CLASS NOTES
CLASS NOTES
summer 2014 | St. Lawrence University Magazine 59
58 summer 2014 | St. Lawrence University Magazine
2005
Danielle Sanzone ’05
147 Pawling Ave.
Troy, NY 12180-4718
518-269-9414
Next Reunion: 10th, May 28-31, 2015
2006
AdamCasler ’06
Hennepin Road Apts.
515 Loudon Road
Albany, NY 12211
518-782-6582
Next Reunion: 10
th
, 2016
Brooke James Rouse
is
the new executive director
of the St. Lawrence County
Chamber of Commerce.
She operates 24 E. Main St.
Bed & Breakfast in Canton
with her husband,
Charles
Rouse
, and has also been
a business advisor with
the Small Business Devel-
opment Center at SUNY
Canton for more than two
years. She has served as
the events coordinator of Canton’s Remington
Arts Festival, in which St. Lawrence students have
been involved.
Brooke was a student intern with the Canton
town and village economic development office,
and from 2007 to 2009 was assistant director of
student activities and leadership education at
St. Lawrence. She earned a master’s degree in
2010 from the University of theWest Indies.
2007
Megan Bernier ’07
3 Mildon Road
Canton, NY 13617
404-617-7851 (cell)
Next Reunion: 10
th
, 2017
In March and April, I had the privilege of working
with 40 faculty and staffmembers (including
Den-
nis Morreale
) who came together to host a new
event that celebrates the many reasons why the
St. Lawrence community is not only special, but
unique. The first-ever Laurentian for LifeWeek was
one of themost exciting projects I’ve worked on in
my professional career (readmore about it on pag-
es 22-27). It was a success in more ways than we
could have imagined, and plans are underway to
add this to the calendar as an annual celebration.
If you followed along, I hope you felt all the pride
we experienced here on campus, even if you
couldn’t be here. If you didn’t or couldn’t take
part, make sure you join the conversation next
year. Stay tuned for more information in the com-
ingmonths about this new St. Lawrence tradition!
One of the many “L4L” Week events on campus
was networking with students and local young
alumni. You can imagine my excitement when
I found out
Erin Coakley Lassial
was the
keynote speaker! Her talk was inspiring and
humorous, with nostalgic moments woven
throughout the speech. She did a fantastic job
talking about how every connection matters
and how St. Lawrence has influenced her career
and entrepreneurial endeavors.
Erin also had some personal news: she took
advantage of an opportunity she was offered
at SUNY Canton last winter and moved from
admissions into a new role as coordinator for
international student initiatives. She says, “I am
responsible for all the international student im-
migration advising and integration program-
ming, building new abroad programs and as-
sisting our domestic students, staff and faculty
with abroad opportunities.”
Jesse Wingate
writes from Richmond, Va.,
where he and wife Randi are embarking on a
new adventure, “In July, I'll be leaving my role
at the University of Richmond and pursuing a
Ph.D. in psychology at Virginia Commonwealth
University in a full-time doctoral program. Both
my wife and I will be full-time students for at
least the next couple of years until she finishes
up with dental school.”
Danni Weaver
surprised
Mike Wieneke
for his
30th birthday celebration in April. She was able
to “connect with a bunch of St. Lawrence folks in-
cluding Brandy Hearn ’08, Samantha Levitan ’09,
RobWortmann ’06, Lawson Condrey ’08 and Evan
Smith ’08.” Danni also let me know Mike recently
got a new job as the director of aquatics and row-
ing at GreenwichWater Club.
Sarah Gibson
moved to Chicago in January and
is working for admissions at the Chicago College
of Performing Arts. “I moved here to be able to
take advantage of the fantastic theater scene
and have started attending classes at the Acting
Studio Chicago,” she says.
After months and months of work,
Ellen Doble
and
Jamie Lomax
have earned advanced de-
grees! Ellen recently received her MBA from
Southern New Hampshire University, with a con-
centration in workplace conflict management.
Jamie had a great 2013 as she finished her Ph.D.
in physics at the University of Denver, and is
now a postdoctoral student at the University of
Oklahoma. Her dissertation was titled,“The X-ray
and Spectropolarimetric View of Mass Loss and
Transfer in Massive Binary Stars.”
I suppose we’re getting to that age when many
of our classmates are having babies, though
it’s still hard to accept that sometimes!
Bobbie
Rae Faivus VanGorder
got in touch to let me
know she and Justin welcomed their second
daughter into the world on April 3. “Her name is
Baylee Marie and she is happy and healthy,” she
wrote. “Her big sister, Lillie, is just smitten with
her!” Bobbie Rae will be starting a new job this
summer in Syracuse; she’ll still be a physician’s
assistant but in a bigger office.
It was great to hear from Lee North neighbor
RyanMcConville
and his wife, Megan, who have
a few things they celebrated this spring. Bennett
R. McConville was born March 31, and is the cou-
ple’s first born, and Ryan was recommended for
tenure at Haldane Central School as well as being
named head varsity football coach.
