Sep 2013 Issue - The Covenant School

The Covenant School
September 2013
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Alumni News from The Covenant School
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,
who have been called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28
The Class That Came First
C
ovenant opened its doors as an elementary school with 43
students in 1985. In the summer of 1987, God provided a way
for Covenant to grow into a high school as well, with the closing
of Heritage Christian School. Fourteen rising seniors needed a
home and made the transition over to Covenant creating the Class
of 1988. They were the very first class of Covenant seniors. Many
of our alumni have never met The Class That Came First, so it will
be our pleasure to periodically introduce you to your pioneers: the
stellar Class of 1988!
More news from the
Class of 1988 on page 2...
Ways to Connect:
www.facebook/CovenantSchoolAlumni
www.covenantschool.org/alumni
SAVE THESE DATES
The Covenant School
Cathy Garrison
Harman ‘88
Cathy moved to Northern
Virginia and worked in real estate
management until 2002, when
she returned to Charlottesville.
“I love Charlottesville and knew
I would come back here some
day.” Cathy says she is grateful
to have been a part of Covenant,
if only for her senior year. The
small, Christian setting gave her
the opportunity to form tight
bonds with her classmates and
reinforced her values and beliefs.
September 2013
Debra Jones
Burley ‘88
Steffan Welch ‘88
Steffan
is
currently
the
Continuing Legal Education
Programs
Coordinator
at
Bloomberg-BNA. His work
schedule allows him to divide
his time between Charlottesville
and Alexandria, Virginia. Steffan
has many great memories from
his senior year at Covenant, and
his enjoyment of these memories
was evident at the reunion where
his table was the scene of much
laughter and reminiscing!
Upon graduation, Debra moved
to Atlanta, Georgia, to attend
Bauder Fashion College, where
she undertook three majors at
the same time. Debra is currently
the Music Director at Thornburg
Baptist Church in Spotsylvania,
Virginia. She is encouraged by
all that she is hearing about The
Covenant School. “It is exciting
to see where the school is going.”
Catching Up With Nell Roberts
For twelve years, Nell Roberts was a 1st grade teacher at Covenant. These
days, she is using those teaching skills with her granddaughter Katelynn
(daughter of Emily Roberts Howard ’97). “The best memories I have are
of being able to talk about the Lord to those children…to help them work
through what was bothering them…those are very precious memories
for me.” She tries to stay connected with her former students. When they
graduate, she mails them a handwritten note and a $2 bill. She compares
the rarer currency to being a “rare bird as a young Christian in a secular
world.” If you would like to contact Mrs. Roberts, she would love to hear
from you. You can reach her at just4nell@gmail.com.
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The Covenant School
September 2013
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June 1st Alumni Reunion
Sharing Memories and Laughter
Covenant was pleased to welcome back the Classes
of 1988-1991, 1998, 2003, and 2008 for our reunion
celebration, held at The Lower School campus.
Thirty of our alumni joined Mr. Sanker,
Dr. Sykes, and other current and former
faculty and staff to enjoy wonderful
food and great music from alumnus
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Vaden Cox and some of his talented
friends. We look forward to welcoming
back the Classes of 1989, 1999, 2004, and
More reunion photos on page 6.
2009 for their reunions June 14, 2014.
2013 Covenant Commencement
Covenant’s Alumni community gained 70 new
members this May as we celebrated the graduation
of our second largest graduating class in school
history. Of course, commencement always brings
alumni back to town. We are not sure which
class started the tradition of having cigars in the
courtyard after the ceremony, but your tradition
lives (smells) on!
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We would
love to have
alumni
join us
September
9-10 at Rockbridge for some volleyball, swimming, or other activities from 3:00–5:00 pm,
dinner at 6:00, and chapel with Bill Paige at
7:00 on September 9. You can come for any or
all of those activities. We would love to begin
a tradition where alumni become part of the
Rockbridge experience. If you would like
to give back to the school in a neat way, we
would love to have alumni join our volunteer
work crew that
makes the retreat
possible. Please
contact Spencer
Burton either by
phone (434-5312638) or at sburton@
covenantschool.org.
Join us for
ROCKBRIDGE
The Covenant School
September 2013
Class Notes
Chris Pandy ’01 and his wife
Gissela reside in Monterey,
CA with their daughter Daniella (3 yrs) and son Samuel
(9 months). Chris will be
graduating this December
from the Naval Postgraduate School with a Master’s in
Space Systems Engineering.
Prior to arriving in Monterey
three years ago, Chris served
on three deployments (including one to Afghanistan) with
the Navy. He will be stationed somewhere in Virginia early
in 2014, so we will be glad to have the Pandys closer to home!
Brittany Lamb Craig ’06 and her
husband Billy are the proud parents of twin girls, Avery and Sophia. The twins were born prematurely and spent the first 11 weeks
of life at the U.Va. Medical Center.
Brittany is now a stay-at-home
mom after working at Children’s
Dentistry of Charlottesville. The
Covenant student body collected
$62.70 towards the Craigs’ participation in the March of Dimes
Walk-A-Thon last April.
Andrew Fusaro ’06 and his wife—and teenage sweetheart—,
Marielle, welcomed their first child, a son, Jaxton, this past
April. Andrew is the Vice President of the CBM Mortgage office in Front Royal, VA. Andrew has many fond memories of
Covenant, including gaining a great love of history inspired
by Mr. Davisson.
Eric Prum ’04 was married in July, 2012 to Bianca. Eric recently
started a design company, W & P Design with his best friend
from college. They design tableware and barware collections
for clients such as Nordstrom and Williams-Sonoma. One hot
product of theirs is the Mason Shaker (www.masonshaker.
com). They are also publishing a cocktail recipe book that will
be published in time for the holiday season. He and Bianca
live in New York City.
