Class Correspondent

Hey, Class of 2013! We hope you are enjoying life as recent alumni. We’re having a great time. Ell works as the manager of development and fundraising at the Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation. She continues to sing in jazz clubs, teach fitness classes and act in Boston-based productions. Robyn spent the summer freelancing in Ethiopia and Israel, documenting the final immigration of Ethiopian Jews to Israel. She is back in New York, excited to continue her work as a reporter. Amanda is pursuing an MS in nutrition at Columbia University. Tell us about your exciting life events (jobs, graduate school, engagements and so on), and we will include them in future issues of the magazine.

After spending the summer at Teach for America’s teacher boot camp with Sara Van Buren and Katrina Osborne, Amanda Dryer is teaching kindergarten at the Bushwick Ascend Charter School in Brooklyn. Her classroom is decorated with Brandeis souvenirs, and every morning the students sing a Brandeis fight song that Amanda and her co-teacher composed. “My students sing about Brandeis as if it is a magical place in an enchanted fairy tale,” Amanda reports. “They sing with a spark in their eyes and a sense of wonder about what college might be like. I hope they never lose their curiosity.” Maya Grant and Shaquan Perkins ’14 are on their way to stardom, writing and starring in their own Web series, “Life After College ... But Not Really,” about how dramatically alumni can remain connected to Brandeis. They are collaborating with Kimberly Lombard, founder of UPRISE Media, for PR, social media marketing and business consulting. The project is still in the early stages of production. Stay tuned for updates on this unapologetic, hilarious and sometimes scandalous miniseries. Nathan Koskella attends Cornell Law School. Michael Rock lives in New York City and works at Value Architects Asset Management in Hoboken, N.J. In his downtime, Michael reads, performs stand-up and hits up concerts. He invites fellow Brandeisians to visit for a weekend. Abigail Jones is a human resources coordinator at a law firm in New York. She is also studying for the GMAT and applying to grad school. Emily Shihang Wang is pursuing her master’s degree in accounting at Boston College. Zoe Messinger spent the summer working for Artsnapper, a smartphone app that helps people discover and access the art world. She also participated in a fencing tournament in South Korea. Brett Byron attends the School of Law at Washington University in St. Louis. In May 2013, he proposed to his high-school sweetheart, Sarah De Los Reyes. Laura Kim lives in Virginia and works as a research assistant at the Federal Reserve System’s Board of Governors. She enjoys exploring Washington, D.C., sampling the local cuisine and meeting new people. Andrew Cohen works in luxury real estate at Hilton & Hyland in Southern California. Alia Goldfarb and Andrea Mucasey are participating in Ma’ase Olam programs in Israel. Alia is an Israel service fellow, and Andrea is an Israel teaching fellow. They work with young people from Israel’s marginalized and disadvantaged communities in formal and informal educational settings, promoting community development and personal empowerment. In other news, Alia, Jessie Field, Alisa Roznerita, Jamie Perutz and Rachel Huvard ’15 established the Crossroad Players theater company. The group’s first show was “’night, Mother,” staged on July 21, 2013, at the Oberon theater in Cambridge, Mass. Marshall Scholarship winner Elizabeth Stoker, who is studying theology and Christian ethics at the University of Oxford, wrote a piece for theatlantic.com about the women supporters of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and co-authored an article about two U.S. Supreme Court cases that could negatively impact organized labor. Becca Fischer, Yael Einhorn ’14 and Jenna Polinsky ’06 played for the U.S. open women’s volleyball team at the 19th Maccabiah Games in Israel in July 2013. The games, which take place every four years in Israel, are known as the Jewish Olympics. Abdul Aziz Sohail worked as a summer intern with the Pittsfield (Mass.) Office of Cultural Development and curated a comprehensive art exhibit, “Islam Contemporary,” at the Lichtenstein Center for the Arts. Tanay Paranjape works in the Economic and Valuation Division at KPMG in New York. Deena Horowitz lives in Somerville, Mass., and works as a support team member for IRBNet, a compliance software company. In her spare time, she can be found belly dancing with her lady friends, belting out songs at live music shows or exploring the wonderful and diverse city of Boston. Jessie Stettin started work in the Rotational Leadership Development