this issue as a PDF

FALL 2004
A MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI & FRIENDS OF
CHAMPLAIN COLLEGE
Working on
the Edge
Ski cinematographer Tom Day ’82 talks
about the fun—and the fear—of shooting
where the action is
Trend Tracker 2004 • Motion Pictures • Acting Out Issues
Calendar of Events
October
28
Vermont Global Symposium lecture, “The Global Economy and Vermont,”
featuring former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich. The event is presented
by Champlain College, Saint Michael’s College and the Vermont Council
on World Affairs. Saint Michael’s College Ross Sports Center, 2:30 p.m.
$10 admission, $5 students/seniors (free for Champlain students with ID).
Tickets are available at Champlain Bookstore, Borders Books and Flynn Tix
at 86-FLYNN and www.flynntix.org.
November
10-13
17-20
The Champlain Players present Arthur Miller’s All My Sons. Alumni
Auditorium, 7:30 p.m. $12 admission (free for Champlain students with ID).
For tickets call the theater box office at (802) 651-5962.
20
December
Comedian, writer, storyteller and performance artist Peter Burns comes
to campus. Morgan Room, Aiken Hall, 7 p.m. Free admission.
2
Intercollegiate Writers’ Exchange, Morgan Room, Aiken Hall, 7 p.m.
Free admission.
9
Native American poet, essayist, novelist and children’s story writer Joe
Bruchac speaks. Morgan Room, Aiken Hall, 7 p.m. Free admission.
2005
February
2-6
March/April
18-20
23-24
31-2
Champlain Players One-Act Festival, presenting plays on plays. Alumni
Auditorium, 7:30 p.m. $10 admission (free for Champlain students with ID).
For tickets call the theater box office at
(802) 651-5962.
The Champlain Players present Martin McDonagh’s The Cripple of
Inishmaan. Alumni Auditorium, 7:30 p.m. $12 admission (free for
Champlain students with ID). For tickets call the theater box office at
(802) 651-5962.
For more information about these events and others,
visit www.champlain.edu or call (802) 860-2756.
2004-05 Board of Trustees
Robert W. Allen
Terry F. Allen
Deborah M. Bergh
George F. Bond ’73
William P. Cody
April Cornell
James Crook, Jr.
Staige Davis
Leta C. Finch
Michael D. Flynn
James B. Foster
Hinda S. Miller
Holly D. Miller
Robert B. Moore
Diane Mueller
Paul A. Perrault
Roger H. Perry
Peter Lewis Phillips
Thomas H. Pierce
William G. Post, Jr.
Mary G. Powell
David A. Scheuer
Steven D. Shepard
Robert A. Snyder
Dawn Terrill ’88
Lisa Ventriss
Lawrence J. Walsh, Jr.’66
Arthur E. Wegner
COVER: Tom Day ’82, “hands-down the best cinematographer in the snowboard and ski industry,”
according to Mike Hatchett, president of Standard Films. Photo by Keoki Flagg.
FALL 2004
A MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI & FRIENDS OF
CHAMPLAIN COLLEGE
DEPARTMENTS
CHAMPLAIN COLLEGE
A MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI & FRIENDS OF
CALENDAR OF EVENTS
2
3
FROM THE EDITOR
VIEW FROM THE HILL
Class Act…The Sporting Life…
News in Brief…Student View
22
CLASS NOTES
News…Alumni Lives & more
A MAGAZINE FOR ALUMNI & FRIENDS OF
CHAMPLAIN COLLEGE
(Bottom) photograph by Greg Von Doersten; illustration by Ginny Joyner; (top) photograph by Jordan Silverman
F E AT U R E S
10
AHEAD OF THE WAVE
Innovation and energy are powerful lures and Champlain’s got
them, drawing people at the forefront of their fields. To find out
what’s happening out on the cutting edge, we chatted with
some of the College’s top experts, and got some reassuring—
and surprising—answers.
by Lee Ann Cox
16
DANGEROUS ANGLES
Filming extreme skiing requires being an extreme skier, with
camera gear in tow. By all accounts, alumnus Tom Day ’82 is
a world-class cinematographer and skier who gets the footage
that lets you feel the chill of a blast down the mountain. He’s
also a really nice guy. Here he shares what it takes to live a
life on skis.
by Patrick Kelley
Champlain View | Fall 2004
1
FROM THE EDITOR
When I look at this issue, I get a palpable sense of the
energy at Champlain. The people here are motivated,
driven by curiosity, by passion, by respect for themselves
Champlain
View
FALL 2004
VOLUME 3, NUMBER 2
and others. And the alumni who leave here put that energy
out into the world. It’s endlessly fascinating to follow the
paths of graduates, to see how their lives ripen when
experience and the fresh knowledge and commitment of
the college years grow together.
This time we check in on Tom Day, a business grad from the class of 1982.
EDITOR
Lee Ann Cox
ART DIRECTOR
Julia Caminiti
CONTRIBUTING
WRITERS
Lee Griffin
Patrick Kelley
Kris Surette
PHOTOGRAPHERS
Day’s heart may have been more with the ski team (see their picture below) than
his management classes, but the ethic he’s followed through his career as a ski
cinematographer is truly in the Champlain spirit. He’s creative, he’s adventurous,
he gets the job done.
Keoki Flagg
Kathleen Landwehrle
Jordan Silverman
Greg Von Doersten
ILLUSTRATOR
Ginny Joyner
CLASS NOTES
Coralee Holm Zizza
“You’re guaranteed to get the goods when Tom goes out,” Kim Schneider, a
film editor for Warren Miller, told us. “He’s going to get it or he’s not coming
Alumni & Development Staff
back.” For Day, “getting it” can involve doorless helicopters, avalanches and
“ripping down the mountain with all his gear as well as anybody who skis in the
film.” Read more of his story in “Dangerous Angles,” page 16.
The College no longer has an official ski team, but students are skiing and
riding and kickboxing, playing hockey, basketball, lacrosse and stretching into
yoga poses. In our photo essay “The Sporting Life,” page 4, you can see how
Champlain is shaping the whole student, instilling the joy—along with the
health—of movement that will hopefully become a natural lifelong pursuit.
There’s one future alumna whose pursuits I’m particularly eager to watch.
Michelle Weissman ’05 (“Student View,” page 9) has a mission. She’s a software
engineering major with few female peers, a fact she aims to change. Having
benefited from the mentorship of successful women, Weissman is committed to
returning the favor. In fact, she’s already started, volunteering at a tech camp for
VICE PRESIDENT OF
DEVELOPMENT
& ALUMNI AFFAIRS
Shelley Richardson
DIRECTOR OF
PLANNED GIVING
Paul Ugalde
DIRECTOR OF
CORPORATIONS &
FOUNDATIONS
Greg Morgan
ALUMNI AFFAIRS
& ANNUAL FUND
OFFICER
DEVELOPMENT
INFORMATION
SYSTEMS
DEVELOPMENT
OFFICE ASSISTANT
Coralee Holm Zizza
Tammy Carroll ‘92
Sue Marino
girls over the summer. It’s just the kind of transformation, from passion into
action, that this issue celebrates. — LAC
CONTACT
INFORMATION
Send letters and
address changes to
Champlain View
Champlain College
Alumni & Development Office
163 South Willard St.
PO Box 670
Burlington VT 05402-0670
alumni@champlain.edu
(802) 860-2756
Champlain View is published twice a year
(Spring and Fall) by Champlain College. Printing
by Queen City Printers Inc., Burlington, VT.
Founded in 1878, Champlain College is an Equal Opportunity
Educational Institution.
Tom Day ’82 (far left) with the 1981 Champlain College ski team.
2
Champlain View | Fall 2004
| VIEW FROM THE HILL |
ACT
CLASS
Theater Group Brings
Tough Issues Center Stage
or some anxious parents preparing to drop their
children off at college, the age-old autumn ritual got
a little more intense this year. Sitting in Alumni
Auditorium, they watched two students, Maggie
and Todd, give varying accounts of a night gone
wrong.They met at a party where they both admit to drinking. He says they shared a night of fun. She says she was raped.
A third student, Ashley, who introduced them, says she isn’t
sure who to believe.
Fortunately, this is a fictional scenario, part of an interactive theater production created for Champlain’s Parent
Orientation Day. The event was designed to foster discussion—and prevention—of important issues, such as substance
abuse and date rape, and was followed by an open dialogue
session where parents could question cast members.
Joanne Farrell, director of the professional writing program, came up with the idea for the skit and worked with the
actors to merge their monologues into a cohesive storyline.“I
was worried about how it would be received,”she said, adding
that the risk was worth it if it keeps even one student from
being in such a position.
Parents wasted no time jumping in during the questionand-answer session, asking some very direct questions of the
actors, still “in character.”
“What part of ‘no’ don’t you understand?” demanded one
father.
“Did you ever consider STDs as a consequence?” asked
another parent.
The potentially upsetting exercise received an overwhelmingly positive response from parents, many of whom
said they were relieved to hear such frank and honest talk
about subjects that otherwise might not have been discussed.
F
“I want to thank you for talking about these issues. I feel
better having talked about them,” said one mother.
“I wasn’t sure how it would go because it’s such a difficult
topic,” said Alexandra Sevakian ’07, who played the role of
Maggie.“We got a lot more feedback than I expected.[The parents] seemed like they wanted to keep talking about it.”
Once the actors stepped out of character, they had a
chance to talk about their real-life experiences at Champlain.
