Class Notes—2010s

Class Notes—2010s

2010

Arts & Sciences Reunion June 25−28, 2015

Class Correspondent: Stephanie Locke notes@lclark.edu

Garik Lawson Asplund BA currently works as a cook at the Lostine Tavern in Lostine, Oregon.

Sam Balter BA, Brad Elkins BA, Hanako Conrad Imber BA, Stephanie Locke BA, Andrew Merriam BA, Claire Monteiro BA, and Simone Wren BA participated in the Lewis & Clark Young Alumni Career Panel on December 6, 2014. As young alumni, they shared their thoughts about life after graduation, entering the job market, and networking, among many other topics.

Sam Balter BA manages marketing for a mobile messaging company. After earning his master’s degree from McCombs School of Business in Austin, Texas, he moved to Boston, where he is living with Philana Brown BA while she studies for her MFA His days consist of commuting to a swanky coworking space in downtown Boston, managing marketing initiatives, strategizing about mobile with Fortune 500 brands, and drinking craft beers while playing shuffleboard. After participating in Lewis & Clark’s Reunion Planning Weekend, he realized how much he misses his classmates, Portland coffee, and the sweet endless rain of the Pacific Northwest.

Parasa Chanramy BA recently became a board member of the Asian Pacific Islander Community Leadership Foundation and works as a policy manager at Stand for Children Washington.

Brad Elkins BA is an advisor to the political action committee for former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley and lives in Washington, D.C. Elkins couldn’t be more excited to see old friends during Alumni Weekend and to relive the glory/horror of coed bathrooms.

Katy Entrekin BA was accepted to San Jose State’s Occupational Therapy Program, which she starts in fall 2015. In the meantime, she has been traveling: she spent three months in Southeast Asia with her boyfriend; two weeks in Italy, Austria, and Slovenia; two months serving as an assistant director for a summer camp in the Bay Area; and the rest of the year teaching after-school science classes to elementary school children. She looks forward to her five-year class reunion and the impending gathering of 2008 Scotland trippers.

Krista Evans JD received the Oregon New Lawyers Division Project of the Year award for developing ONLD’s Student Loan Repayment Information Project, which provides resources on the Oregon State Bar website. She was also named ONLD Volunteer of the Year, in part for her work managing the division’s social media platform.

Haben Girma BA, a civil rights attorney, was appointed the first deaf and blind board trustee of Helen Keller Services for the Blind in January 2014. Haben’s story was featured in the Daily Californian.

Sam Hernandez JD was honored by the Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber with its Leadership Award for his actions to support the advancement of Latino business, students, and community in Oregon and southwest Washington.

Elizabeth Holliday BA left her job with KOAM-TV in Joplin, Missouri, in May 2014 after two years to work for News 10 ABC in New York’s Capital Region.

Niccolo Jose BA went back to the Philippines and opened a successful art and design business, making one-of-a-kind accent pieces, interiors, and custom-fit chairs from recycled and upcycled old wood. He currently has a solo exhibition at Altro Mondo Arte Contemporanea in the Philippines. He also works as the creative director and main resident artist of the first Eco-Art Resort in the Philippines.

Zach Kearl BA moved away from Portland last fall and joined the Bend, Oregon, start-up Choose Growth, a multimedia educational company.

Melina LaMorticella JD joined the business immigration practice group at Tonkon Torp. Previously, she practiced immigration law for several years at a boutique firm in Portland. LaMorticella represents regional and international companies in a wide variety of employment-based immigration and naturalization matters, from labor certifications and naturalizations to extraordinary ability petitions.

Stephanie Locke BA is youth programs coordinator for the National Kidney Foundation of Hawaii. She enjoys working with youth and exploring Hawaii. Locke greatly looks forward to staying in the dorms during Alumni Weekend, as she has always felt that an extra-large twin bed suits her stature.

Andrew Merriam BA is in desperate need of a new title at Portland’s Top Level Design, where he twists arms and either starts or puts out fires as the company introduces new web extensions such as .wiki, .ink, and .design. He recently returned to a ceramic studio for the first time since graduating. After participating in Lewis & Clark’s Reunion Planning Weekend, he is pretty convinced that “the classes from the 1990s partied harder than us” and is curious to see what happens after they put their kids down to sleep.

Claire Monteiro BA completed her master’s degree in public policy at Georgetown University in May 2014. She works as an economist at the U.S. Department of Commerce and lives with her husband, Robert Monteiro BA, in Washington, D.C. Other than changing her name from Claire Rogers, she’s pretty much the same—she loves nerdy economics jokes, watching The West Wing, and dancing it out. She can’t wait to see friends at Alumni Weekend!

Mara Pfneisl BA works as an administrative assistant/events coordinator for the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation.