Program at Sun Life Financial in Wellesley, Mass. For his first year, he will serve as an operations consultant for the investment team managing the corporate surplus. During the few hours of the day that he is not tracking investments across Sun Life’s diverse asset classes, he is pursuing his master’s degree in international finance at Brandeis International Business School. He expects to graduate in May. Ariel Glickman completed her internship at the French Embassy in Washington, D.C., and started law school at George Washington. In her free time, she enjoys networking on the Hill, following the news and socializing. Abigail Russo is pursuing her doctorate in the neurobiology and behavior program at Columbia University. When not conducting research or taking classes, she explores the city and does yoga. Denny Poliferno had an exhilarating 17-hour break after graduation before beginning his pathologist’s assistant graduate-school program at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut. He had almost no free time during his 10-week summer session, when he was in classes six days a week for 8-12 hours each day. The little time he had was mostly spent trying new recipes in his slow cooker. Denny enjoyed a four-week August break before heading back to school for the fall semester. Josh Kaye works at MomTrusted, a startup in Palo Alto, Calif., that helps parents find preschools, day care centers, nannies and babysitters for children up to age 5. Kapri Kreps has begun her two-year stint as a HealthCorps coordinator in New York City. She works at the James Baldwin/Humanities Prep high schools in Chelsea, coordinating health lessons, after-school programs and public health initiatives with the students, staff and community. After a post-graduation trip through Europe with Yahav Itzkovich and Nick Polanco, Sam Stemper has settled into life in Allston, Mass., working as an analyst at Cornerstone Research, an economic consulting firm. He writes, “Beyond that, little has changed since my time at Brandeis. I spend most of my free time at the gym with Yahav, cooking with Yahav or playing Taylor Swift songs on guitar. Yahav refuses to join in on ‘You Belong With Me.’” Victor Zhivich is pursuing his master’s degree in biotechnology at Brandeis. He works as an intern at Galenea, a small biotech company. Victor enjoys biking, playing ultimate Frisbee, attending house and electronica concerts, and dancing. Apparently unable to stay away from campus, Erin Fan is taking more classes at Brandeis as she pursues an MA in teaching. She is enjoying the new Starbucks on campus and is excited about the non-Aramark food, as well as the Chipotle and the Five Guys that opened near Walgreens. When she’s not in class, she can be seen pigging out at the aforementioned places, interning at Quincy Upper School or hanging out around Newton. Faith Broderick serves as a graduate assistant coach for the St. Lawrence University men’s and women’s tennis teams. She captained the Brandeis women’s tennis team for two seasons and earned second-team All-America honors in doubles as a senior. Taylor Lombard is pursuing her master’s degree in dance therapy with a specialization in mental health counseling at Lesley University. She spent the first days after graduation traveling in Europe — five days in London and five days in Rome — with Annifreed Sinjour. Taylor then went to Memphis with her dad to see Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley. Esther Brandon is currently avoiding the real world by staying at Brandeis to pursue her MA in teaching. She is student-teaching English literature in middle school. Esther recently moved to Somerville and is having a ball trying out new restaurants, enjoying outdoor concerts and falling on her face doing yoga. Sydney Appelbaum loves her job working as a research assistant in the World Trade Center Health Program at the NYU Langone University Medical Center. Abby Armstrong enjoys her new job as operations assistant at Broadway in Boston, which brings Broadway productions to the Hub. Frishta Abawi lives in Newark, N.J., and is a student at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. In her spare time, she enjoys watching movies and reading books in Barnes and Noble. After spending the summer in Ghana and Kenya, Jessye Kass traveled to Thailand on a Fulbright grant to work as an English teaching assistant. You can follow her at jessyestravelstories.blogspot.com. Philip Wong lives in Quincy, Mass., and works part time at the Apple Store in Dedham. He plans to go to dental school in the future. When he’s not busy with work, you’ll find him playing sports — tennis, basketball and bowling — or board games.

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