Melissa Plante ’07 reassured parents that these scenarios,
although real, are rare here.
“I want you to know that you are leaving your kids at a safe
place,” she said.“Nothing like this has ever happened to me,
but to stand here and say that your child will never be around
alcohol or that situations like this don’t ever happen wouldn’t
be truthful.”
Daring to prepare students for those possibilities is what
makes this campus stand out. Carol Moran Brown of student
life services informs parents of the many support and counseling services offered on campus. New students are exposed
to group counseling sessions and are shown the same skit that
was performed for parents.
Ginny and Dan Thurler of Canton, Massachusetts, whose
son is a first-year student, said they’re confident that he will
have a high-quality academic experience, but are naturally
concerned about the social aspects of college life.
“You’re so used to being in that daily contact, so when
they’re out of range it does cause some anxiety,” Dan Thurler
said. “It’s been good to hear from students and staff about
what goes on here and the services that are offered.”
Doris Ogden, Champlain’s alcohol/drug education coordinator,summed up the presentation:“It’s like watching a horror
movie. You know she’s going to open the cellar door even
though everyone is yelling ‘Don’t do it, don’t do it.’ We want
students to know what’s on the other side of the door before
they consider opening it.”
Champlain View | Fall 2004
3
|
VIEW FROM THE HILL
|
The
Sporting
S
urrounded as they are by lake,
mountains, bicycle paths, gym
facilities and playing fields—and
as energized as they tend to be—
Champlain’s students play as hard as
they work. Sometimes the energy pours
into organized games—hockey, b-ball,
lacrosse or volleyball. Often, a few students bundle up and head to the ski
slopes for freestyle boarding. Or it’s two
on two in an impromptu pickup game
on one of the courts. Among the most
adventurous, the setting might be vertical and, whether designed by nature or
Petra Cliffs, the climb can be exhilarating. Sometimes nothing can surpass
the meditative nourishment of a yoga
class or a solo ride on Burlington’s miles
of bicycle paths to bask in the restorative glow of a Lake Champlain sunset.
Although students might not be
thinking about James Joyce at moments
like these, they no doubt can resonate
with his thinking, if not the formality of
his expression, when he wrote: “Rapid
motion through space elates one.”
4
Champlain View | Fall 2004
Life
“ T H E R E A R E N O S H O R TCUTS TO ANY PLACE
WORTH GOING.”
— OPERA STAR BEVERLY SILLS
“THE BEST INSPIRATION IS NOT TO OUTDO OTHERS,
BUT TO OUTDO OURSELVES.” — ANONYMOUS
Champlain View | Fall 2004
5
|
VIEW FROM THE HILL
“YOU HAVE TO
EXPECT
THINGS OF
YOURSELF
BEFORE
YOU CAN DO
THEM.”
— MICHAEL
JORDAN
6
Champlain View | Fall 2004
|
|
VIEW FROM THE HILL
|
“ I T I S N ’ T T H E M O U N TA I N S A H E A D
T O C L I M B T H AT W E A R Y O U O U T;
IT’S THE PEBBLE IN YOUR SHOE.”
— MUHAMMAD ALI
Champlain View | Fall 2004
7
|
VIEW FROM THE HILL
|
NEWS in brief
Champlain Gets Top-Tier Ranking
in New College Guide
U.S. News America’s Best Colleges 2005 has ranked
Champlain in the top tier of the best comprehensive colleges in the North. Champlain placed 16th in this field of
colleges that emphasize undergraduate education. This
year, the publication ranked 324 comprehensive colleges
in four regions of the country. U.S. News highlighted
Champlain for its strong graduation rate, which is among
the highest in its category. The publication uses measures
of quality that fall into seven broad categories: peer assessment, graduation and retention rates, faculty resources,
student selectivity, financial resources and alumni giving.
Main Street Suites Earns Historical
Society Award
Champlain College has received a Chittenden County
Historical Society Preservation Award for its new residence
hall, the Main Street Suites & Conference Center, which
opened last fall. The award, for “outstanding fill-in design
in an historic district,” in the residential category, was presented to Russell Willis, Champlain’s provost, at a
ceremony in July. The Society praised the College for creating a building that reflects “the scale, materials, and
character of the beautiful nearby historic and campus
buildings, while maintaining a distinguishable contemporary appearance.” The building was designed by local
architects Truex Cullins & Partners.
The College Celebrates Its First
Master’s Graduates
When master’s hoods were presented in a special ceremony last spring, it marked an important milestone for
Champlain: the graduation of its first master’s class. The
Managing Innovation and Information Technology program, which began in the fall of 2002, combines business
and technology education and is delivered entirely online.
Four degrees were conferred in May, two of which went to
Champlain alumni. The College is examining additional
online graduate offerings in the fields of special education,
business and applied technology.
8
Champlain View | Fall 2004
In the Champlain Spotlight
Ann DeMarle, director of the multimedia & graphic design
program and the new electronic game & interactive development program, has been named an Apple Distinguished
Educator. This select group is honored by Apple Computers
for making creative and influential use of their technology,
inspiring students as well as other educators.
Historical scholar-in-residence Willard Sterne Randall
lends his expertise on Alexander Hamilton, who figured
prominently in the formative years of lower Manhattan, to
a new cellphone walking tour of the area. Profits from the
tour, narrated by Sigourney Weaver, will be donated to the
World Trade Center Memorial Foundation. Find more information online at www.talkingstreet.com.
Accounting professor Harold “Champ” Soncrant was
honored by Vermont Campus Compact as a 2004 Excellence in Teaching finalist. He was praised for “exemplary,
innovative teaching using community-based learning and
demonstrated commitment to student voice and community partnership.” Soncrant, who coordinates the Volunteer
Income Tax Assistance program at Champlain, has taught
at the College for 33 years.
College “Icon” Larry Veladota Retires
Champlain Vice President Larry Veladota, a
1964 accounting graduate, has retired
after 35 years of service to his alma mater.
Hired to bring the College’s first computer
online in 1969, Veladota held the positions of director of computer operations
and vice president for financial affairs
before being named vice president.
During his tenure, he also earned a master’s in education
from Harvard University. Calling him a “true Champlain
icon,” President Roger Perry praised Veladota’s management of the physical plant, his tireless efforts as
ambassador to the City of Burlington, his fiscal oversight
and his role in building Champlain’s state-of-the-art technology centers. Veladota, echoing Bader Brouilette, one of
the three presidents he served under, says the College
was like one of his children: “I had three daughters
and Champlain.”
|
VIEW FROM THE HILL
|
Student
View Q&
Michelle Weissman ’05
A
You’re one of a handful of women in Champlain’s software
engineering program. How did you get turned on to technology?
We had the early Macs in kindergarten with alphabet programs and
word games. Ever since then I’ve wanted to know more. In middle
school I had two women mentors who took me under their wing,
letting me develop the school’s website. From then on I was hooked.
This past summer, as a project to fulfill your community service
requirement, you worked as a teacher at the Vermont Institutes’
Tech Savvy Girls Camp. Why did you choose that job?
Michelle Weissman, teaching at Tech Savvy Girl’s Camp
I was really interested in the fact that they were teaching technology in a completely female environment. And
I wanted to give back because I was so lucky having these two women mentor me. I wanted to help other girls
who are just starting out.
In your statement of goals for the project, you said that you expected to learn more about
the fears girls have in pursuing tech classes. What do you think scares girls off?
It’s hard to pinpoint. Maybe they don’t want to fail or be shown up by boys. And it’s hard for some girls to
be labeled a computer geek. The camp took that away. It was a learning environment that’s maybe more
conducive to teaching girls technology because it was very supporting; there were no put-downs. I think once
girls are taught that they can do it and it’s fun, they’ll keep pursuing it.
You wrote that you want to change the stigma that women don’t belong in engineering.
You’ve taken computer classes for years and you just finished a four-year summer
internship at Goodrich Aerospace. How much resistance have you felt?
I’ve experienced it. It’s daunting to be in a conference room surrounded by men or go into a classroom with 20
males and two other females, but, honestly, I’m not turned off by it. I’ve had to work to prove that I have skills
that are equal to the men, but once you break through that, you’re respected. I think you have to be careful
not to make gender a huge issue. I make it known that I’m an engineer and I’m a professional and this is what
I’m here to do. I can prove that I’m a good engineer.
You’re confident. Where did the confidence come from?
It’s taken time. I think from role models, meeting a lot of passionate women. It’s good to know that you’re not
alone. But the confidence? I think you have to be confident in order to really do what you want to do, in any
field. People will tell you that you can’t do something or that you’re not good enough, but you just have to
prove to them that you are. I think you can achieve anything. You can achieve what your mind believes. If you
have the confidence, there’s no stopping you.
Do you have other interests beyond technology?
A ton. I love doing community service. I love movies, hanging out with friends, being outdoors, boating.
I run. I have an itch to travel. That’s one of my passions.
Photograph by Kris Surette
What are your goals after Champlain?
I’m looking at grad schools; I’m looking at doing service with Vermont Campus Compact for a year or two. I’m
also looking at industry. I’d like to work for a time, rise to a position of manager and then work in women’s
advocacy in technology or in designing programs to get younger girls interested in technology. I want to help.
I’ve seen what mentoring can do. I think I’m a living testimonial that mentoring works.
Champlain View | Fall 2004
9
hange is accelerating, in business and in life. In a world that’s gone global,
where ever-higher speed is the status quo (why e-mail when you can instant
message?) and access to information is virtually unbounded (even by wires),
we’ve grown increasingly sophisticated—and demanding. At work and at
leisure we expect a rewarding experience. It’s got to be stimulating. It’s got to be
challenging. It’s got to have value.