Ashley Abare Barth
sent me greetings from
sunny Arizona, where at the time this column
was written, she and husband Joe Barth ’06 were
preparing for the approaching 125-degree sum-
mer but also the homecoming of their daughter,
Mattigan Kensi Barth, who was born February
26, weighing just over two pounds. “Mattigan
surprised us as she was born three months early,
but she is healthy with quite the feisty personal-
ity for such a little one,” Ashley writes. “We’re ex-
tremely grateful to St. Joseph's Hospital in Phoe-
nix as well as our friends and family during the
long hospital stay. Mattigan can't wait to fit into
her SLU apparel, though she will be modeling it
poolside and not while shoveling snow!” When I
heard from Ashley in early April, she was excited
to report that Mattigan had recently doubled her
birth weight, no longer required oxygen and had
mastered bottle feeding.
Ashley is considering further schooling, but for
the time being will be home with little Mattigan
and their gigantic bulldog, The Khaleesi. (Report-
er’s note: How can you not love that their dog is
named after a ‘Game of Thrones’character? That’s
amazing.) Joe continues his computer work as a
senior database analyst employed by Sogeti as a
consultant at Go Daddy.
If you haven’t updated me in a while, I hope you’ll
take a few minutes to send me a quick email for
my next column. It’s great hearing about all the
tremendous things you’re doing and sharing
themwith everyone else!
2008
Justin Lynch ’08
217Woodlawn Terrace
Syracuse, NY 13203
585-506-5592
Next Reunion: 10
th
, 2018 (Cluster with '09, '10)
Jada Parker,
left, was the recipient of the Black
Engineer of the Year “Most Promising Engineer
– Industry” award, presented at the 28th annual
Black Engineer of theYear STEM (science, technol-
ogy, engineering andmathematics) conference in
Washington, D. C., in February. She was presented
the award by Thomas P. Klin, vice president of
Northeast transportation at CH2M HILL, the New
York City firmwhere she is a structural engineer.
The awards honor those who are“successful mod-
ern-day Black inventors, technical innovators,
gifted scientists, budding engineers, and high-
level managers and executives whose careers are
‘going beyond the limits’ in private industry, gov-
ernment agencies and the military, and who are
living proof of the benefits of opening doors to
opportunity,” according to a statement from the
awards committee. Jada majored in physics and
minored in mathematics at St. Lawrence.
2009
Cassie Coughlin ’09
4 Prince St. Apt 5
Boston MA 02113
802-779-3623
Next Reunion: 10
th
, 2018 (Cluster with '08, '10)
W
ithin the last year,
Jim Quivey ’08
has
made it cheaper for people to explore
one of his greatest passions – the outdoors.
Quivey launched Pack Out Gear, a Boston-
based company, in July 2013. He was inspired
by several rental businesses similar to Rent
the Runway, a company that allows women
to rent a dress for various occasions.
“My company gives people a chance to rent
camping gear as an alternative to buying
it,”he says. “I want them to experience the
outdoors while saving money as well as stor-
age space.”
The idea for Pack Out Gear came during a
hiking trip with his St. Lawrence friends.“We
were looking for gear that would keep us dry
and warm,”he explains.“Knowing we’d use it
only once or twice a year, buying the equip-
ment didn’t seem worth it, but it was our only
option.”
Quivey, who is the only employee at Pack
Out Gear, used resources provided by the
Small Business Association (sba.gov) and
SCORE (SCORE.org) to craft a business plan
and obtain a small business loan. “Putting
together the business plan wasn’t easy and it
took about two months,”he says. “One of the
biggest challenges I’ve faced since launching
Pack Out is marketing it. It’s been a lot of cold
calling and making personal connections.
But part of the fun has been figuring it all out
along the way.”
His biggest clients are colleges and universi-
ties, especially those that offer pre-orientation
trips, outdoor education programs and sum-
mer camps. He’s also utilized Facebook and
St. Lawrence’s LinkedIn group to find alumni
who may be able to connect him with the
right people at potentially interested compa-
nies. “The alumni I’ve talked to have always
been willing to help me,”he notes.
As he’s navigated through the beginnings
of Pack Out Gear, Quivey has had “incredible”
support from his fiancé, Noel Luciano ’08,
family and friends. “No matter who I turn to,
I’ve found there’s someone I can confide in,”
he says. “They’re ready to listen to ideas and
strategies and offer suggestions. I’ve learned
not to be afraid to ask them for help.”
For those with great ideas, Quivey has some
advice:“Just go for it,”he says.“The resources are
there. There’s no greater feeling than charting
your own path. What better time than now?”
–Meg Bernier ’07, M’09
The Laurentian Connection - Jim Quivey ’08
Join alumni, parents and friends
for a hike in the Adirondack Mountains and dinner at
the Adirondack Mountain Club’s Adirondak Loj near Lake Placid! St. Lawrence University
faculty and staff members will lead small groups on the trail of their choice.
Register Today:
alumni.stlawu.edu/events
or call (888)758-4438.
The Second Annual Mini Peak Weekend
August 2, 2014
