Alumni News

Robert Barron (1970) shared fond memories of his classmates and teachers with us recently. He is currently the Finance Director for the City of West Haven, CT. He remembers attending TCS in a class of 7-8 students and being taught by former Head of School Jan Phillips. He also remembers the early years of the school on the Webster University Campus, after the school was founded by the Sisters of Loretto.

Therese Williams (1972) lives near Santa Fe, New Mexico. She is currently Administrative Director for Permacultura America Latina-PAL, a non-profit charity. PAL has created, currently supports and advises permaculture education and demonstration centers throughout Latin America. PAL recently hosted and organized the May-June 2007 IPC8, the eighth International Permaculture Conference and Convergence in Sao Paulo, Brazil (www.permaculture.org). In her leisure time, Therese gardens and plays music. For the past seven years, she’s been the bell player for the Samba band Samba Fe. She recently performed with the marimba band Trillium for a year.

Rachel Neumeier (Class of 1982) received a starred review in the May 15, 2008 issue of Booklist for her book The City in the Lake. The review states that “Neumeier’s language is particularly poetic in describing her characters’ ever-shifting forms…” and cites the book as a “vividly imagined debut.” Congratulations, Rachel!

Neil Kraetsch (1988) received a JD degree from Washington University and now serves as Senior Counsel with the Oakland Athletics baseball team.

Yuki Noguchi (Class of 1989) is the new Business Correspondent for NPR. You can hear her reports on Morning Edition and other NPR news programs.

Peat Wollaeger (1989) works full-time as a web designer for a local NBC affiliate. He has three amazing boys with his wife, Kris, and is an internationally known Stencil Graffiti Artist (see stenSOUL.com). His work was recently commissioned by the band Green Day and he designed a limited edition Mountain Dew bottle. His work was recently featured on the covers of St. Louis Magazine, the New York Times and the St. Louis Post- Dispatch. He has done many public murals and is known for his signature eye. This summer, he is doing two shows in New York and one in LA. He shares, “TCS taught me to be an independent thinker and to rely on my creativity to solve problems and invent unique new ideas!”

Kevin Navarro (1989) returned to The College School as a middle school teacher after finishing his undergraduate (Carleton College) and graduate (Webster College) work in 1997. He is now on his 13th year at The College School and continues to love it. He is now Assistant Head of School, and he and his wife, Jess, look forward to their son, Dylan, enrolling in the Big Bend Preschool class in two years!

Aaron Warshaw (1990) recently graduated from the Brooklyn Law School, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Brooklyn Journal of International Law. Since September 2007, he has been serving as the law clerk for a federal Magistrate Judge in the Eastern District of New York. He writes, “I am very happy to see that Kevin Navarro is also on the staff. Kevin was a year ahead of me, which I think might be an indication that I’m really getting old! I look back on my time at TCS with fond, fond memories.”

Kristen Folkl (1990) has been inducted into Stanford University’s Hall of Fame.

Allison Harris (1991) gave birth to two girls, Lucia and Amelia Webb-Harris, on December 9, 2009. She is still working as a lawyer in New York City.

Francis Shen (1992) will complete his Ph.D. in Government and Social Policy at Harvard University in June. He will spend next year in Boston and prepare for an academic position in the fall of 2009. He plans to continue to compete in track and field competitions

Rob Kraetsch (1992) graduated from University of California in San Diego and from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. He is now a cinematographer in Los Angeles. He and his wife Erika had their first child early this year.

Shannon Connelly (1994) received her BA in Cultural Anthropology from Webster University in 2003. She is currently working as a researcher and fundraiser for the International Forum on Globalization, a nonprofit think tank in San Francisco that promotes social justice and environmental sustainability. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the Haight-Ashbury Food Program, a neighborhood response to hunger. She writes, “I continue to look back on what I learned at TCS for guidance in my professional life. Thank you for giving me an irrepressibly rich and distinctive educational experience.”

Peter Pranschke (1994) exhibited his drawings at Maps, a contemporary art space in Belleville, IL from October 9-November 1, 2008

Christopher Lewis (1995): Together with colleagues, Christopher wrote the cover story and contributed to the cover image in an October 2009 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The article is about “Learning and Spontaneous Brain Activity.”

Molly Kellett (1997) is living and working in Colorado as a case worker who helps female ex-offenders re-enter the workplace. She will return to school in the fall to work on a Masters Degree in Social Work. Her sister Katie Kellett (1993) is a third grade bi-lingual teacher in Chicago and other sister Sarah Kellett Henry (1991) is married and the mother of twins. Sarah works in St. Louis as an engineer for GlaxoSmithKline. Their youngest brother, Jack Kellett, is beginning his eighth grade year at The College School.

Alicia Seibel (1997) just completed her second year of law school at St. Louis University and will work this summer for the Spencer Fane law firm. She recently published a paper in St. Louis University’s Law Review.

Patty Weng Mabie (1997) is completing her third year of teaching math at Lafayette High School in the Rockwood School District in Missouri. She helps lead outdoor education activities for Lafayette, including trips to Southern Illinois, where she revisits locations from her sixth grade Wilderness Experience.