These dynamics are nothing new to the future-focused people at Champlain
who make it their business to stay sensitive—and responsive—to the coming currents
of change. To learn more, Champlain View tapped the expertise of a diverse range of
trend-spotters to find out the answer to an age-old question: What’s next?
C
By Lee Ann Cox
Illustration by Ginny Joyner
Ahead of the
Wave
Champlain’s cutting-edge
experts track the trends
in how we live, learn,
work and play
Champlain View | Fall 2004
11
THE EXPERT:
Steven Shepard
Champlain Trustee,
Master’s Degree Faculty and
President, Shepard Communications Group
THE FIELD:
Demographics & the
Workplace
THE TREND:
Empowered employees.
THE EXPERT:
Ann DeMarle
Director, Electronic Game & Interactive
Development and Multimedia & Graphic Design
THE FIELD:
Electronic Games
THE TREND:
Hollywood hype. As the gaming industry continues to
grow at a phenomenal rate (15 to 20 percent in sales per
year, according to DeMarle), gamers are getting a bigger—
and better—bang for their bucks. Faster computers and
increasingly sophisticated software engineering have created fantasy worlds where hyperreality rules. “Put the
stunning visuals together with better and better sound
effects,” says DeMarle, “and you’re approaching movie quality.” But game creators aren’t stopping there. With Hollywood
actors and music from the likes of Peter Gabriel, coming
back to regular reality may be harder than ever.
12
Champlain View | Fall 2004
Shepard has been
studying the newest generation to enter the work force,
the so-called Millennials (those born roughly between
1982 and 2003), and he’s issued some comforting conclusions for society at large—and a stark warning for
the corporations who hire them: ignore their needs at
your peril. Shepard makes the case that generational
types come in cycles and this new one shares a value
set with the World War II “Greatest Generation.”
Following on the heels of sarcastic, alienated
Generation X, the Millennials, Shepard says, are civicminded, team-oriented, optimistic, moral. “They need to
be motivated—and challenged,” he says. “They’re very
energetic and they’re looking for strong meaning in
what they do. They’re willing to work very hard, but they
also want balance.” Unlike generations before them,
Millennials are unwilling to sacrifice their families for
their jobs and they feel they have the power as a generation to have it their way. Successful managers,
Shepard believes, will adapt in profound ways. “They
will ensure that everyone contributes and that everyone
in every job feels like part of the solution. They will
move towards a far more collaborative management
style,” he says, one that relies heavily on technology.
“Companies that fail to see the need for accommodating the changing demands of the work force will fail,”
says Shepard. But to those who wring their hands over
who we’re leaving this world to, he has an easy answer.
“We’re leaving it in the hands of a generation ideally
suited to succeed.”
THE EXPERT:
Fran Stoddard
Producer & Host of
Vermont Public Television’s
“Profile” and Media
Communications Faculty
THE FIELD:
Media
THE TREND:
Local air. In an age of big media
THE EXPERT:
Joe Gaetani ’06
Student
THE FIELD:
Snowboarding
THE TREND:
(Left ) photograph by Jordan Silverman; (right) courtesy of Burton Snowboards
Spins… and pink? For snowboarders, a day on the
mountain is one of big air—and big risks. Consider a few of
the hippest tricks, according to Gaetani. There’s the Frontside
540 Indy, which involves spinning off your heels and doing
a 540-degree midair rotation during which you grab your back
hand between your feet (that’s the Indy). When that gets old
there’s the Backside Rodeo. “You come in off your toes but
spin backwards over your front shoulder like an inside-out
spin. They look really cool,” says Gaetani, “It’s almost like you
get flat in the air.”
Gaetani and his friends, who’ll be premiering their second
ski and riding video at Champlain this fall (view a trailer
at www.rightproductions.com), are into the tricks for the
challenge and the rush of adrenaline. “I’d be so bored without
it in the winter,” Gaetani says. “It keeps me living.”
But there’s one trend Gaetani cites that he’s not into—yet.
For the truly daring rider: pink outerwear.
consolidation, it’s the little guy
around the corner who’s making the
waves in broadcasting. “People are
so desperate to make money,”
Stoddard says of the national media
corporations, “that there’s not a lot of
risk-taking. It’s expensive to take
risks.” Enter low-power radio and
regional television programming.
With new legislation before Congress
(co-sponsored by Vermont Senator
Patrick Leahy), there’s hope of loosening tough FCC restrictions on
low-power radio, opening the airwaves to community stations and a
diverse mix of local voices, music
and news. And filmmaker Jay
Craven, in partnership with Vermont
Public Television, is taking a chance
on “Windy Acres,” a six-part comedy
series set in the Northeast Kingdom,
to air on VPT—and public stations all
over the Northeast—this fall (the
show, starring alumnus Rusty
DeWees ’84, premiered at Champlain
earlier this month). This groundbreaking project, Stoddard hopes, is
only the beginning of similar regional
offerings nationwide, expanding our
understanding of ourselves and each
other. “Now we get to see the lives of
New Yorkers and Californians. It’s
limiting. You just don’t get that much
reflection of who we are.”
Champlain View | Fall 2004
13
THE EXPERT:
Ken Fredericks
Chef, Champlain Dining Facility
THE FIELD:
Feeding Students
THE TREND:
Free-style fusion. Remember dorm food, the
ubiquitous meat and overcooked vegetables languishing
in industrial metal trays? Forget it. Students may still suffer over academics, but the amenities of college life have
gone upscale. In Champlain’s new Student Life Complex,
open for dining this fall, there’s a state-of-the-art open
kitchen, fine china and seven separate platforms at which
diners can interact with chefs and customize their food.
No steam tables. “Students want fresh food,” says head
chef Ken Fredericks. “They want to control the ingredients, not eat food that’s been sitting in the kitchen for
hours.” What are they choosing? According to Fredericks,
comfort food is out, fusion is in. If they want Chinese
chicken salad on a wrap grilled on a panini grill, he says,
that’s what they get.
THE EXPERT:
Roger Perry
President of Champlain College
THE FIELD:
Higher Education
THE TREND:
Renaissance programmers.
Gone are the days of the stereotypic
tech geek, the guy you want when your
computer crashes—but when you’re
giving a dinner party, not so much.
Course requirements at Champlain and
other progressive colleges and universities now include work in the humanities,
communication, critical thinking, global
perspectives and even social responsibility and ethical reasoning, producing
graduates as conversant in the arts and
sciences as they are in writing PHP
code. It’s a move that’s paying off big,
according to Perry. “EA loves our curriculum,” he says, referring to Electronic
Arts, the world’s leading video game
developer. “We offer advanced technology, but there’s also quite a bit in terms
of the liberal arts. We’re arming tech
majors so they can understand the story
writers [who create these games], and
appreciate the aesthetic point of view.”
Now EA and Champlain are talking about
a business partnership, supplying wellrounded techies for highly envied jobs.
THE EXPERT:
Peter Straube
Director, Hospitality Industry Management
THE FIELD:
Tourism
THE TREND:
Extreme vacations.
THE EXPERT:
Gary Kessler
Program Director,
Computer Networking
THE FIELD:
Internet Safety
One’s annual two
weeks off used to mean lolling on the beach, doing
a little shopping, taking in the sights. Today’s travelers, for both leisure and business, want more, says
Straube. They’ve become “experience collectors.”
“Now normal people have been a lot of places and
they’re getting bored,” he explains. “People want
something new. They want to learn something, to
get a taste of an authentic experience.” Look out,
Disney. Why go to the “Polynesian Resort” when you
can take the kids to Bora Bora?
THE TREND:
(Left and center ) photographs by Kathleen Landwehrle; (right) photograph by Jordan Silverman
Phishing for fraud. By now everyone knows to
be wary of credit card fraud. The problem is, the bad guys
are staying one step ahead, exploiting this climate of concern to get people to voluntarily turn over valuable
information. In these “phishing” schemes, according to
Kessler, people get an e-mail purportedly from a legitimate company (Kessler uses Best Buy as an example),
alerting them that someone has just made a purchase in
their name and requesting that they go to “the company’s” url to verify the authenticity of the order. The
person gets directed to a fake but realistic-looking version of Best Buy’s website and is asked to provide
information as proof of identity. “People are falling for it in
droves,” says Kessler. “They think, ‘Somebody is using my
card and the company is going to let me help catch them.’”
The key to avoiding these schemes is simple:
Don’t go there. Ever. “When you’re on the Internet, use
common sense,” Kessler says, . “Don’t give away information to places when you’re not sure who they are or why
you’re giving it to them. You see those [e-mails], they’re all
scams,” he insists. “One hundred percent are scams.”
THE EXPERT:
Charlie Nagelschmidt
Assistant Director, Business &
Management Programs
THE FIELD:
Business
THE TREND:
Caring for customers. To be filed in the “well,
duh” category, businesses are catching up to the fact that
service counts when it comes to luring—and keeping—
customers. And that means more than a smile at the door.
From back-end fulfillment centers to top management,
companies are becoming “customer-centric,” integrating
a culture of service throughout their organizations, says
Nagelschmidt. “They’re managing the customer experience for competitive advantage,” he says, “because the
customer holds the trump card. They can take their dollars elsewhere and they will.” For many consumers,
though, the ultimate customer service is do-it-yourself.