Chris Scheffler BA works at Intel Corporation in Silicon Valley. He spent the last four years working in research and development in nanotechnology, primarily on charged particle beam systems. Since graduating, he has learned to breathe underwater. Conveniently, scuba diving often involves exciting travel, which has been a passion of his since studying overseas while at Lewis & Clark. During Alumni Weekend, he looks forward to seeing friends and spending quality time in the Oregon outdoors, weather permitting.

Sanne Stienstra BA is a research fellow for U.S. EPA Region 10 and is pursuing a master’s degree at the University of Washington’s Evans School of Public Affairs (with an expected graduation date of June 2015). She still finds Portland to be the most charming place west of the Mississippi. Now that she lives in Seattle, she appreciates it even more. Since graduation, she has shifted her focus from literature to environmental policy, with a focus on waste prevention. Stienstra looks forward to reconnecting with old friends and making new connections with old classmates she didn’t get a chance to know the first time around.

Alexander Wheatley JD joined Fisher & Phillips, where he specializes in employment law.

Stefan Wolf JD joined Gevurtz Menashe as an associate estate planning attorney.

Simone Wren BA works at Social Venture Partners Portland. She’s excited that her job involves so many buzzwords. Simone continues to be a determined optimist. After living in five Portland neighborhoods, she’s enough of a Portland native to say it out loud and scoff when people mention Portlandia. Wren looks forward to giving leaping hugs to long-lost friends at Alumni Weekend. She also wants you to know that if you don’t come, you may never know what it feels like to raft in the reflecting pool.

2011

Kelvin Adkins-Heljeson JD was awarded the Young Lawyers Section Award at the MBA Annual Meeting, Dinner, and Judges Reception.

Jamie Moon BA has joined the Idaho firm of Moffat Thomas. Her practice will focus on workers’ compensation issues for employers, commercial litigation, and employment law.

Ashley Vaughn JD joined the Dumas Law Group as an associate attorney. The firm represents victims of child sexual abuse, both adults and children, in cases against perpetrators and institutions. The firm also represents small businesses and individuals with civil lawsuits, employment claims, real estate matters, and other business disputes, and has the flexibility to handle certain personal injury and professional malpractice claims.

Jason Walker JD was appointed chief criminal deputy prosecutor of the Grays Harbor Prosecuting Attorney’s office in Montesano, Washington.

2012

Class Correspondent: Josh Cohn notes@lclark.edu

Trevor Bloom BA assisted in the discovery of two previously unknown species of blind cave spiders, found two years ago in Cueva Seibo, a cave in the Dominican Republic’s Parque Nacional del Este. Bloom was a research assistant and is also the lead author of the paper detailing this discovery published in the Journal of Arachnology.

Dustin Combs JD has joined the Myanmar office of Baker & McKenzie. Kemiyondo Coutinho BA is the lead host of the Discover Uganda TV show. A Ugandan actress, playwright, and artistic director of NuVo Arts Organization, she focuses on theatre for social change. Coutinho wrote her first one-woman play, Jabulile, in 2008 and performed the play at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, South Africa.

Michael Whiteley JD joined Schwegman Lundberg & Woessner as an associate in the firm’s Utah office. He focuses on U.S. patent prosecution in computing, networking, software, and Internet applications.

2013

Emily Costello delivered a TEDx Talk in Zurich, Switzerland, on October 17, 2014. According to her TEDx profile, she “developed a case of late-onset Physics” when she took a science course for nonmajors during her first semester at Lewis & Clark. “Physics was love at first sight. You don’t really understand where that shock of love will take you—but you walk into the room and just think: There has never been anything so wonderful.” She gave a shout-out to Michael Broide, associate professor of physics, in the talk. Costello is applying to several graduate programs in physics and says, “No matter where I end up, I will continue to be a vocal science advocate!”

Amelia Forsberg JD joined Chernoff Vilhauer as an associate attorney.

Matthew Preusch JD joined the complex litigation group at Keller Rohrback in Santa Barbara, California. His work focuses on representing harmed parties in securities, consumer protection, and environmental matters. Steven Skolnik BA, a former music major, is a drummer with the Portland band Bike Thief. The band toured the United States between September and November 2014.

2014

Sage Coy BA is touring with the Portland Cello Project. She recently played cello with Trampled by Turtles at Portland’s Crystal Ballroom. She teaches cello in Portland.

Bryce Hanks JD joined Hart Wagner as an associate. His practice focuses on employment defense and medical malpractice defense.

Megan McGuire JD joined the litigation practice team at Miller Nash Graham & Dunn in the firm’s Portland office.

Olivia Ragan BA was selected to participate in the fall 2014 White House Internship Program. The program’s mission is to make the White House accessible to future leaders around the nation and to prepare those devoted to public service for future leadership opportunities.

Alex Tinker JD joined the litigation department at Tonkon Torp.