Michael Lewis (1998), a graduate of Tulane University in Architecture, traveled through India, Nepal, Thailand and Vietnam for six months after graduation and is now living and working in London.

Neil Sanders (1998), who graduated from University of Miami-Ohio with a degree in Architecture, just received his LEED certification, necessary for “green” building design.

Lindsey Ross (1999) received her BA in International Studies/Political Science at Loyola University in Chicago. She is now working for AmeriCorps in Chicago at an inner city KIPPS charter school, teaching reading and art.

Vernon Chaplin (1999, Enrolled at Burroughs in 1997): After The College School, Vernon attended John Burroughs, then finished high school at Indian Springs School in Birmingham, AL, graduating in 2003. He graduated from Swarthmore College in Philadelphia with a BA in Astrophysics and a minor in Economics in June 2007. At Swarthmore, he ran track and cross country and played soccer. As a senior, he was named the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Academic All-Area Men’s Performer of the Year. This year, Vernon is living in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and working for a humanitarian organization called the East Meets West Foundation. He’ll be returning to the U.S. in September to start graduate school in Physics at CalTech in Pasadena, CA.

Claire Navarro (1999) graduated magna cum laude from Kenyon College in Ohio in May 2007, with a BA degree in American Studies and English. She is currently working with a publishing firm in Chicago and was one of 12 accepted to UMSL’s Museum Studies Masters program, a fully funded Masters Degree program, from over 250 applicants. She’ll be returning to St. Louis in the fall.

Amega Williams (2000) is in her senior year at Chamberlain College of Nursing. She will graduate with a BS in Nursing in June 2008. She has accepted an offer to work at St. Louis University Hospital on the Trauma Intensive Care Unit after graduation. After gaining work experience, she plans to go back to school to become a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist.

Amanda Seibel (2000) graduated magna cum laude from American University in May with a degree in Environmental Studies. She also was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.

Sarah Rondot (2001) graduated from Indiana University with a B.S. in English and a B.S. in Gender Studies with highest honors. She is currently attending graduate school at University of Oregon.

Amanda Gastreich (2001) graduated in 2008 from the University of Evansville with a degree in Religion and International Studies. Since then she has been working as an Americorps volunteer for the Appalachia Service Project in Johnson City, Tennessee. The Appalachia Service Project works to repair homes for low-income residents of Central Appalachia in the hopes of making them “warmer, safer, and drier.” She is working as the Center Director of ASP Tri-Cities, which seeks to bring local churches, organizations and individuals together to help repair homes within their own community. Apart from facilitating the on-site construction, she recruits volunteers and communicates with local businesses and organizations in the hopes of getting them to be a part of ASP’s vision for the Appalachian region.

Rachel Harris (2001): Rachel graduated summa cum laude from Case Western Reserve University in May 2009 with a BA in Political Science and Departmental Honors. In June 2009, she presented the results of epidemiological and clinical research in Neurology (funded by a grant awarded by the National Institutes of Health) at the International Movement Disorders Conference in Paris. She is completing her first year of medical school at Georgetown University School of Medicine.

Amelia Janoski (2001) graduated in May 2009 from West Point, where she majored in Engineering Management and also played varsity soccer. Her five-year post graduate Army emphasis is in military intelligence. She joined the 82^nd Airborne Unit and plans to become a military lawyer. 

Allison Chickering (Moved to NC in 1999, was part of Class of 2002) will have her senior recital at UNC’s School of the arts in November. Allison has performed in many operas both in North Carolina and in St. Louis and is planning to attend graduate school, but she’s not sure where yet. Nancy Miller, the Performing Arts teacher at The College School while Allison was a student here, was the first person to recognize Allison’s singing talent, according to Allison’s mom Robin.

Dan Marincel (2002) graduated from Missouri University of Science and Technology in May 2009 with a B.S. in Ceramic Engineering and is entering the Materials Science and Engineering Ph.D. program at the Pennsylvania State University in August.

Anna Russell (2002) graduated from Xavier University and has accepted a position as a graduate assistant for the upcoming school year. Ben Walker (2002) graduated from Miami University in Ohio and has accepted a teaching job in a school near Estes Park, Colorado. He is leading a 6-week bike tour across the country this summer.

Jacob Hautly (2003), currently a marketing major at Valparaiso University in Indiana, recently participated in the annual assessment center business simulations through the university’s College of Business Administration.

Eddie Chickering (Moved to NC in 1999, was part of Class of 2004) is a professional musician, playing lead guitar with a band named BROKE.

Kathleen Russell (2004) was awarded a $10,000 college scholarship from Toyota. Kathleen is currently a student at Vanderbilt University.

Tyler Walker (2006) will be attending Westminster College this fall. He plans to major in Business and play soccer there.

Kyle Perkinson (2007) has been named Battalion Commander for his senior year 2010-2011 at Missouri Military Academy, which means he is the #1 Cadet for the Corp and in the top leadership position. His mom, Cindy, writes, “I know he could not have achieved this without the confidence/leadership skills he attained at TCS!”