Increasingly, we’re banking, shopping (and tracking shipping) online and even scanning our own groceries. After
years of shaky service, it puts the one with the wallet in
control—and the help always sees things your way.
Champlain View | Fall 2004
15
DANGEROUS
Angles
By Patrick Kelley
Photograph by Keoki Flagg
A fearless skier in his
own right, cinematographer
and Champlain alumnus
Tom Day ’82 captures the
speed, the thrill and the
pure reckless beauty of
extreme skiing
Champlain View | Fall 2004
17
hile this isn’t exactly a typical month
of work for Tom Day ’82, it isn’t
completely unusual, either. He’s out
on South Georgia Island, a glaciated
speck tucked off the coast of
Antarctica, the wind raging to 100
mph and shredding tents, its howling an ever-present soundtrack. A
day at the office is clicking into
skis, loading up 50 pounds of camera gear, negotiating brutal traverses and climbs, and, hopefully, watching
world-class skiers and riders carve down a 10,000-foot mountain with fearsome slopes.
Day, a leading ski cinematographer, is working with Warren Miller
Entertainment to shoot the 2002 film Storm.To get to the island, he and the rest
of the crew flew down to the tip of South America, made their way to the
Falkland Islands, boarded a 60-foot cutter and sailed for four days—four days of
12-foot swells and no land in sight—until they reached the island where the
famous explorer Ernest Shackleton began (and ended) his famous trek toward
the South Pole. It’s appropriate. Day, whom Skiing Magazine described as the
“Energizer Bunny on skis,” is something of an explorer himself.
In more than 20 years of professional skiing and filming the sport, he’s traveled
from Uzbekistan to Antarctica,Alaska to Morocco, and virtually every place snowy
and skiable in between. Not bad for a kid who left Vermont at age 20 and headed
west to Squaw Valley, California, with little more than a plan to find powder.
“I follow my passions—skiing, mountains, travel,” Day says.“I’ve been pretty
much going with the flow since Champlain, and it’s been working out.”
W
The Elements of Action
Finding success making ski films isn’t quite that simple.The ingredients for doing
what Day does include preternatural ability on skis, enough to make the extreme
(mostly) routine, an obsession with cameras (he got his first Instamatic at age
seven), and an ability to get along with almost everyone, from uptight commercial directors to unbridled soul-patched snowboarders.
“His cinematography is phenomenal,” says Kim Schneider, an editor at
Warren Miller. “He captures what’s going on out there so you feel it. It puts a
tingle on the spine.”
Day, who speaks quietly and thoughtfully, sees his craft a little differently.
Whether he’s strapped to a doorless helicopter, urging the pilot on with a mike,
trying to capture some “sick” sequence of action with the light fading and filmand pilot-time running at hundreds of dollars an hour, or whether he’s perched
on a sketchy, avalanche-prone slope, his focus is on capturing action in ways that
are exciting, innovative and bathed in pure mountain light.
“It’s still a constant challenge,”he says.“You can never conquer it. I’m still trying to find that perfect angle. There are so many subtle things you can do with
each shot.”
Subtle, and not-so-subtle, things.You can go two basic ways shooting action:
the “whoa,” and the “oh-no.” For the whoa shots, Day’s goal is to rip his audience
18
Champlain View | Fall 2004
Photograph by Greg Von Doersten
“His focus is on capturing action in ways that are exciting,
innovative and bathed in pure mountain light.”
Champlain View | Fall 2004
19
out of their seats and put them on skis or snowboard,
watching the perfect powder unspool in front of them.The
oh-no stuff is different.There, Day is trying to find the angle
that puts the action into perspective, helping the audience
see exactly how the 55-degree slopes and epic jumps differ
from their own weekend turns.
“You want to put the audience as close as they want to
be to the really dangerous stuff,” he says.“As a skier filming
skiing, I have a better chance of getting there because I
really understand what’s going on.” Of course, closing in on
the danger puts Day himself at risk. He doesn’t dwell on the
perils of helicopters and avalanches, but he isn’t a cowboy.
“I am scared in those situations,” Day admits.“To me, being
scared is showing respect for the situation.”
A life spent among mountains has given him a keen
insight into what moves and conditions are dangerous, and
he’s constantly evaluating whether he wants to pursue a
particular shot, stunt or chute. But when he decides that
something’s comfortable, he immediately pushes the risks
out of his mind and concentrates on the work. It isn’t
always easy.
“With photography, you’re always getting pulled into
danger zones because that’s where the shots are. And you
always know it when you’re there,” Day says.
20
Champlain View | Fall 2004
Going West
Day’s life in skiing started early—the Montpelier native
watched his family hit the slopes without him, until finally,
at the grand old age of four, he was allowed to go.At seven,
he met a man on the lifts who, when the young Day asked
him what he did, said that he skied every day.“I liked the
sound of that. It stuck with me,” Day says.
So it surprised no one that Day graduated from
Champlain College one morning, and the next he chased
his dream to California: He grabbed two buddies, including
Francois Borel ’82, loaded up the car with skis, and found
his way west to Squaw Valley, a resort with steep slopes and
copious snow tucked into a box canyon in the Sierra
Nevada Mountains just outside of Lake Tahoe. He settled in,
started washing dishes and doing odd jobs, and scored a ski
pass.When winter came—with load after load of powdery
snow—he skied every day.
That was life, and it was good, until his first break: Some
spotters making a promotional film for a Japanese clothing
company spied Day on the slopes and invited him to ski in
a commercial. The next year, a skier he met on the shoot,
Scott Schmitt, wandered into the shop where Day was tuning skis and asked him if he wanted to be in a film that
Photograph by Greg Von Doersten
A cold eye: Day films as skiers plan their run. Points North Heli
Skiing, Cordova, Alaska.
legendary ski director Warren Miller’s crew was making.
Day managed to choke out a “yes.”
For a longtime skier like Day, and peers around the
country, Miller’s annual ski films, which are timed to open
just as the weather begins to turn chilly, are a yearly tradition of inspiration. Skiing for Miller’s crew, especially with
Schmitt, was like an amateur guitarist suddenly taking the
stage with Springsteen. But Day wasn’t starstruck. The
shoot went well and led to more work.The money wasn’t
great—in the mid-1980s, about the only way to make a living on skis was to join a team or ride moguls; so-called “free
skiers” like Day were on the fringes—but he had an annual
ski pass and a roof over his head and that was enough.
Those early shoots, though, unlocked another passion,
one that would transform Day’s life and career.He had always
been interested in cameras—after that first Instamatic, he
bought a nice SLR when he graduated from high school—so
when he began skiing on film, he found himself as drawn to
the filmmakers as he was to his fellow skiers.
“When the cameraman pulled his camera out of the
backpack I was really intrigued by it. I had never seen a film
camera before,” Day says of his first shoot, and the mutual
interest deepened from there. “Over the years of working
with Warren Miller’s productions, his cameramen were
really cool about showing me how to load the camera, all
kinds of tricks.”
Over the next six years, after he bought his first crude
16mm camera for $500, Day began a gradual transition
from skier to filmmaker.With film for the camera running
at about $100 for three minutes, he had to learn on the
job, cadging film from friends he met on Warren Miller
projects.They were happy to supply a fledgling filmmaker
they trusted with a few cans of film in hopes that he could
come up with a few minutes of usable footage. Day would
go out and shoot the film, then send it back to Miller.
“Most of it was pretty bad, but they gave me pointers,
and even used a few shots,” Day says.
On the basis of those early shots, his connections and
skiing ability, Day landed a six-week trip to Europe that
allowed him to shoot a lot of film and begin developing
his own style. Day had envisioned the camera as a “ticket
around the world,” and it was beginning to pay off.As his
ability with the camera grew, he began getting more and
more work. For the last four years, in particular, he’s been
heavily involved with Warren Miller’s projects, but he frequently works with commercial, promotional and travel
directors as well.
“I enjoy any kind of shooting, but I love working on
travel documentaries. I’m shooting so that the audience is
intrigued to go there—or, if it’s someplace where they
could never go, so they feel like they’ve been there.”
New Tracks
Caught at home at Squaw in late summer, Day was enjoying a relaxed working schedule,spending time in the open
post-and-beam home he and his wife, Lizzie, share with
their two children, and looking forward to winter’s skiing
and shooting. He’s hoping that this winter, or future ones,
will bring more opportunities to edit film as well as shoot
it; he’s interested in following through on his footage and
having more influence on the final production.
Day isn’t a big down-the-road-plan kind of guy, and he
doesn’t know exactly what his job will look like in ten
years. But it’s a good bet that it will be fun—and involve
his passions of film and, especially, skiing.
“I love where I’m living, I love my family, and I love my
work,” Day says.“I’m constantly meeting new people, and
when the action starts, I’m definitely still blown away. I
never get jaded.That keeps it fun for me—all of a sudden
I’m watching as the athletes do something I would have
hardly imagined. Everything comes back to the love and
thrill of skiing.”
Champlain View | Fall 2004
21
| CLASS NOTES |
‘60
DEATHS
Mark G. Brouillette, Richford, VT,
January 23, 2004.
‘61
ENGAGEMENTS
Nancy (Boyle) Pierce and Sgt. Donald
M. Garron, to be married in Fall 2004.
‘62
MARRIAGES
Katie Flanders and James Hadeka, Jr.,
May 1, 2004.
‘64
Reunited: (front row) Dawn
‘34
(Sauther) Manchester ‘94,
Cravinho ‘94. (Back row)
NEWS
Mildred (Carpenter) Hill has retired
from the Randolph, VT, school system.
