American Magazine, July 2015

class notes
It was my first big booking in LA. My
father told me to take my girlfriend
out to a nice meal—on his tab.”
—Noah Baron, SOC/BA ’09, on how he celebrated landing
a supporting role in the Coen Brothers film Hail, Caesar!
Tara Foster, SOC/BA ’02,
attended the Space-X5 rocket
launch. The two-day event took
place at the Kennedy Space Center
in Florida on December 15–16.
Kari Klaus, SIS/BA ’02, launched
a company, Viva Green Homes,
which markets sustainable homes.
Kimberly Labenberg, SIS/
MA ’02, and her husband,
Christopher, are pleased
to announce the birth of
their daughter, Lindsey Erin
Labenberg, on March 24, 2008.
She joins big sisters Brook
Alexandra and Taylor Nicole.
Corinne LaPlaca, SOC/BA ’02,
married Daniel LaPlaca on
October 18, 2014, on Long Beach
Island, New Jersey.
Elaine Mensah, SPA/BA ’02,
launched a Kickstarter campaign
to fund the Fashion Source.
Nicholas Cambata, Kogod/BS
’03, founded his own company,
8112 Studios. Cambata is a
filmmaker and travels around the
world for assignments.
Christine Miller, SPA/BA ’03,
has been named a stockholder of
the firm Reid and Riege, P.C.
Percival Pineda, CAS/MA ’03,
started a new job as a senior
economist at CUNA.
-2005-
TIME
CAPSULES
TOP TUNE
“We Belong Together,” Mariah Carey
TOP-GROSSING FLICK
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
IN THE NEWS
Hurricane Katrina hits the Gulf coast,
killing more than 1,000 people; cancer
replaces heart disease as the No. 1 cause
of death for people ages 85 and under;
the Terry Schiavo case becomes the
focus of fierce debate in Congress
FROM THE AU ARCHIVES
Students without cell phones gripe as
AU pulls the plug on land lines in the
residence halls.
AT THE HELM
Kyle Taylor was 2005–2006 Student
Government president. Today, he’s
chief of staff and campaigns director
at Simon Hughes MP in London.
Louis Jim, SPA/BA ’04, SPA/
MPA ’05, joined the New York
State Office of the Attorney
General as an assistant attorney
general in the litigation bureau.
Aaron Hake, SPA/BA ’05, has
been appointed city treasurer of
Corona, California.
Andrea Walker, Kogod/MBA ’06,
launched a startup, SimplyGenie.
com, an online service that
creates designer birthday parties
in a box for children.
Nicole Zangara, CAS/BA
’06, wrote “The Inquisition of
Singledom at Holiday Parties,”
published by the Huffington Post.
Lara Hogan, CAS/BA ’07,
published her first book,
Designing for Performance:
Weighing Aesthetics and Speed.
Brett Meril, SOC/BA ’07, is a
television editor on the weekday
talk show, The Real, seen in 191
television markets across the
country.
Artemis Antippas, SOC/BA ’08,
is a New Orleans-based artist who
was featured in the AU Museum’s
“Locally Sourced” exhibit.
Marie Stratton, CAS/BS ’08,
started a small business,
Kinderhook Snacks, in Baltimore
that recently expanded to the
DC area.
Noah Baron, SOC/BA ’09, has
been booked in a supporting role
in the latest Coen Brothers film,
Hail, Caesar!, starring George
Clooney, Scarlett Johannson, Josh
Brolin, and Channing Tatum.
Jeremy Feinberg, Kogod/MBA
’09, is a principal at the firm
Taksey Neff Feinberg, LLC, in
Rockville, Maryland.
Ohemaa Nyanin, SIS/BA ’09,
SPA/MS ’11, was named USA
Basketball Women’s National
Team assistant director.
-2010-
TIME
CAPSULES
2010s
TOP TUNE:
“Tik Tok,” Ke$ha
TOP-GROSSING FLICK
Toy Story 3
IN THE NEWS
A 7.0-magnitude earthquake devastates
Port-au-Prince, Haiti; 33 Chilean miners
are rescued after being trapped for
68 days; President Barack Obama signs
the Affordable Care Act into law
FROM THE AU ARCHIVES
Six drag queens, including AU student
“Athena Ducockis,” strut their stuff on
the catwalk to raise money for the
Whitman-Walker Clinic.
Alysa Mowitz Mehalick, SPA/
MA ’11, married Andrew
Mehalick in her hometown of Des
Moines, Iowa, on May 3, 2014.
Mehalick is a management and
budget analyst at Public Financial
Management in Philadelphia,
where she assists with publicsector
labor arbitrations.
IN MEMORIAM
Marjorie Morris Phillips,
CAS/BA ’49, November 29, 2014,
Olney, Maryland
Sajjad Ahrabi, CAS/BA ’81,
CAS/MS ’91, December 12, 2012,
Silver Spring, Maryland
Josette Balthazar,
Kogod/BSBA ’07, September 28, 2014,
Washington, DC
CONNECT
alumniassociation.
american.edu
FOLLOW
Twitter.com/
AmericanUAlum
LIKE
Facebook.com/
AmericanUAlum
VIEW
Flickr.com/photos/
AmericanUAlum
40 AMERICAN MAGAZINE JULY 2015