Gael Glimpses, 2000-2007
2007
| Mark Gilson, last year’s senior class president, graduated this past spring. Not wanting to go back to the East Coast, Mark took a job working for Pacific Gas & Electric Company. He works in downtown San Francisco on disaster recovery planning. Shortly after taking the job, Mark moved to San Francisco to begin life after Saint Mary’s. He still persistently refuses to be stumped on Saint Mary’s trivia questions. |
| Cait Norgard works in the LUNAFEST Department at CLIF Bar & Co. in Berkeley. |
| Zoot Velasco EE is the new executive director of the Muckenthaler Cultural Center in Fullerton. Zoot completed his bachelor’s degree through the Liberal Education for Arts Professionals (LEAP) Program after working for Los Angeles’ Department of Cultural Affairs and a 12-year career as an actor and dancer. |
2006
| Ashley Hawkins lives in Santa Monica and works out of Nike’s regional marketing office in Los Angeles as a tech rep, consumer reporter and marketplace trend specialist. She earlier interned for a year at Nike’s world headquarters in Beaverton, Ore. | |
 Teri Hurlbut Ed.D. ’06, EMA ’81 became principal of Carondelet High School in Concord on July 1, 2007, becoming the first lay person in that position at the school. Before Carondelet, she served in various leadership positions at College Park High School in Pleasant Hill for seven years. Earlier, she taught all levels of Italian to Carondelet and De La Salle students from 1998–2001, and was chair of the World Languages Department. Her daughter, Marisa, is a Carondelet alum, and son, Michael, is a DLS alum. Hurlbut’s assistant principal is Joseph Silveira ’87, who also has a master’s in educational leadership from SMC and is pursuing an Ed.D. here. Silveira was previously principal of Saint Mary’s Elementary School in Walnut Creek and a teacher at St. Agnes in Concord, along with other teaching and administrative positions. |
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| Daniel Massey is engaged to Kristine Smathers. The wedding is scheduled for Aug. 8, 2008. | |
| Erin Menold has been working for PricewaterhouseCoopers in San Francisco in the tax line of service and is working on her CPA. She lives with alumnae Catherine Dawson and Jennifer Gosselin in Walnut Creek. Jenny graduated with her master’s degree and teaching credential from Saint Mary’s in May. She teaches fifth grade at De Marillac Academy in San Francisco. | |
 Uyen “Jennifer” Nguyen, who is in her third season with the Oakland Raiderettes, was named Raiderette of the Week in early September. Jennifer is an account executive for a mortgage company and hopes to go to law school to prepare for a career as a lawyer for a sports team or in entertainment. |
2005
 In July, Courtney Carmignani traveled to San Diego to audition for “American Idol,” with classmate and friend Megan (Walling) Goldsby ’05. Courtney and Megan arrived at the Chargers stadium at 5 a.m. on Saturday morning for registration, where they were given wristbands and told to return Monday. They waited 13 long hours before auditioning by singing “California Dreamin’” and “Walking on Sunshine.” Courtney also met “American Idol” alum Constantine Maroulis from Season 4. When they weren’t waiting with 25,000 Idol hopefuls, Courtney and Megan enjoyed the beaches and shopping in San Diego. While they won’t be on Idol, they had fun on their adventure. Courtney is resident director in Becket Hall and the assistant director of alumni relations at Saint Mary’s. She will complete her master’s degree in leadership in December. Megan lives in her hometown of Fortuna, Calif., with her new husband Phil Goldsby ’05. |
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| Damien Fatongia has returned to the College to work as an admissions officer. Damien, who worked in the Admissions Office after graduation, took a one-year hiatus to pursue a professional rugby career in Germany. Damien will visit high schools in the Bay Area and Oregon and manage the College’s related recruitment territory. He will also serve as co-chair of the Transitions Council and will coordinate the College’s spring visit programs for admitted students. | |
| Mike Gardiner is the winemaker’s assistant for Parkmon Vineyards, a small, family-owned and -operated winery that specializes in the production of small lots of single-vineyard designated wines. Check out the winery at www.parkmon.com. | |
| Melissa McKeever recently started a wonderful job at Stanford University. She works as a development associate for the Stanford Fund, which supports fundraising for undergraduate education. She loves her new position and everything about Stanford. She recently moved back to the South Bay and is grateful to be closer to family and friends. | |
 Brandon Moore passed his life & health insurance test (on his third try) to obtain his L&H license with the state of California. He says the test is far harder than any he took at SMC, but that the College curriculum prepared him for the most difficult test he might encounter. He plans to go for his property and casualty license. |