She also worked for many years in the
Motor Vehicle Department and for the
Vermont Extension Service.
Michelle Merrill ‘94, Kim
‘41
(Moir) Lewis ‘93, Sarah
DEATHS
Albert Mongeon, Jr., January 2004
Rachel (Russell) Ward ‘94,
Jennifer (Hayes) Alderman
‘93/’97 and Jennifer (Haskell)
Otterson ‘94, Andrea (Holmes)
Pariseau ‘94 and Jessica
(Santini) Norkon ‘94.
Rita (Riley) Piper, Weybridge, VT,
January 31, 2004.
‘42
DEATHS
Floyd Leon White, South Hero, VT,
May 11, 2004.
‘53
DEATHS
Shirley J. (Lambert) Meacham,
Burlington, VT, July 8, 2004.
‘56
NEWS
Virginia (Branch) Pratt does medical
transcription from home, as well as
working per diem for Fletcher Allen.
She married Arthur Pratt 4 years ago
and they currently live in South Hero.
They are enjoying vacations on cruises,
at family resorts and they especially love
Cape Cod. Virginia would love to hear
from other classmates!
Dale Higgs ‘56 worked at
Champlain College for
more than 45 years, until
he retired in 2001. He
died on August 12.
22
Champlain View | Fall 2004
DEATHS
Dale C. Higgs, Burlington, VT,
August 12, 2004.
‘58
DEATHS
Nadine Hayes, Manchester Center, VT,
February 21, 2004.
NEWS
Jacqueline A. Mathias retired from
Middlesex Hospital in Middletown, CT,
in May 2002.
‘65
DEATHS
Richard A. Blatt, March 15, 2004.
‘66
NEWS
Patricia E. (Page) Trendowski and her
husband, Teal, have recently retired.
They are busy with many travel plans,
spending summers at their cottage and
enjoying their three-year-old grandson,
with another expected soon! Pat is
involved in activities at her church and
has many craft interests. Currently, she
is busy with the newest scrapbooking
craze. (Did we really look that young
in the ‘60s?)
‘67
MARRIAGES
Lauire R. Schacher and Stu Wohl,
December 18, 2003.
NEWS
Raymond V. Boisvert, vice president of
Publishers Consultants, Inc., has recently
taken over the duties of general manager at The Golden Gate Gazette in
Naples, FL.
Laurie R. Schacher retired from
American Express after 25 years.
DEATHS
Norman Andrews, East Boothbay, ME,
January 21, 2004.
‘68
NEWS
Marilyn L. (Ash) Ewell is currently the
Registrar of the Language Schools at
Middlebury College.
DEATHS
Jane (Perry) Bowen, Rochester, VT,
January 27, 2004.
‘70
NEWS
Diane (Whitcomb) Avery has been
selected to receive honorary award
recognition by having her biography
published in the 27th annual edition of
“The National Dean’s List 2003/2004.”
She is currently a political science major
at Southern New Hampshire University.
‘71
NEWS
Laurie Lambert has started a small nursery in Newfield, ME, called Naturally
Herbs & Flowers, open weekends during spring and summer. A greenhouse is
under construction and will be ready to
grow flowers in March 2005. Laurie also
works with F.L. Putnam Investment
Management Company in Portland.
Christine (Pare) McDermott and Robert
J. McDermott own five Morgan horses.
Christine serves on the UVM President’s
Advisory Committee for the UVM
Morgan Horse Farm in Weybridge, VT.
DEATHS
Roger W. Goldthwait, Putnam, CT,
March 29, 2004.
‘72
NEWS
Jim Davidson was recently appointed
as a Sales Consultant for Cirelli Foods,
the largest family-owned food-service
distributor in New England.
Nancy (Gauthier) Scribner is currently
financial officer for the Department of
Public Safety division of Vermont
Emergency Managment in Waterbury.
She was voted employee of the month
in August. She has recently moved into
a new home in Cabot with her husband,
Stephen, and daughter, Melissa. Her
son, Eric, is attending Champlain
College this fall.
‘73
NEWS
Don Guyett is an author working under
the pseudonym Hollister DeLong. His
first novel, Mystical Toy Guitar, was published in July. The novel has received
resounding acclaim nationwide, with
two different critics echoing the comment that, “properly cast and directed,
Mystical Toy Guitar may be the next It’s
a Wonderful Life.” Don is a member of
Champlain’s first graduating criminal justice
|
CLASS NOTES
|
class. Visit www.eastmesapress.com/
mtg.htm for a synopsis, author biography and four-chapter preview of his novel.
‘74
NEWS
Carol Laird Brownell is the human
resources manager for the Department
of Homeland Security, Transportation
Security Administration at the
Burlington International Airport.
‘76
ENGAGEMENTS
Karen Dempsey and Christopher
Carney, to be married in November
2004. They will make their home in
Marblehead, MA.
NEWS
Patricia A. Cranston completed her
first half-marathon in Nashville, TN, in
April 2004 with the Leukemia &
Lymphoma Society’s “Team in Training.”
She was awarded Top Fundraiser of the
Year for this organization in Memphis.
Patricia is now volunteering as a mentor
and preparing for the Nike marathon
and half-marathon in San Francisco in
October. She received a promotion at
FedEx to Strategic Sourcing Advisor.
She is responsible for multi milliondollar contracts across all FedEx operating companies. Patricia’s son is now 28
and has graced her with two grandchildren. Her daughter is 21 and attending
college in Memphis, TN.
Karen Dempsey founded Alliance
Relocation, a residential real estate
company helping people moving into
the Boston, MA, area. Check out her
website at www.alliancerelo.com.
Sherry Shedd is currently a single business woman who owns and operates
two mini-marts in North Central
Pennsylvania. The stores, called
“Shedd’s Old Country Market,” feature
antiques, gifts and gift baskets as well
as groceries and deli items. She is also
an author who writes life- and timemanagement books in addition to
fiction. On April 1, 2004, she attended
a gala with President George W. Bush.
She owns five rental properties and a
100-acre ranch, where she lives with her
two cats. She is the mother of four, and
grandmother of two.
‘77
NEWS
Steven Belanger has recently opened
his own business in Montpelier, VT,
called “Steven Belanger’s Property
alumni lives
G FORCE
Kevin Graziadei ’98 is driving
up the Pacific Coast highway. It’s
sunny and 75 degrees, his surfboard is in the back and he’s
feeling very good about his place
in the world. “Since moving out
here,” he says of his relocation to
Manhattan Beach, just south of
Los Angeles, “I’ve become solar
powered. I love the sun.”
For this Plattsburgh, New
York, native, working in the entertainment industry and living two
blocks from the beach where he
runs and surfs several times a “Living two blocks from the ocean reminds me
week is sweet indeed. But he finds how important it is to have a balanced life,” says
himself on an eastbound plane Kevin Graziadei ‘98. “After a busy day at work, I
three or four times a year. He relax by surfing at sunset.”
comes for his dad and his four
brothers (the “G5” they call themselves), a tight-knit group since they
lost their mom to cancer when Kevin, the youngest, was nine.
Occasionally, he finds himself back on the Champlain campus.
“It’s such a big part of me,” says Graziadei. “I loved it there.” He
loved Champlain, it seems, from his first chat with Admissions and
today he still exchanges e-mails with favorite professors. Graziadei, a
public relations and media communications major, discovered one of
his prime talents working as a campus tour guide: “That’s where I fell in
love with PR. The interaction with people came so naturally. I established relationships from President Perry to the folks in the mailroom.”
After graduation Graziadei moved to Boston and earned his BA in
visual and media arts from Emerson College in 2000. “I craved big-city
life,” he says, though he’s certain he would have stayed at Champlain if
there had been the media offerings then that are in place today.
A number of internships—from MTV and Universal Music in New
York to Twentieth Century Fox in LA—helped Graziadei refine his career
goals and land his current position as an information security analyst
project manager for Fox Entertainment Group. One internship, in the
Fox script library, led to one of the most meaningful experiences of
his life.
Graziadei came across a rejected script that he immediately connected with—the story of two women coming to terms with cancer. He
lobbied director Martin Guigui, a former Vermonter, who made the
film Changing Hearts, with a star-studded cast, including Oscar-winner
Faye Dunaway.
His involvement with the movie, the parallels with his own life and
the chance to bring a little heart to Hollywood, was, Graziadei says, “a
magical time.” It had a feel-good element that’s mostly missing from
the technical work he’s doing today. He has a great job that affords him
his life at the ocean, snowboarding escapes and his frequent trips back
home. But Graziadei has mountains of files full of project ideas and
plans to venture off and become an independent producer. He wants
to work with his brothers and to express the free-spirited nature he got
from his mom.
Graziadei is sweet, humble, striving, a self-described “old soul.” His
name in Italian means “thanks to God” and he lives his life like he
means it.
Champlain View | Fall 2004
23
|
CLASS NOTES
|
Maintenance,” specializing in property
upkeep and management. Steven’s
daughter, Lauren, is currently attending
Champlain and is on schedule to graduate in May 2005.
Ronald “Ron” Brochu competed in the
Town Meeting Day election for town
clerk and treasurer. He is the billing
manager at Bellavance Trucking in
Barre, where he has been employed for
seven years.
‘78
NEWS
Elizabeth (Allen) Lyman lives in Gilford,
NH, with her husband, Jack, and her
three children, ages 13 to 22. They own
Lyman Construction and Liz runs a
Boar’s Head deli in Gilford. She would
love to hear from fellow classmates at
llizzy58@yahoo.com.
