Class Notes: April 2019

2010s

Alquan Higgs ’18 has been accepted into the Higher Education and Student Affairs Masters program at the University of Connecticut with a full scholarship and a graduate assistantship.

Sara Biancosino ’17 is game entertainment manager for Washington Redskins football in Baltimore, Maryland. “We are working on our Draft Night Party in D.C. (April 25), which is sold out, so that is super exciting,” she says.

Joshua Hanif ’17 began a new position as business development executive at Building Intelligence in New York City.

Daniel Speranza ’16 has signed on with the Glens Falls firm of Bartlett, Pontiff, Stewart, & Rhodes P.C. as an associate attorney. Speranza’s new position was reported in the Albany Business Review.

Juliana (Wuerdeman) Chromik ’15 is a teaching assistant with the Watervliet City School District in Watervliet, New York.

Hermann Ettien G’14 began working at the New York State Office of Information Technology Services (Albany, New York) as information system auditor.

Arianna Gaddy-Collington ’14 began as an account clerk with the Troy Housing Authority in Troy, New York.

Nick Specht ‘12 is art director at Tory Burch in New York City.

Ashvi Patel ’11 is working as staff auditor for the City of Garland in Texas. He is a health coach and is working towards CGAP certification for internal audit.

2000s

Sarah Morgan G’09 is working as a teacher in the Anne Arundel County Public Schools in the Baltimore, Maryland, area.

Ryan Barone ’07 is working as photo director at advertising agency Baron & Baron in New York, New York.

Jason Breslin ’07 is working as an associate in Education Improvement Services for the New York State Education Department in Albany, New York. He became a National Board Certified teacher (early childhood generalist) in 2014 and an America Achieves Fellow in 2016-2017. In addition, he authored an op-ed column in the Times Union in November 2016.

David Miclette’s ’02 firm, Elevation Ten Thousand, won 16 awards at the ADDY Awards of the American Advertising Federation and Capital Region Advertising Federation and made the introduction video for the event. The video premiered at Proctor’s GE Theater in early March.

Valerie Rados ’01 has begun working as account planner at LP&M Advertising in Syracuse, New York.

1990s

Jessica (Graziano) Waldorf ’99 is owner of the Right Way Driving Center in Albany, New York.

Andrew J. Rubino ’99 began as legislative committee member at the New York Mortgage Bankers Association.

Maddalena Casabianca-Reade G’97 was featured for the organization she founded, Lap4Life, in honor of her brother Angelo, who succumbed to a rare tumor in 2009. Now in its 11th year, Lap4Life holds an annual walk/run event to raise funds and awareness of desmoid tumors and organ-transplant research.

Ron McLean G’97 was appointed president and CEO of the Cooperative Credit Union Association, a trade association in Marlborough, Mass. He was most recently senior vice president and chief engagement officer of the New York Credit Union Association in Albany. His appointment was announced in the CU Times.

1980s

John Ragusa ’87 was in the news for his improvisatory duo, RiverRun, in which he plays the flute with longtime collaborator, pianist Jeremy Wall. Ragusa lives in New York City and heads the music department at the Rye Country Day School in Westchester County.

Russell Sass ’87 is retired and living in The Villages, Florida.

Elizabeth Anne (Thulen) Smith ’84, G’16 is in Chesterfield, Missouri, working as a financial aid counselor at Ranken Technical College in St. Louis. She recently achieved Distinguished Toastmaster status with Toastmasters International, a nearly century-old nonprofit organization that fosters public-speaking and leadership skills.

1970s

Dr. Diana J. Durham G‘77 began a new venture as a consulting specialist to projects in continuing and interprofessional education in the health professions, in the Los Angeles area, after nearly a decade at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Rosemary (Longo) Engelhardt ’70 retired after working as a librarian in the Guilderland Public Library (Guilderland, New York) and now lives in Clearwater Beach, Florida.

1960s

Susan (Heim) Pezzolla ’69 is enjoying retirement, and gardening, in Albany, New York. She received the Distinguished Service Award for Horticulture from the New York State chapter of the National Association of County Agricultural Agents in 2016.

In memoriam
Davida Wohl ’92, G’94
Catherine “Lois” Kenney ‘81
Susanne Dorr G’77
Edward L. Snead ‘74
Sister Florence Joy ’71, RSM
Sister Loretta Ciccarelli ’69, MPV (founder of Beacon of Hope in Leominster)
Virginia Perna, ‘67, G ‘72
Gloria Gauntt Hanson G’63
Anna May Barclay G’59
Frances Taylor ‘58
Annmarie McKeon Keating ‘55
Patricia Byrnes Hartigan ‘52
Elizabeth Lauro ‘50
Sister Catherine Schuyler ‘33, CSJ