Ryan Lesser ’06 and Brittany Klaas were
married on July 12 in Butler, Pennsylvania. Ryan’s Covenant classmate, Patrick
Short ’05, served as a groomsman. The
Lessers met at Grove City College. Ryan
works as a Financial Representative at
Northwestern Mutual, and Brittany is
entering her third year as an elementary school teacher with the Albemarle County Schools—after a year as 4th
grade teacher in 2010-2011 at Covenant.
Mariel Tremblay ’05
married Connor Childress May 25 at Panorama Farms. The
wedding party featured an all-star lineup of alumni: Doran
Tremblay Reilly ’01,
Karah Strawley ‘01,
Rebekkah
Brown
‘05, and Era Kryzhanovskaya ‘05. Also in attendance were Sarah Brown ‘05, Katie
Jenkins ‘05, Ben Miller ‘05, and Justin Ray ‘05. Coolest wedding feature: in lieu of wedding cake, they had the donut truck
from Carpe Donut! Mariel and Connor make their home in
Charlotte, NC where he works as an attorney and she works
in disability services at Johnson & Wales University.
Shannon Gillen ’07 is very excited about her new position as
University Sales & Travel Specialist for WorldStrides in Charlottesville. This new position will maximize the knowledge
and skills Shannon learned in her International Studies Program at Elon University.
Stacy Hamilton ’07 is now into
her second year as a high school
business teacher at Nelson County
High School. She earned her Master’s degree in teaching at Virginia Tech in 2012. The first year of
teaching is always a stressor, but
“Ms. Hamilton” not only survived,
but flourished.
Oliver Enos ’05 is in
the United States Marines. Promoted in
March to First Lieutenant, Oliver is being deployed through
April to Bahrain. His
squadron will provide communications
support to Marine Air
Group-50 until their
projected return in
April 2014.
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The Covenant School
September 2013
Class Notes
Helen Cushman ‘08 is in her second year as a doctoral candidate in English at Harvard University. She anticipates her
focus will be medieval literature and will serve as a teaching
assistant for one of the early English courses this fall. In Helen’s words, she is “boosting her nerdiness to a pro level.” Helen loves life in Cambridge, MA, whether visiting the Natural
History Museum, going to the beach, or taking long bike rides
along the riv-ah.
intern at Blue Canopy in Northern Virginia. Low is managing
the development and launch of a new flu/nasal spray product
which will be in stores in 2014. Low has enjoyed biking and
concerts in the DC area and intends to stay in DC after graduating from Duke and finding a job in healthcare consulting.
Henry Young ’08 graduated
from Elon and will begin law
school at U.Va. this fall. He
has been enjoying his job at
Starr Hill and was fortunate to
have a few weeks to travel to
Italy this summer.
Will Dittmar ’08 is the
Outreach Coordinator
for the organization
No Labels. This organization is focused
on fostering more collegial
relationships
between members of
Congress to increase
the likelihood of legislation that will cut
wasteful spending by
the Federal Government. Will’s personality, coupled with
the leadership opportunities he had while
at Hampden-Sydney
make him well suited
to navigate the hallways on Capitol Hill and try to bring a more successful dialogue to Congress.
Brea Thomas ’09 completed her MBA at the McIntire School
of Commerce and was hired as a Marketing Manager with the
Florida Panthers, based in Fort Lauderdale. She will be specializing in social and digital media in the team’s marketing
efforts. Brea fell in love with hockey watching an HBO documentary on the sport three years ago and says there is no
better adrenaline rush than when the lights go down in the
arena and all eyes focus on the ice!
Eric Dixon ’10 has gained acceptance to the McIntire School
of Commerce at U.Va. He just finished a semester abroad in
Spain. His time in Spain was marked by “great classes, fun
culture, meeting a bunch of students, and couldn’t be more
thankful for the opportunity!”
Taylor Brown ’12 is in her second
year on the Women’s Field Hockey
team at U.Va. Last year, as a true
freshman, Taylor saw time in every game—even scoring in the first
game of the season. To follow Taylor’s progress during this season go
to http://www.virginiasports.com/
sports/w-fieldh/. Join us for a special tailgate at U-Hall prior to the September 11 showdown
with University of Richmond, where current TCS student-athletes and faculty will be cheering on Taylor and the Cavaliers.
Martha Hay ’08 is
headed out to the
great Midwest for
graduate school in
the Chemical Engineering department
at Purdue University. Martha is excited
to be a part of such a
big program that will
offer a wide range of
interesting research
opportunities. When not in the lab, Martha tries to keep busy
by training on obstacle courses, running, and Parkour.
David Collmus ’12 graduated August 7 from the
U.S. Navy’s Ceremonial
Guard training. David
will be stationed in Anacostia, Washington, DC,
for two years as a Ceremonial Guard member.
David was nominated to
the Guard, an honor given
only those sailors with the
highest ratings.
Owen “Low” Hendley
’08 is finishing his Master’s program at Duke
University in Engineering
Management with serving
as a Healthcare Marketing
and Product Management
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The Covenant School
September 2013
June 1 Reunion
Spencer Burton oversees Covenant’s Alumni Affairs and would love to hear updates and news
from alumni. Contact him at sburton@covenantschool.org
Ways to Connect:
www.facebook/CovenantSchoolAlumni
www.covenantschool.org/alumni
The Covenant School
Academic Excellence under the Sovereignty of God
175 Hickory Street | Charlottesville, VA 22902
www.covenantschool.org
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