Gail (Johnson) White is currently a
homemaker and OKC Regional Soccer
Tournament Director. She lives in
Oklahoma with her husband, Jim, and 5
children, ages 5 to 19! She would love
to hear from classmates.
‘80
NEWS
Kelly Circe is currently the senior staff
assistant for the Department of
Education and Social Services, Dean’s
Office, at the University of Vermont.
She earned her B.A. in psychology and
business law from Burlington College in
May 2003.
Catherine (Ribar) McCullough and Dan
McCullough own McCullough’s Quick
Stop in Bethel, VT, and Dan McCullough
Excavation. Cathy is the director of
financial aid at Vermont Technical
College. They have three daughters.
Corrine J. (Thomson) Whitaker has
been in the orthodontic field since
graduating from Champlain. She is a
Send Us a Note
Are you recently engaged? Newly married? Had a baby or a job change?
Have you recently retired or gotten together with classmates?
We’d love to hear what you have been up to.
Name: ____________________________Yr. of graduation: _____
Maiden Name: __________________________________________
Spouse’s name: _________________________________________
Is spouse a Champlain grad? ■ No ■ Yes Year : ____________
Address: ________________________________________________
Home Phone:____________________________________________
Employer:____________________ City: ______________________
Title:____________________________________________________
Work Phone: ____________________________________________
E-mail Address: __________________________________________
Latest news:
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
Return to Alumni Affairs, Champlain College, 163 South Willard Street,
P.O. Box 679, Burlington, VT 05402. You can also email us at
alumni@champlain.edu or go online to www.champlain.edu and click
on Alumni and Friends to make updates to addresses and class notes.
24
Champlain View | Fall 2004
licensed Orthodontic Technician in
Maine and New Hampshire. She currently lives in Conway, NH, with her
daughter and son. Both of her children
attend Fryeburg Academy, a semiprivate school where both are honor-roll
students. E-mail Corrine at
corrinejw@adelphia.net. She would
love to hear from classmates!
NEWS
W. Sam Hill was sworn in as the
Washington County Sheriff on July 12,
2004 by Governor James Douglas. Hill
is excited about this new challenge and
his first goal is to stabilize the sheriff’s
department. Hill is also a field training
officer and an instructor at the Vermont
Police Academy in Pittsford.
‘82
Sarah Lane (Peabody) Downey
operates her own company, JT Lane
Gifts, which can be found online at
www.jtlane.com. She lives with her
husband, Tom, and their four children.
NEWS
Steven A. Benoit has joined Rock of
Ages as retail sales manager in the
company’s Retail Memorial Studio in
Graniteville, VT. He has 15 years’ experience in granite manufacturing. He lives
in Williamstown with his wife and their
two daughters.
DEATHS
Robert A. Fontecha, Waterford, VT,
January 31, 2004.
‘83
NEWS
Donna Canty works as a Project
Administrator with Engelberth
Construction. She lives in Shelburne, VT,
with her husband, Joe, and their two
children.
Kent J. Gregoire is CEO & President of
DermAscreen Systems of Florida, Inc., a
company with a national network of
physicians who provide a procedure to
detect skin cancer at its earliest stages.
Mary Lynne Isham received her M.A. in
teaching English as a second or foreign
language from Saint Michael’s College
in Colchester, VT, in May 2004. She
received the 2004 Richard C. Yorkey
award for “academic excellence, interpersonal skills and great potential in the
field of English language teaching.” She
is an adjunct instructor at Saint Michael’s
in the School of International Studies.
Michelle Laferriere is busy! She is currently enrolled in an MBA program at
the University of Phoenix and in the
Master of Science degree program for
Managing Innovation and Information
Technology at Champlain College.
DEATHS
Joyce Loretta Hobbs Booska,
Burlington, VT, February 27, 2004.
‘84
BIRTHS
Sarah Lane (Peabody) Downey and
Tom Downey, a daughter, Carolyn,
July 2004.
‘85
NEWS
Timothy R. Barre works for Northfield
Savings Bank as a work center manager.
He is pursuing purchasing management, accredited purchasing
practitioner and certified purchasing
manager certifications.
Judy (Chapman) White received
the Professional Human Resource
designation from the Society of
Human Resource Management in
December 2003.
Maura “Mo” Cunningham Taggert
lives in Seargentsville, NJ, and is a stayat-home mom with three children, ages
3 to 9. She would love to hear from
anyone from any of the hotel & restaurant management classes. E-mail:
taggert5@hotmail.com.
Lisa (Hill) Mason is the assistant to the
parents’ program director at Union
College in Schenectady, NY. Along with
her husband of 18 years, Christopher,
and their two children, she lives in
Albany, NY.
Kimberly Blais (Whitaker) DuBrul has
just “retired” from the real estate sales
business after 18 years! She is now
coaching agents from across the United
States and Canada for the Mike Ferry
Organization of Irvine, CA. Kim helps
these clients reach their potential as top
agents in the real estate business. Kim’s
former licensed assistant has taken over
her sales business.
‘86
MARRIAGES
Kendy Skidmore and Anthony
Sausville, May 17, 2003.
NEWS
Heidi Ferland has owned Heidi’s Bridal
Boutique for 12 years. She has recently
moved her business to a new 2,300square-foot location in Claremont, VT.
|
The location presents a more boutiquelike atmosphere with elegant track
lighting, soft ivory-painted walls and an
antique decorative tin ceiling.
‘88
MARRIAGES
Lisa M. Ackel and Andrew Judge,
June 20, 2003.
Jennifer Stebbins and Steve Gray,
February 14, 2004.
BIRTHS
Susan (Phelps) Dana and Brian Dana,
a son, Paul Edward, August 8, 2003.
BIRTHS
Jeanne (Ney) Sincerbeaux and Scott
Sincerbeaux, a son, Connor Scott,
March 17, 2004. Big sister Hailee
welcomed him home!
Download Champlain’s New
Photo Calendar
W
e are delighted to offer you the “virtual” Champlain College
screen calendar. Visit http://go.champlain.edu/calendar and
download it in seconds. Each month the images and calendar
will change. We hope you enjoy it and, as always, your feedback
is appreciated.
w w w. c h a m p l a i n . e d u / a l u m n i
(802) 860-2756
NEWS
Lisa M. Ackel-Judge entered her
screenplay into the Project Greenlight
Screenplay Contest conducted by Matt
Damon and Ben Affleck. Her screenplay
made the list of the top 1,000 entries.
commercial, securities and bankruptcy
law for Tabas, Freedman, Soloff &
Miller, P.A. After Champlain, Chuck
received his B.A. from Saint Michael’s
College in 1993 and his J.D. from
Vermont Law School in 1999.
‘90
Brigitte C. (Audy) Thompson is cofounder of Moms In Print, a traditional
publishing house whose sole purpose is
to support, encourage and inspire
moms to write from their hearts with the
goal of publishing and releasing to the
national and international markets
select top-quality works by a wide variety of “mother authors.” See more at
www.momsinprint.com. She also hosts a
popular site devoted to supporting
moms in the “caretaker role” at
www.caringathome.us.
Brian Corey is currently the assistant
manager and marketing director of
Bowl of New England.
NEWS
Krista (Marzewski) Brown lives in
Bimini, Bahamas, with her husband,
Eslie. They run a custom dive operation
called K&B EZ Dive. See them online at
www.knbezdive.com. They invite friends
to come on down for a visit!
Susan (Phelps) Dana received her CPA
license in December 2001.
‘89
ENGAGEMENTS
Steven M. Ferretti and Dawn E. Zito,
October 16, 2004.
MARRIAGES
Janine Bergeron and Ross Roy,
September 27, 2003.
BIRTHS
Christina (Maheux) Mead and
Peter Mead, a son, Evan James,
January 21, 2004.
NEWS
Charles R. Conroy moved to Miami, FL,
in February 2004 after 17 years in
Vermont. He is an attorney practicing
|
Kristie L. Young and Douglas W.
Boisvert, May 23, 2004, in New
London, NH.
‘87
NEWS
Celeste A. (Beebe) Resch is host and
producer of Wisconsin’s newest cable
TV talk and variety show, “Star
Creations by Celeste.” Celeste lives in
Wisconsin with her family and can be
reached at starcreations@dwave.net.
CLASS NOTES
Michelle (Gosselin) Spence is the coordinator of the Franklin County (VT) Early
Childhood Programs and is active on
the local United Way board. She married her high school sweetheart, Bill
Spence, after Champlain College. She
received her B.A. in accounting and
business management from Campbell
University and an M.A. Ed. in supervision and administration from the
University of Phoenix. She lives in
Vermont with her husband, 11-year-old
son and eight year-old twin daughters.
Michele (Grossman) Cunningham is a
victim assistance counselor for the
deaf/hard-of-hearing community at
Chicago Hearing Society in Chicago, IL.
She would love to hear from classmates
at MCunningham@anixter.org!
Christina (Maheux) Mead lives in
Williston, VT, with her husband, Peter,
and their two children. Christina enjoys
staying home with them.
Susan Willey will be joining the Board
of Trustees at Champlain College in
October 2004. Susan is currently Vice
President of Systems & Software, Inc. in
Colchester, VT.
BIRTHS
John Booth and Kirsten Frances Booth,
a daughter, Amelia Francesca, July 31,
2004.
John Booth is currently a finance officer
with Union Bank in Morrisville, VT. He
lives with his wife, Kirsten Frances
Booth, and their newborn daughter,
Amelia.
