Class Correspondent

Michael Dax celebrated the publication of his first book, “Grizzly West: A Failed Attempt to Reintroduce Grizzly Bears in the Mountain West.” The book, which came out of his master’s thesis in history at the University of Montana, details the attempt to return the West’s most iconic species to one of its historic homes in Idaho and Montana; the region’s shifting politics and culture serve as the backdrop to this effort. Michael, who lives in Santa Fe, N.M., is the New Mexico outreach representative for Defenders of Wildlife. Justin Kadich opened a law practice that will serve clients in both Boston and Essex County (Mass.), where he grew up. The practice focuses on personal-injury, criminal and immigration law. Justin attended UMass Law, where he finished fourth in his class. Craig Letendre is a client-service associate at Parametric Portfolio Associates, a global asset-management firm. Prior to joining Parametric, he was a senior analyst at NEPC. Peter Kozodoy is the chief strategy officer at GEM Advertising and co-owner of B&K Digital, a venture firm with investments in emerging digital platforms and technologies. Over the past four years, he and the GEM team have won numerous awards for outstanding work in branding, advertising and production. Walaa Sbeit, who lives in London, is pursuing a master’s degree in applied theater, which is the use of drama and performance in educational, social and community contexts. His band, Shamstep, performed at the Glastonbury Festival and crowd-sourced $30,000 to produce its first album. The band is named for the Middle Eastern region where its four members grew up. At Brandeis, Walaa co-founded Mochilla, which blended Middle Eastern and Western music. Daniel Shani has collaborated with his father to found Energy Intelligence, a company whose core product is a road-mounted module that captures energy from braking vehicles. Currently in pilot tests, the module will initially be used in parking garages. In addition to a $500,000 award from the 43North business contest for entrepreneurs, Energy Intelligence has received funding from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, the New England Clean Energy Council, and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. Sam Vaghar, co-founder of the Millennium Campus Network, was the keynote speaker at Boston University’s first Global Development Consortium, which hopes to spark greater social action and interdisciplinary collaboration among student groups on campus.

Stearns wedding photo

GROUNDS FOR MARRIAGE: With plenty of alumni in attendance, Jessica Stearns ’10 married David Guerette ’08 on June 6 at her grandparents’ farm in New Hampshire.

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