KONIECZNY YAMAT ’16 of Glendale, Wisconsin, and her spouse, Brady, are excited to welcome their second child in February. Theo can’t wait to be a big brother!
EMILIE KATONA ’16 of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, bought a house!
FRANK STELTER-HOGH ’16 of Naperville, Illinois, got a new job at Bolingbrook High School and bought a house with HANNAH METZ STELTER ’17!
GARRISON ANDERSON ’16 moved in with BRITTANY MANGIN ’17 in Chicago, Illinois. He started a new job in marketing for a healthcare technology company.
HOPE BELL ’16 of the United Kingdom has moved into a house and started law school for international law in the United Kingdom. She is almost done with her third year at her immersion school, which has expanded and now has 80 kids and seven foreign teachers that she is in charge of!
JADEE KELLOGG SEN ’16 and AKASH SEN ’16 moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado. They and their dog, Apollo, are enjoying seeing the mountains every day and going on hikes on the weekends.
JAMES-MARK OOKO-OMBAKA ’16 of Mount Vernon, New York, is an Independent Consultant (Operations Manager) at SEMA, an East-African civic innovation that makes public services and local governments work better. Originally founded in the Netherlands, SEMA was awarded the D-prize in December 2017 for a pilot project in Kampala, Uganda and an additional grant from Hague-based Knowledge Management Fund in May 2018 to test out SEMA’s theory of change. SEMA has now become completely localized in Uganda and expanding in Kenya, staffed by a local core team and advisory board. Financial support from government agencies speaks to the validity of their approach to furthering open government by providing localized feedback to assist public services by directly addressing citizen perceptions and needs. In the process, SEMA has developed a sustainable financial model by earning revenue through public and private procurements, supplemented by innovation grants and local donations. As the Operations Manager in Kenya, JAMES-MARK builds strategic networks, government partnerships, and efficient systems and processes to facilitate SEMAs growth within the region.
JORDAN POLK ’16 of La Crosse, Wisconsin, is an admission counselor at Viterbo University and a head basketball coach at Hillsboro High School.
JOSHUA LUNA ’16 of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, started a new job as the director of rehabilitation for a nursing facility, and he and his girlfriend are looking to buy their first home this year!
KATIE TREDINNICK ’16 of Fitchburg, Wisconsin, spent the summer outside learning about regenerative agriculture and finding its applications in public health, planetary health, and vet med. She was lucky enough to go on a magical vacation to Washington with the lovely SARA DRIEBEL ’16 and a vacation to the North Shore of Minnesota with her beau, PAUL MEUER ’13. She starts her second year of vet school in September and is both excited and nervous about what the year will hold!
KAY SENGLAUB ’16 of West Allis, Wisconsin, is the Matron of Honor in KELSEA PATTERSON ’17’s wedding in September! She took 11th place at the 2021 United States National Irish Dance Championships while competing in the Adult Competition in Phoenix, Arizona this July. She is looking forward to competing in the Mid-America Region in November.
LAUREN GOTTSHALL ’16 of Newark, New Jersey is an OB-Gyn Resident Physician at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark, New Jersey!
LIZZIE PETERS ’16 of Appleton, Wisconsin, just started her fourth year of teaching at St. Edward School as the 4K AM and 3rd Grade PM teacher! She was just offered and accepted a swim team coaching position primarily with the younger kids. She has never done anything with the swim team, so she is excited to try something new in the aquatics world and learn from the other coaches.
LOGAN JENSEN ’16 lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
NICK LUEDTKE ’16 of Appleton, Wisconsin, is in the beginning of his sixth year of his Ph.D. at Iowa. His lab, advised by Christopher M. Cheatum, has recently been awarded multiple years of funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation (NSF) to learn how enzymes work. His approach is to make enzymes that do not exist in nature to better study their atomic motions in the femtosecond timescale, or one millionth of a billionth of a second.
RACHELLA BENNETT ’16 of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, will be welcoming a baby boy in October!
SAMANTHA DEY ’16 of Union Center, Wisconsin, welcomed a beautiful baby boy into the world with ALEX SNELL ’16. James Alexander Snell was born May 2021 at 10 lbs, 7 oz.
SARA DRIEBEL ’16 of New Berlin, Wisconsin, had a blast seeing elk, whales, porpoises, seals, and so many birds on a trip to Washington with KATIE TREDINNICK ’16. She has taken every opportunity to get outside this summer and practice her wildlife photography skills (mostly squirrels). Her nosedive into plant parenthood has turned into a lifestyle and she spends her time after work caring for her plants and pets.
STEPHANIE ROSENOW ’16 of Appleton, Wisconsin, got engaged in August and now gets to have a lot of fun wedding planning!
TY KETZ ’16 of Clayton, Wisconsin, is coaching men’s basketball at Ripon College and just started his own basketball training business!
TYLER SHIMEK ’16 of Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, is now teaching at West Allis Central.
ZACH BRAYER ’16’s life has become the plot of A Picture of Dorian Gray. Also, he is definitely not collecting art.
Thank you for sharing your updates and news with us! Keep them coming! We would like to add one additional Class Agent to our team, and we are seeking an additional classmate to volunteer to work with us as a Class Agent. Since we just celebrated our Reunion, the time commitment will not be extensive, and it’s a great opportunity to stay connected with classmates and directly serve Ripon College. The new Class Agent would help us write our Class Letter that is published twice a year. Please email Sara Driebel at [email protected], or email [email protected], to state your interest in becoming a new Class Agent for our class.
Sincerely,
SARA DRIEBEL ’16
ELIZABETH KONIECZNY YAMAT ’16