Susan M. Tice has joined the Franklin
County Humane Society in St. Albans,
VT, as the executive director.
Kimberly (Viner) Place has been
appointed investment representative for
Investors MarketPlace, located at Bow
(NH) Mills Bank and Trust. She recently
received her securities and insurance
licenses. She resides in Webster, NH,
with her husband and son.
DEATHS
Catherine Anne Paquette, Tempe, AZ.
‘91
MARRIAGES
Elwin Edward Emery, Jr. and Jennifer
Lillian Saunders, June 5, 2004.
Karen Paquette and Sean Preavy,
February 14, 2004.
NEWS
Rebecca (Heath) Seime married Trevor
Seime in 1995. They have three children, ages 2 to 8. Becky is currently a
daycare provider in North Dakota.
Julie L. (Kennedy) Clough has been
the executive director of Grafton County
operations for the past year and a half.
As director of operations, she oversees
about 325 employees, as well as operations of the county jail, farm and
nursing home.
‘92
ENGAGEMENTS
Troy David Lund to Jennifer Jean
Mayville, October 2, 2004.
MARRIAGES
Margaret Carter and Eric Spivack,
December 27, 2003.
Michael Riley and Sheri Kelly,
January 24, 2004.
BIRTHS
Rebecca Bromley and Curt Guenther,
a daughter, Abigail Jayne Guenther,
July 11, 2004.
Audra (LaBonte) O’Connor and Brian J.
O’Connor, a daughter, Blythe Brier,
April 2004.
Jean (Schneider) Shea and David Shea,
a son, Kieran Gerald, 2002.
NEWS
Rebecca (Bromley) Guenther is the
human resource manager at Paul, Frank
& Collins in Burlington, VT.
Melissa (Fogg) Wallace and her
husband, Charles, recently celebrated
their 5th anniversary of owning the
Mount Blue Motel in Farmington, ME.
They have two young children.
Audra (LaBonte) O’Connor is currently
a sales assistant with Smith Barney in
Gilford, NH. She lives in Sanborton, NH,
with her husband, Brian, their four-yearold son, Patrick, and newborn daughter,
Blythe.
‘93
ENGAGEMENTS
Michael Kenyon Griffith and Dana L.
Fronc, to be married in November 2004.
Champlain View | Fall 2004
25
|
CLASS NOTES
|
PLEASE SEND IN CLASS NOTES BY FEBRUARY 2005
Patricia Hill and Ray Garrison, Jr., to
be married in August 2006.
Jeanne Marie McCann and Robert
James Miller, June 19, 2004.
Jennifer Leigh Landon and Mark
Richard Lynch, October 2004.
Nealy Russo and Page Parsels,
May 15, 2004.
Jennifer L. Shaneberger and Brad
Aldrich, August 14, 2004.
Michele (Stringer) Palmer and
David C. Palmer, April 24, 2004.
They honeymooned in Turks and
Caicos, Providenciales and the
British West Indies.
Christie West and Trevor Mitchell,
June 19, 2004.
MARRIAGES
Monique Daniels and Christopher
Hunt, October 4, 2003.
Laurianne J. Verret and Matthew A.
Griffes, May 29, 2004.
NEWS
Frank Boyle walked in his third Avon
Walk for Breast Cancer on May 2, 2004.
This is a 40-mile walk that is completed
in two days.
Patricia Hill currently works at COTS
(Committee on Temporary Shelter) in
Burlington, VT.
DEATHS
Lisa (Trombley) Shepard, South
Burlington, VT, February 26, 2004.
‘94
ENGAGEMENTS
Kristy Bezio and Greg Jankowski,
June 2004.
Carrie Ann Devenow to Peter J. Jones,
Jr., to be married in May 2005.
MARRIAGES
Kelly Marie Greene and Jason
Garofalo, September 8, 2001.
Tricia Klein and Scott Bilsky,
May 15, 2004.
BIRTHS
Kelly (Greene) Garofalo and Jason
Garofalo, triplets (two boys and a girl),
September 13, 2003.
NEWS
Kelly (Greene) Garofalo has been promoted to senior management at
PricewaterhouseCoopers in their Oracle
consulting division in Las Vegas, NV.
Nealy Russo graduated from the
Laboratory Institute of Merchandising in
New York City in 1996.
‘95
ENGAGEMENTS
Stacey Lynn Dupoise and Scott Eric
Brown, June 5, 2004.
MARRIAGES
Jennifer Bernier and Ramon Ortiz,
October 25, 2003.
Monique M. Desjardins and Eric P.
Rich, March 20, 2004.
Leslie Dunn and Christopher Gandin,
August 19, 2003.
Summer Resnick and Troy Capra,
June 7, 2003.
Christine E. Spencer and Marco
Tonizzo, Washington, D.C.
BIRTHS
Amy (Boudreau) Adams and
Travis Adams, a son, Brady Jacob,
February 1, 2004.
Jaime Bouchard and John Williams
Young, January 29, 2004.
NEWS
Giuseppe (Paul) Cugliari is enjoying
teaching in Australia after traveling its
countryside.
BIRTHS
Alyson (Audet) Eastman and Michael
Eastman, twin sons, Bently James and
Brandon Michael, June 1, 2004.
Summer (Resnick) Capra graduated
from Colby-Sawyer College with a bachelor’s degree in child development with
an elementary education certification.
‘96
ENGAGEMENTS
Tracy Kenyon and Martin Wells,
October 2004.
Christine Lynch and Duane Secord,
April 16, 2004.
MARRIAGES
Kelley Jo Kamison and Corey T.
Hackett, May 8, 2004.
Laurie Knapp and Daniel J. Celik, May
15, 2004. They make their home in
Brandon, VT.
BIRTHS
Jennifer (Miller) Palmer and Jason
Palmer, a daughter, Kailey, July 2, 2004.
Kelley E. (Poulin) Bonneau and Doug
E. Bonneau, a daughter, Morgan Lynn,
December 18, 1999, and a son, Curtis
Joseph, September 2, 2002.
NEWS
Kristin A. Leach, CPA, has been promoted to senior accountant in tax
services at Grippin, Donlan & Roche, PLC.
Karey Young, after six-and-a-half years
as an administrative assistant for Melvin
Kaplan Inc., has become a full-time realtor at Prudential Realty Mart in South
Burlington, VT.
‘97
ENGAGEMENTS
Dawn K. Beane and Jayson E. Newton,
to be married in April 2005.
Christine R. Darlington and Matthew
C. McCuin, August 2004.
Darci Mayer and James Dotchin, to be
married in Summer 2005.
Joanne Miklaszewski and John
Matthews, to be married in June 2005.
Chad Jesse Wimble and Judith Lynn
Johnson ’04, September 4, 2004.
Jennifer Guerin Riordan ‘94 with her husband, Michael, at the 2002
Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, UT, holding the Olympic torch.
26
Champlain View | Fall 2004
MARRIAGES
Alyson Audet and Michael Eastman,
July 13, 2002.
Heather White and Joshua Gauvin,
April 17, 2004.
NEWS
Emily K. Fair has been promoted to
director of BlueCard in the BlueCard/ITS
department at Blue Cross and Blue
Shield of Vermont.
‘98
ENGAGEMENTS
Lisa Bessette and Michael Currier, Jr.,
June 12, 2004.
Kristi Ann Hibbard and Bradley
Michael Klein, October 9, 2004.
Corinne Hull and Eric Relation, to be
married in August 2005.
‘99
ENGAGEMENTS
Brandi G. Cook and Thomas M.
Barclay, July 24, 2004.
Liza Cote and Derric Miner,
July 31, 2004.
Scott W. Grant and Christine C. Laduc,
to be married in August 2005.
Jayson E. Newton and Dawn K. Beane,
to be married in April 2005.
Jason J. Provost and Jessica L. Palmer,
August 20, 2004.
MARRIAGES
Michael Voity and Melissa Greenslet,
May 8, 2004.
Benjamin T. Young and Tanya P. Llave,
May 22, 2004.
BIRTHS
Harold L. Start, Jr. and Lee Ann Start,
a daughter, July 5, 2004.
Jennifer (Vorse) Kirkpatrick and Scott
Kirkpatrick ’00, a son, Matthew,
February 2004.
NEWS
Debra (Manning) Sioufi received her
Bachelor of Science degree from
Johnson State College, graduating
summa cum laude. She will be attending medical school in South Carolina
this fall.
Jill Merrow lives in Dorset, VT, with her
two teenagers.
Melanie Snay has passed three parts of
the CPA exam and is currently working
|
CLASS NOTES
|
for the State of New York as a tax auditor.
Martha (Weeks) Wellman is now working for Cabot Creamery. She has two
granddaughters, Ramona and Gemma
Bilodeau. She has been diagnosed with
stage-three cancer and has been undergoing surgery and treatment.
‘00
ENGAGEMENTS
Kendra Bowen and Chris Hogan,
October 2, 2004.
Amanda L. Marshia and Adam L.
Blaney, June 19, 2004.
Nicole Murphy and Bret Hodgdon,
September 4, 2004.
Rhonda Murphy and Steven Rugar,
October 2, 2004.
B
A
V
I
C
E
K
W
Champlain
bids a fond farewell
to Hamrick Hall as
a favorite old meeting
spot makes way for
a new generation
campus hangout.
MARRIAGES
Elizabeth D. Bartlett and Christopher
C. Coppins, May 15, 2004.
Lara Beth Beane and Randall L. Alemy,
April 10, 2004.
