We held the New York City Social at Ardesia Wine and Beer Bar. This small establishment is located in the Hell’s Kitchen part of New York on the West Side and was recommended by a young alum. Overall, we had 32 people in attendance. A couple of alumni volunteered to help me find a spot for the next reception. I told them I would love to do one this summer in a venue with outdoor seating.
Those in attendance covered a range of years—from 1956 up to 2010—and lingered even after the official end of the event. Will Fogg and Julie North popped in for a few moments right at the beginning, but had to leave soon after for another engagement.
I connected Marlene Krauss P’17 with Samantha Teece ’07, who was one of my soccer captains, and they chatted about Western United, the team that Olivia (Marlene’s daughter) will be playing for this spring. There are three other current Williston players on the team (including my advisee, Jasmin Movassaghi ’16). Foster DeJesus ’56 came with Arthur Coleman ’71. They spent a lot of time chatting with Liz Shaler Dos Santos ’84, who is the daughter of Al Shaler. Foster was one of the famed DeJesus swimmers of Williston lore (along with his brother, Prentiss ’57).
David Mederrick ’91 just got engaged and is getting married this summer. He asked her in a horse-drawn carriage in Central Park. Hope Nawada ’92 lives with her son, Jack, who she clearly adores. Takila Oku ’92 will be attending the event in Sonoma Valley as well. She is going with Safiya Cathey ’93 and has never been to California so she is excited.
The Class of 1996 was well-represented with four attendees (Kyle Abel, Jonathan Morgan, Sarah Hoffman and Danielle Saint Louis). Kyle, Jonathan and Sarah were all PGs at Williston. Jonathan is originally from VT, played football for Rick Francis and had a younger brother (Andrew ’01) who did a PG year here as well. Kyle also played football and helped Rick Francis coach the 3rd’s boys’ basketball team. He got married last year and Jonathan was his best man. Danielle played soccer for me and could run like a deer!
A person I was really psyched to see was Nora Feher ‘97, who I had also interviewed. Nora came to Williston for one year as an ASSIST student from Hungary. After spending her junior year here, she returned to Hungary but was told that she had to repeat the 11th grade. Since she didn’t want to do that, she went to school in Austria for her senior year. She came with Sean Durkin ’97, who did a PG year here at Williston. Jennifer Rivers ’97 came with Nicole Smith ’97 who is pregnant with her second child and due in June. Jenn Mayo Sheppard ’97 came with her husband, Dustin, and Jason Magnus ’99 and Rabiya Akhtar ’99 who are married. They all try to get together on a regular basis. Rabiya’s sister is Areeje ’04.
Matt McWilliams ’00 came with Edgar Ramos ’00 and Samantha Teece ’07. Erica Teece ’01 was supposed to attend but came down with a cold. Edgar works for the Discovery Channel in advertising and travels all over the country. Samantha is currently in grad school getting her Masters in dietary sciences. Eric Ketcham ’06 came with his girlfriend, Hyein Lee. Both are in the PhD program, finishing up their degrees in Sociology. The final two attendees were Brendan McCartney ’08 and Chris Zombik ’10, who will be graduating this year from Columbia with a degree in Sociology.