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| Claudia Ojeda has been promoted to senior accountant at Macias Gini & O’Connell LLP. | |
 Sophia M. Papadopoulos has been working at a nonprofit organization and writing for Liftedmagazine.com as a feature entertainment reporter. She has written numerous film reviews and has covered many film festivals, including Sundance (Park City, Utah), CineQuest (San Jose), and CineVegas (Las Vegas). She has also interviewed Christian comedian Ron McGehee; filmmaker and playwright Ben Byer; John Heffron, winner of “Last Comic Standing Season 2;” producer J.J. Abrams; actress Minnie Driver; “Entertainment Tonight” correspondent Maria Menounos and more. Sophia is also working toward her master’s of science degree in communication management at San Jose State University. She plans on obtaining a second degree in journalism and publishing from Harvard University. Sophia attributes much of her success to Saint Mary’s College, and would like to thank her professors who have always encouraged her love of learning and her drive for excellence. |
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| Anne Marie Scott has purchased her first home in Fremont. She married and was expecting a daughter with her husband, Jesse, in September 2007. She works for an asbestos litigation firm in Berkeley. | |
 Caroline Serrato EE was promoted to lieutenant of the Hillsborough Police Department in July 2007. |
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 Katie Solis finished two years as a Lasallian Volunteer in Memphis, Tenn., at De La Salle Elementary. She has a full scholarship at the College of Santa Fe and is earning a master’s degree and license in special education. |
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 Elsie Rita Wanton headed to the Midwest for graduate school at the University of Michigan–Ann Arbor. After earning her master’s in social work (with a major in social policy & evaluation) in April 2007, she moved to the metro Atlanta area to be closer to family and her fiancé, an architecture student at Southern Polytechnic University. Elsie Rita is training to be a court-appointed special advocate (CASA) volunteer for children and preparing to take the Law School Admissions Test. She will apply to law schools this winter and hopes to matriculate in fall 2008. She intends to specialize in public interest and/or child advocacy law. |
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 Song Woo MBA founded Lighthouse Management Group, Inc. in Millbrae shortly after graduating. He named his company after the name his group used in the MBA program. Lighthouse Management has been in business for two years and has already generated close to $4 million in revenue. Since its inception, the company has quadrupled in size and increased revenues by more than 300 percent — one of the fastest-growing privately held companies in Silicon Valley. |
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2004
| Lizalou Bosman-Butler EE has had an exciting three years since she graduated. She has been married three years to the wonderful Mike Butler, a firefighter-paramedic for the San Jose Fire Department. Their son, Aidan, 2, is a happy and healthy toddler. Liza tried her hand at teaching and is starting her second year at Stratford School. She has kept her other hand in her EMS career, working for American Medical Response part-time as a paramedic on weekends and when school is out. The Butlers live in San Jose. |
 Kaitlyn (Doyle) and Brady Ovard ’03 were married on June 26, 2004 in Gardnerville, Nev. Kaitlyn is an accountant with a mining company in northern Nevada. Brady recently earned his teaching credentials through the master’s program at the University of Nevada–Reno and is teaching biology and integrated science at Dayton High School. On May 4, 2007, they welcomed their first child into the world, a boy named Jackson Steele Ovard. |
| Jenny Oenning graduated from Claremont Graduate University in January 2007 with her master’s degree in literature and creative writing. She works in fundraising for UC Irvine and keeps busy training for marathons and taking her dog to the beach. |
2003
2002
| Glenna Benton welcomed her first grandchild on Aug. 8, 2007. Zoe Leigh Dean is absolutely beautiful. Glenna is working as director of faith formation at St. John Vianney Parish in Walnut Creek. |
| Kelsey (Barnum) Bonilla and her husband, Dennis, have been married for three years this fall, and are expecting their first child in early January. Just in time, Kelsey graduated with her master’s in history from San Diego State University in May 2007. They continue to enjoy living and working in San Diego. |
| Brian Boulden EE, a member of the SMC Alumni Board of Directors, has recently joined Dell, Inc. (formerly known as Dell Computers) as a sales representative in the Small and Medium Business Division. Brian’s office is located in Nashville, Tenn. He previously worked for a number of years in the wine and liquor industries. |