Teresa Marie Jones and Jeffry Anthony
Moisan, May 8, 2004.
Jeffrey St. Peter and Yoko Yamamoto,
July 28, 2003, in Maui, Hawaii.
BIRTHS
Patricia (Punt) Brown and Sebastian
Brown, a daughter, Isabelle Christine,
April 2, 2004.
Debbie (Smith) Weissinger and Jeffrey
Weissinger, a son, Tyler, August 2003.
Scott Kirkpatrick and Jennifer (Vorse)
Kirkpatrick ’99, a son, Matthew,
February 2004.
NEWS
Nouri Dassi completed his M.B.A. in
International Business at Hawaii Pacific
University in December 2003. He
earned a 3.9 GPA and graduated with
honors and distinction. He is currently
working as a financial advisor for
American Express in Honolulu and is
working to complete the Series 7 and
66 security licenses. However, he is
looking to work in Asia as an operations
manager for a multi-national corporation.
Army Pfc Clayton E. Hunsdon has
graduated from the ammunition specialist course at Redstone Arsenal,
Huntsville, AL.
Teresa Jones Moisan currently works
for Fletcher Allen Healthcare in
Burlington, VT.
Karen A. Mills, CPA, was promoted to
senior accountant in tax services at
Grippin, Donlan & Roche, PLC.
Champlain View | Fall 2003
27
|
CLASS NOTES
|
Mark Porter, in June 2004, completed
his MBA with a concentration in finance
from Suffolk University in Boston, MA.
He also earned membership in Beta
Gamma Sigma, the honor society for
business graduates.
Patricia (Punt) Brown married
Sebastian Brown on September 20,
2001. She’s currently a stay-at-home
mom and lives in Vermont with her husband and their 4-month-old daughter,
Isabelle.
Jason Sumner and his wife, Jessica, are
expecting their first child in January
2005. They currently live in Atlanta, GA.
‘01
ENGAGEMENTS
Jessica Dora Pappathan and Robert
Lee Bertini, October 16, 2004.
Amanda E. Roberts and Sean P. Reilly,
to be married in December 2004.
Ashley J. Truax and David Goletz,
August 28, 2004.
MARRIAGES
Josceline M. Bachiochi and Dennis J.
Reardon, April 17, 2004.
Olivia C. Gorman and Nathan A. Farrar,
December 31, 2003.
James Hadeka, Jr. and Katie Flanders,
May 1, 2004.
Jamie L. Phelps and David Peters Jr.,
October 4, 2003.
Michelle D. Roberge and Scott
Beauregard, April 2, 2004.
BIRTHS
Ronald N. Gallagher and Beatrice
Gallagher, a son, William MacEwen,
Natick, MA, October 2003.
NEWS
Christine Bilbrey is a paralegal in
forensic psychiatry at the Vermont
Department of Health and loves it.
She lost her older brother, Brian,
unexpectedly in May 2004.
Ronald N. Gallagher and his family
have relocated to Concord, CA, due to
Ron’s promotion to regional vice president/field wholesaler for Evergreen
Investments. They are enjoying the mild
weather in Northern California!
Paul C. Leclerc has joined the accounting
department at MorrisSwitzer-Environments for Health in Williston, VT.
Paula Steady has opened Essential
Bookkeeping Services. Among the
computerized bookkeeping services she
28
Champlain View | Fall 2004
Got photos?
The Alumni Office welcomes your
prints of Champlain alumni gathered for a wedding, party or any
other occasion. Please identify
the grads shown in your photos.
offers are accounts receivable, accounts
payable, account reconciliation and payroll services. She has “kept the books”
for small and medium-sized businesses
and handled funds accounting for nonprofit organizations since 1990.
‘02
MARRIAGES
Scott C. Beauregard and Michelle
Roberge, April 2, 2004.
Samuel E. Clark and Deanna Morin ’03,
August 1, 2004.
Christopher Coffey and Kylee
Huizenga, May 8, 2004.
Derek Bradley Hellyer and Melissa
Jean Bailey, August 17, 2003.
Sarah Paulson and Benjamin J. Tatro,
August 16, 2003.
NEWS
Samuel E. Clark will receive his bachelor’s degree in professional studies from
Champlain College at the end of the
Fall 2004 semester. Samuel is currently
employed at Champlain as a developer
in eLearning.
in Randolph. She plans to obtain her
master’s degree at Champlain College
in Managing Innovation and Information
Technology.
Amy Jo Verrill teaches fourth grade at
the Eagle Ridge Intermediate Science
& Technology School in Florida. She is
an active member of the reading &
technology committee and is an afterschool tutor.
Lindsay Rivard has been promoted to
the position of closer for the North
American Title Company. Lindsay lives
in Ft. Myers, FL.
Anthony Vitelli has recently celebrated
his first anniversary as a CMA service
specialist with Merrill Lynch in
New Jersey.
Troy Stienstra has finished an internship
with the Montgomery County CART
program in Rockville, MD. CART is short
for Community Accountability and
Reintegration Program, an electronic
monitoring program with the Maryland
state government. Back in New Jersey,
he started a security job in February 2004.
‘04
‘03
ENGAGEMENTS
Chad M. Bouvier and Rachel Thibault,
October 8, 2005.
ENGAGEMENTS
Jaimie Anderson and Robert T.
Mongeon II, July 10, 2004.
Heidi A. Babcock and Nick Marchand.
They have not set a date.
Kelly L. Bender and JT Collins ’05,
to be married in July 2005.
Raymond J. Bergeron and Corinn
McCarthy, July 10, 2004.
Trish L. Cook and Benjamin T. Shepard,
August 22, 2004.
Marla A. Kelty and David Redmond,
October 9, 2004.
Judith Lynn Johnson and Chad
Jesse Wimble ’97, September 4, 2004.
MARRIAGES
Nicole D. Beaulieu and Bruce Cullen,
July 24, 2004. They make their home in
Morgantown, WV.
MARRIAGES
Trina Deuso and Jason Plantier,
May 15, 2004.
Courtney V. Carpenter and Patrick A.
Raymond, March 13, 2004.
NEWS
Kelly L. Bender is currently working for
George Silver and Associates in
Burlington, VT.
Bethany Craig recently purchased a
home in St. Albans, VT.
Stacey Nichole Dolan and Mark James
Elwell, February 21, 2004.
Jill Lafond has moved to Bakersfield,
CA, and is the service coordinator at
Kern Regional Center, a program for the
developmentally disabled. She has an
active caseload of 80 clients. Jill will
attend California State University in the
spring of 2005 to begin work on her
master’s degree in social services.
Deanna Morin and Samuel Clark ’02,
August 1, 2004.
Erin Phillips is the ByRequest Manager
at the Wyndham Billerica Hotel in
Billerica, MA.
BIRTHS
Elizabeth Evelyn (Weeks) Bilodeau, a
daughter, Gemma G., February 7, 2004.
Abbe Sweeney is Champlain College’s
new full-time AmeriCorps VISTA
member. She works in the Community
Connection Office on campus.
Sarah (Paulson) Tatro is the administrative assistant to the regional vice
president of human resources for
Banknorth, N.A. in Concord, NH. She
makes her home there with her husband, Benjamin.
Velma Reed is an AmeriCorps volunteer
who has worked in a number of community-based programs to help women
and children. She has been recognized
by the Burlington Community Land Trust
for her significant contribution to affordable housing and community
revitalization.
NEWS
Jacqueline Botjer worked at
Breakwaters Cafe on the Burlington, VT,
waterfront this summer.
Chris MacDonald is a homeland
security project officer with the
Lieutenant Governor’s office for the
State of Vermont.
Kelly J. Palmer is currently teaching
preschool and kindergarten at the
Smilie Memorial School in Bolton, VT.
Shelly Siskavich is the office manager
for Vermont Well & Pump in Hinesburg.
She also coaches the women’s basketball team at Vermont Technical College
The College Extends a Special
Thank You to the S.D. Ireland Family
ith their generous gift to the Power
of Three campaign, Kim (Wilson)
Ireland ’85 and her husband, Scott
Ireland, have created a lasting legacy at
Champlain College. By lending their name to
the newly opened Center for Global Business
and Technology, the Irelands have made it possible
for generations of students to get a competitive
edge by working and studying in this state-ofthe-art facility.
This family supports causes they believe in,
among them: education, cutting edge endeavors,
the continued growth and success of Kim’s alma
mater. Thanks to their help, all will thrive well
into the future.
Read more about the new S.D. Ireland
Center for Global Business and Technology in
the fall issue of the Power of Three campaign
newsletter, coming out in about a month.
W
Congratulations to the 2004-2005 Sigler Scholarship Recipients
A
t the September dedication of the S.D. Ireland Family Center for Global Business and
Technology, business major Melody Wilkins ’05 and paralegal major Melissa Giroux ’05 each
received $1000 scholarships for their outstanding academic accomplishments, their contributions to college life and their determination to pursue ambitious career goals. After graduation,
Ms. Wilkins plans to continue her career as an employee development specialist and Ms. Giroux
plans to attend law school.
The Sigler Scholarships are made possible through the generosity of Professor Mary Sigler,
co-founder of Champlain’s paralegal program and a faculty member from 1988 to 1996. Professor Sigler,
who died of breast cancer at the age of 50, was a passionate and gifted educator who set high expectations
for herself and her students. Through an endowed scholarship fund, she left a tangible legacy to the dedicated students who meant so much to her.