Greetings to one and all! Time to break a silence that was far too long and profound and finally hear what one another have been doing with their post-ACE lives. In a few short years, there have been weddings, kids, progress towards more advanced degrees, and I am pretty sure a few arrests, though those weren’t explicitly mentioned. How fast we all grow up! Those ACE 9s who responded are organized geographically so that you can find and stalk others near you. If your email or mailing address was incorrect, or if you have information about people who were not listed, please email Kat Steinlage at steinlage.1@nd.edu.
East-Coasters
Paige Smith is currently living in Washington, DC and is in her first year at the John Paul II institute working on her MTS after working for ACE in the IEI for two years. She is well on her way to sainthood.
Kristin Kramer took a break from teaching 6th grade social studies at a large school in Atlanta to go backpacking in Eastern Europe this summer. She has ESL students this year and would love visitors! She may need some football tips so that she can become a coach, opening up history teaching jobs in the South.
Sam Fragomeni is living on the Upper East Side of New York City. To make the rest of us feel bad, he went and helped open a charter school last year called Leadership Village Academy in Harlem where he is also the 5th grade math teacher. He is proud of the huge improvements in standardized test scores already and celebrates by spending his hard-earned money on overpriced food and beer in the City.
Miranda Ehret is currently living in Rochester, NY with her husband, Andy Schmitt, and their adorable one and a half year old son Conroy Schmitt. I am sure that she would love to email you pictures if you ask. Their family will be in the Rochacha for a few more years until Andy finishes his residency, at which time they will move back to the Big Sky State.
John Quaresima taught in San Antonio for a year after graduation before getting hitched to Jennie Granato Q. They are currently living in East Bumblebee (not the name he gave it), NY where he works as a tech in the ER while preparing for medical school next year and she is still teaching.
Colleen Moak is also living in our nation’s capital, teaching middle school language arts at Blessed Sacrament where she tries not to chuckle every time a kid refers to the school as BS. She will spend another year or two in DC before moving to Chicago with her soon-to-be husband, Andrew Ringa. She is also still foolishly running marathons.
West-Coasters
Pat McMahon is working on his MFA in sculpture at Central Washington University (perhaps channeling Patrick Swayze in Ghost? I guess that would be ceramics.) and teaching basic design there as well.
Rene Levario is among the ranks of the married and is teaching 8th grade algebra 1 in the Riverside Unified School District in Southern California.
Lindsey Durbin is living in Los Angeles and teaching at an all girls’ school, though she is hoping to move back to DC in June if anyone knows of any good job opportunities. She has two dogs, Henessey and Reilly, and has the pleasure of seeing lots of other ACErs in LA.
Jeff Steedle and Jamie Rodriguez are happily married and living in Palo Alto, CA. Jeff is in his third year at Stanford studying educational measurements and statistics and spent his past summer as an intern at ACT. Jamie is in her second year of a PhD program at Stanford in Curriculum and Teacher Education. She also works as an instructor with the teacher preparation program there.
Somewhere-in-the-Middlers
Kevin Burke is in his first year of a PhD program in Teacher Ed at Michigan State. He is minoring in how to become more like Brian Hayes. He is also teaching a freshmen writing class and looking for folks who want to run the LA marathon with him.
Pete Peterson is teaching in a public high school in Oconomowoc (apparently made his decision to move there based on his affinity for the letter O) and is engaged to Meghan Pesko, a Jesuit Volunteer he met in the Valley during ACE.
Matt Panzer was married 7 days after our ACE graduation and his wife Kelly is due to deliver their first baby boy on December 28. They live in Indianapolis where Panzer is teaching a slew of English classes, coaching a million sports, sponsoring clubs, and paying a mortgage.
Matt Bohnekamp is in his second year of teaching AP Econ. and Modern US History at Marian Catholic, a high school in Chicago Heights, Illinois run by the Dominican Sisters of Springfield. Matt also serves as a Model UN advisor, speech coach, women’s lacrosse coach, and the biggest Iowa fan at his school.
Kelly Keegan married Greg Skony this summer and is getting used to her new last name. They are living in Old Town in Chicago where she is working as a computer consultant and looking for something more service-oriented to do.
Paul Ybarra is in religious vows with the Congregation of Holy Cross and will be praying for all of our heathen souls. He is currently taking classes at ND to earn his Masters in Divinity and will hopefully be a priest in 4 years.
Becky Camillus is still in Fort Worth, laughing loudly and living with Sara Holloway (ACE 8). She is balancing teaching Pre-K at Our Lady of Victory Catholic School and dealing poker at a local card room to supplement her salary. Sweet.
Meg Daday is back in South Bend for her third year of law school at ND after spending her second year in London. After graduation, she plans on moving to the Windy City to work at a firm there.
Monica Van Horn is living in the Bend as well and teaching Middle School Literature at Christ the King School. She filled her past summer with travels in Europe as her husband made some academic presentations.
Gretchen Danysh is in her 5th year of teaching and her 3rd year in Dallas at Bishop Lynch High School. She teaches geometry, coaches soccer, is secretary of the ND Club of Dallas, and still has time to work towards her Masters in Math from Texas A&M, though she hasn’t been converted to an Aggie’s fan just yet.
Kate Fox Dolezal married Tim Dolezal in December 2005 and they live in South Bend. She is teaching middle school social studies at St. Joseph Grade School.
Steve Donndelinger has recently been hired as a principal at St. Jude Catholic School in South Bend. Steve taught 4th grade at St. Monica School in Mishawaka for the last 4 years, including 2 as an ACE teacher.
Jim Cummings is still teaching Literature classes to juniors and seniors at Marist in Chicago, putting his story-telling abilities to good use. He recently moved to the north side of the city, 2 blocks from the lake. Babe Lair.
Dan Soldato and Laura Rompf tied the knot last October and are currently living in Chicago. Laura is teaching and coaching cheerleading (i.e. Building a program from scratch, basically)at Loyola Academy. Dan is in his last year of law school at Northwestern and will be in a position to bail us all out of trouble come graduation in May.
Melissa McLaughlin is teaching high school Spanish in Champaign, IL and has had the pleasure of traveling to a few locales in Latin America over the past few years. She is currently planning a wedding – she and Jake are to be wed next summer. A large tree asked for her hand in marriage as well, but Jake tackled it to the ground. Jake 1. Tree 0.
Mark Delgado is living the good life in El Paso. That’s Spanish for “The Paso.” He has spent some time working with the UTEP athletic department and also working with a mentoring program for first generation immigrants. He is currently figuring out his next direction in life…likely something involving medicine or physical therapy.
Lynne Ruozzi is living in Chicago, teaching math and French, and coaching basketball at St. Ignatius High School. She spends her free time being energetic and wonderful whilst bopping around in the HRCNIA (Happiest Red Car Not In ACE) and trying to spread her Boston accent to the Midwest.
In a Class All by Herself
Lauren O’Neil apparently doesn’t want to be near any of us and is living in Costa Rica and teaching 3rd grade for the yea. She may be looking into the ACE Chile program for next year. She really doesn’t like us, huh?
Written and Compiled by: Colleen Moak