Sprin 2023 Class Letters

Class of 2016 Spring Class Letter
Dear classmates,

We approach the midpoint of 2023 with two exciting developments on the horizon for Kenyon: the announcement of our 20th president later this summer and planning for our bicentennial in 2024. The alumni-led presidential search committee has assembled input from alumni and others in the Kenyon community into a leadership profile that outlines the qualities sought in Kenyon’s next president. For the latest on the search, visit kenyon.edu/presidentialsearch. As for the bicentennial, a call for proposals is underway! If you have an idea for a special project for the College’s 200th birthday celebration, you can apply for funding by emailing bicentennial@kenyon.edu.

In other college news, Oden Hall — named for Kenyon’s 17th president Robert A. Oden, Jr. (from 1995-2002) — opened in the spring as home to faculty from sociology, political science, history and philosophy. Anthropology is also represented with a dedicated laboratory space and Kenyon’s Center for the Study of American Democracy will also call Oden Hall home. Oden contains more than 50 offices for faculty, is fully accessible and houses a 280-seat auditorium, bridging the gap between the capacities of Rosse Hall and the Community Foundation Theater. I can’t wait to check it out in person the next time I’m back on the Hill!

In preparation for the bicentennial, members of Alumni Council have been busy working on an update to the Kenyon Songbook, which can now be viewed online at kenyon.edu/songs. Are you ready to warm up your vocalizers and get ready to burst into one of your favorite Kenyon tunes? This fifth edition of “Songs of Kenyon” continues a 166-year effort by the College and Alumni Council to both preserve and carry on Kenyon’s tradition of song. Published in 1859, 1866, 1906 and 1957, the first four editions chronicle the songs that defined generations of Kenyon students. The songs chosen for this edition were selected “because they both unify us in our past and point us towards our future.”

Speaking of unifying, alumni are also actively connecting on the CDO’s Kenyon Career Connections group on LinkedIn. It’s a space to share career-related opportunities and resources or promote career and continuing education discussions to the Kenyon community. I encourage you to check it out if you haven’t already!

I hope many of you participated in the College’s recent “Kenyon FunDay” to support today’s students via the Kenyon Fund. I enjoyed seeing the fun photos come in from regional events around the country, as well as watching the funds come in for today’s student over the course of the 36-hour giving challenge. There’s still time to make a gift if you missed the festivities! Visit kenyon.edu/funday to make your gift and join in the fun(d).

Up next for many Kenyon alumni is Reunion Weekend May 26-28, which should be a celebration to remember, as always. Then on to our yearlong bicentennial celebration! There will be lots of opportunities for alumni like us to participate, so stay tuned. I hope you will carve out some time to make it back to the Hill to celebrate our alma mater’s big 2-0-0 in whatever way feels meaningful to you. 

Sincerely,
Your 2016 Class Committee 

P.S. Scroll down to find our 2016 class notes.

Upcoming Events for Alumni
Save the date for these upcoming events for alumni taking place online and on the Hill.
  • Virtual Alumni Town Hall
    Our Reunion Town Hall with Acting President Jeff Bowman and others will take place Thursday, May 11 via Zoom.

  • Reunion Weekend
    All alumni are invited to join us on the Hill May 26–28.

  • Homecoming Weekend
    Join us for athletic competitions, festivities and alumni volunteer meetings on the Hill Sept. 29-30.
Visit kenyon.edu/alumnievents to register for the events above and view our full alumni event calendar.

Class Agents

Class agents are your connection to campus. To learn more about becoming one, contact Assistant Director of Student and Young Alumni Giving Abigail Rose via email. 

• Lauren Earls
• Caroline Fenn
• Katie Goldman
• Kei Helm
• Trevor Kirby
• Molly O'Connor
• Brianne Presley
• Jack Quigley
• Phoebe Roe
• Manjul Bhusal Sharma
• Madi Thompson

Class of 2016 Spring Notes
Lee Bauer continues to toil away as a secondary English teacher-cum-babysitter. He asks that you please tell any children you may have now or in the future that smoking weed in class is really stupid and a great way to be suspended.

Claire Berman recently began working as the Mechanical Engineering Librarian at MIT, just going to show that you can take Econ for your QA and Psych for your science requirements and still somehow end up working in STEM. If you’re in Cambridge, stop by the Hayden Library and say hello!

Manjul Bhusal Sharma: In Season 7 of Manjulie, we see the couple make a somewhat unexpected move to New York as Manjul took a new job with Citadel. Julie ’15 works from home and makes an appearance or two in CNBC and Bloomberg TV every quarter. When she is not busy giving quotes to the WSJ, Julie enjoys her Central Park promenades. The couple live in the Upper West Side facing the famous music school called “Julie-Yard”. Keep watching to find out what happens in the season finale.

Anna Garnitz: After moving back and forth between New York and Washington, DC many times, Anna is now living in Brooklyn, NY with her boyfriend. She was recently promoted to Vice President at JPMorgan Chase where she works under DEI to expand venture capital access for women founders and runs a business coaching program that supports women entrepreneurs. She loves seeing Maggie Stohlman and Sruthi Rao all the time in Brooklyn!

Katie Goldman: Jake Bates and I are engaged! We celebrated this happy occasion with family and friends (some of whom are also Kenyon alumni!).

Elna McIntosh: I’m doing well! Still at the Challenger library, still in Colorado, still working on my comics (though I did get a painting accepted to an online gallery!). I’m moderately/seriously looking for a new job, though, so if you have any library/publishing/digital humanities connections hit me up ;)

Stewart Pollock passed the Bar exam, got engaged, and caught COVID, all within an approximately three-week period. Two out of three ain't bad!

Peter Wear: FREE: One (1) Guinea Pig seeking a loving home. The mean one died, thank God, but they’re supposed to be paired, so now I’m caught in a whirlwind of emotional turmoil over the psychological state of this pig. I think it’s happier, actually, which is kind of messed up. It reminds me of this time I took a long Uber ride and I got into a deep conversation with the driver, where he told me that he had this really cruel coworker, absolutely despised this person. And one day, out of the blue, she simply died. A freak accident. And the driver said that his job suddenly became a whole lot more bearable. He smiled at me. But I don’t speak pig. They’re social animals, is all I know. Should I let it live out its final years alone in a tomb of hay? All I know is that it doesn’t belong to me. Available on pickup - Lakeview, Chicago.
Read notes from the Class of 2015 and the Class of 2017.
Read notes from faculty.
Support Kenyon
Help make our class notes even better in the next class letter, submit a note at any time via kenyon.edu/class-note-form.
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