Sweet Briar College Magazine - Fall 2016
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TV appearances weekly on the Dallas<br />
ABC affiliate discussing my favorite<br />
books. I am a proud member of the<br />
Television Critics Association. I stay in<br />
touch with Sara Ostrow Deleo, Elsa<br />
Mittleholtz Cannon ’07, and Melissa<br />
Bellan ’00. I’m planning trips to Disney<br />
World in December and NYC in 2017.<br />
2007<br />
Emily Nicole Olson<br />
1119 SE O’Donnell Lane<br />
Port St Lucie, FL 34983<br />
emilynicoleolson@gmail.com<br />
Kimberley Wadelton Natarajan<br />
got married this year! She writes, “On<br />
2/28 I married my best friend, Ajay<br />
Natarajan in a big fat Indian wedding in<br />
Atlanta, Ga. Ajay and I met taking Salsa<br />
lessons, we became dance partners for<br />
three years and now we are partners<br />
for life. The wedding was a multi-day<br />
affair going from Thursday to Sunday<br />
with parties and events for our family<br />
and friends. We had a great time introducing<br />
everyone to Indian food and culture.<br />
Alumnae in attendance included<br />
Cynthia Beller ’04, Heather Bowen,<br />
and Megan Maloney ’08.”<br />
In a pretty quick turn of events, this<br />
fall Natalie Pye left behind both law<br />
and DC to start working for Betterment<br />
in New York. She writes, “I’m looking<br />
forward to reconnecting with NYC<br />
Vixens and meeting new ones!”<br />
2014 was a great year for Megan<br />
Meighan. She traveled extensively,<br />
spending four months living in Panama<br />
and loved spending her time with her<br />
nephews, William and Julian, children<br />
of sister, Brianna Meighan de Hanna<br />
’05. After receiving the devastating<br />
announcement on 3/3/15. Megan got<br />
to work creating the #Save<strong>Sweet</strong><strong>Briar</strong><br />
Keychain, which provided numerous<br />
donations to SBC. Once we had saved<br />
our college, that keychain was retired<br />
and the new and improved <strong>Sweet</strong> <strong>Briar</strong><br />
<strong>College</strong> 2.0 Keychain was created and<br />
is still available in her Etsy boutique at<br />
www.MegEBespoke.Etsy.com. Since<br />
the dust has settled and another<br />
academic year concluded, Megan<br />
traveled extensively as the SE regional<br />
sales manager for a medical software<br />
company based out of Pennsylvania.<br />
In Dec. 2013 Maggie Saylor<br />
Patrick was excited to finish her<br />
master’s in Political Science at Miami<br />
University. She writes, “The <strong>Sweet</strong> <strong>Briar</strong><br />
influence showed through—my thesis<br />
focused on the roles women play as<br />
political leaders during revolutions, and<br />
how they can be most successful in<br />
affecting substantive change in new<br />
governments. I haven’t been using my<br />
degree directly, but I do volunteer with<br />
some women’s leadership groups and<br />
it’s fun to see how the ideas I learned<br />
in grad school can translate to different<br />
contexts.” She and her husband Martin<br />
have moved back to Minnesota and<br />
she is working in the annual fund at<br />
Carleton <strong>College</strong>. “We just bought our<br />
first house and it has lots of room for<br />
visitors, so we hope to see you soon<br />
here in MN or next spring at Reunion!”<br />
Ferrell Lyles is back in Baghdad,<br />
Iraq, until mid September. She’s planning<br />
on being stateside for our 10-year<br />
Reunion! She writes, “I’ve spent more<br />
than most of the last year in Iraq for<br />
work. I’ve been doing a bit of personal<br />
travel between work trips, specifically<br />
visiting my Junior Year in France host<br />
family in Paris in late April. Other than<br />
that it’s been all work all the time! I<br />
can’t wait to see everyone!”<br />
Heidi Trude has been very busy!<br />
In March 2015 she became the first<br />
female teacher to be a Google Certified<br />
Educator in Warren County, Va., and in<br />
June was named Coach of the Year for<br />
Skyline High School. In the summer,<br />
she traveled to Italy and Greece with<br />
students from her high school, traveled<br />
to France and vacationed in Jura.<br />
She also became a Google Certified<br />
Educator Level 1 and Level 2 and then<br />
in the fall presented several sessions<br />
at the FLAVA conference. In February<br />
<strong>2016</strong> she was selected as one of ten<br />
French teachers from across the U.S.<br />
for the AATF Future Leaders Fellowship<br />
program. She returned to <strong>Sweet</strong><br />
<strong>Briar</strong>’s campus at the end of March to<br />
work with the Alumnae Relations and<br />
Development Office on keeping young<br />
alumnae engaged in SBC. In April <strong>2016</strong><br />
she was chosen as one of six facilitators<br />
for the TELL Summer Institute. In<br />
May she was chosen to participate in<br />
LangTALKS. She will be creating short<br />
professional development videos for<br />
world language teachers (similar to TED<br />
Talks). Mostly recently, she was named<br />
the Region IV Teacher of the Year and<br />
she was to find out in mid October if<br />
she is selected as Virginia’s Teacher of<br />
the Year.<br />
Danielle Briggs-Hansen visited<br />
Lynchburg in September to see the<br />
opening art show of SBC’s Professor<br />
Laura Pharis at Rivermont Studios. She<br />
will be spending a week at a painting<br />
workshop at beautiful Bjorklunden in<br />
Door County, WI, in October<br />
Class Notes<br />
Ashley Ruffead ’05, and Heidi<br />
Trude ’07 representing SBC at a<br />
college fair in <strong>2016</strong>.<br />
Kimberly Wadelton Natarajan and her husband, Ajay Natarajan, were married<br />
on 2/28/<strong>2016</strong> in Atlanta, GA.<br />
President Stone with Alumnae from Northern Virginia.<br />
SWEET BRIAR MAGAZINE | SBC.EDU 89
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