| Lizzy (Carty) and Darren Boyle’s July wedding in Orange County included more than 20 Gael graduates who enjoyed each other’s company on the dance floor. Lizzie is a teacher in Southern California. |
| Karen Ficke continues to work in health insurance sales as an operations manager. She spends her free time in San Ramon city recreation leagues for soccer and kickball. |
 Colleen Harrigan and Spencer Shively were married on July 21, 2007 in San Francisco. Members of the wedding party included fellow Gaels Marja (Burdine) Rafiee ’02, Patrick Lytle ’03, Scott Prosser ’02 and Nate Brown ’02. Colleen is a manager of visual merchandising & marketing for Gap, Inc. Headquarters in San Francisco, and Spencer teaches and is head of the Science Department at De La Salle High School in Concord. |
| Karlee (Hopkins) McNeil has been married to her husband, Marc, for three years. They have three beautiful children: Karlee’s stepdaughter, Taylor, 11, their son, TJ, 2, and baby Karisa, who was born in early May 2007. Since graduation, Karlee has worked for the same company, Crawford Communications Group. She started out as office manager, but now works from home as a part-time marketing consultant. In spring 2006, she and her husband bought their first home in Fremont. |
| Kristy (McNutt) and her husband Joe Sedlacek announce the birth of their daughter, Gianna Marie, on April 25, 2007. Kristy teaches second grade in Ely, Nev. The family planned to move to a new home this fall. |
| Rachel (Wihl) Brockett and her husband, Kurt, live in Pleasanton and enjoy being back in the Bay Area. They are expecting their first child, a little girl, in January 2008. |
2001
 Eric Fernandez ’01 and Jami Rodriguez ’00, who were married at Saint Mary’s on July 9, 2005, recently purchased their first home in Sacramento. Jami is a second grade teacher at St. Elizabeth Ann Seaton in Elk Grove and Eric is in his last year of law school at the University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law. |
| Jaime Fernandez has returned to Saint Mary’s as a senior admissions officer. After graduation, he earned his master’s degree in modern history from University College London. He taught high school English and history for five years at his alma mater, Arbuckle High School in the Central Valley, and at Miramonte High School in Orinda. In the Admissions Office, Jaime will visit schools in the Central Valley, San Diego and Santa Clara and manage the College’s related recruitment territory. |
| Gerardo Gomez is a counselor and homeless rights activist in Los Angeles. He was interviewed on Pacifica Radio’s “Democracy Now!” program about his involvement in immigrant rights demonstrations at MacArthur Park in May, where he was shot twice by rubber bullets. |
 Eugene Ma has been promoted from engagement manager to senior manager at Macias Gini & O’Connell LLP (MGO), a statewide accounting and management consulting firm. Eugene has more than seven years of pubic accounting experience. His responsibilities have included performing various accounting, financial and operational assignments. |
| Dani (Skeie) Janzen just celebrated her one-year anniversary with her husband, John. They reside in Long Beach, where Dani is practicing as a physical therapist. |
2000
| Kendi Botts married Gary Merlo on July 15, 2006 in Chico. They live in Durham, Calif. |
 LaShana (Johnson) and Brandin Young are married and live in Hawaii with their two children, Isaiah, 4, and Sarayah, 15 months. Isaiah and Sarayah keep LaShana very busy when she is not working at the local gym as manager and fitness instructor. Brandin enjoys being a father and is working on his second novel. The couple sends love and blessings to all their Saint Mary’s friends. |
 Erin Lucey has lived in Ireland since August 2003, where she works as an event coordinator with the Radisson SAS Hotel & Spa. On July 21, 2006, she married Jestin Dineen, an engineer, in County Cork, Ireland. Fellow alums Pita (Sanchez) Dargavel ’00 and Christine Lander ’00 traveled to Ireland for the wedding. Erin and Jestin welcomed a baby girl, Bernadette Juel, on July 22, 2007; a precious first anniversary present. They live near Kinsale, County Cork. |
| Iris Martin-Lopez and Miguel Lopez ’01 congratulate their son, Isiah Martinez, on his preschool graduation. Isiah is attending kindergarten at St. John’s Catholic School in San Lorenzo. |
| Jacob Stansky lives in Livermore with his college sweetheart, Ashley. Jacob is the web development specialist for the Goodguys Rod & Custom Association located in Pleasanton. Jacob’s web design agency XO Pandora (www.xopandora.com) recently secured a talented graphic designer from England to join his creative team. XO Pandora Web Design is trying to secure a location in the Pleasanton/Tri-Valley area. Jacob always extends an open invitation to all students and alumni concerning web- and marketing-related topics. |
| Byron Milton EE works in management with a large telecommunications firm. He moved to Sacramento from the Bay Area in 2001 and loves it. He, his wife and two daughters are chugging along. |
