Hello, '99s. I would like to begin this newsletter on a personal note. As I mourned the unexpected passing of my father on April 14 I discovered just what it means to be part of the Dartmouth family. As soon as he heard the news Wayne DeBeatham rescheduled his surgical shifts at Howard University Hospital in Washington, D.C. to be at my side at the funeral the next day in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Damali Rhett arranged the tickets for Wayne, and she herself tried to meet up with me later in the week while visiting Tulsa for her ongoing consulting work with Deloitte. Their support reminded me that we truly do have lifelong bonds, and I am most grateful for being a part of such a strong family that has helped me carry on during this difficult time.
Yet, as Derek Chau and Sarah Kelmenson-Chau remind us, the sadness of death is offset by the joy of birth. Derek and Sarah became the proud parents of Shayna Grace Chau, who was born on April 2 at 11:09 p.m. Derek reports that Shayna was 20.5 inches tall, weighing in at 7 pounds exactly and had cute ears like her mom. The happy family are doing well.
In other news, Jess McCarter reports that he has taken a new role as VP of sales at Samasource, a not-for-profit that helps fight global poverty and unemployment by training, certifying and finding jobs for knowledge workers in the world's most underdeveloped countries. Samasource helps computer programmers, designers and other knowledge workers overcome the 60 to 70 percent unemployment rates faced after graduation by training them and linking them with clients throughout the world. Additional information can be found on www.samasource.org or Facebook.
Carrie Fucille has also made a career change. After a year and a half of living in Vermont, Carrie moved back to Baltimore, Maryland, to work at Sinuate Media, an online marketing company and continue her work in freelance design. Carrie is also an artist-in-residence at Load of Fun in Baltimore and some of her work is on display at the exhibition "Poison" at the Curious Matter Gallery in Jersey City, New Jersey. Additional information can be found on Carrie's blog, http://carriefucile.blogspot.com, and Carrie will also be profiled through the Alumni Stories Project.
Finally, Dave Dookeeram reports that he is organising the 25th anniversary all-class reunion for the Dartmouth Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Alumni/ae Association (DGALA), which will take place in Hanover from October 30 to November 1. Dave has been on the DGALA board since 2008 and looks forward to seeing you at this celebration. More information on the reunion can be found online at www.dgala.org.
That's all the news for now. I wish you all a wonderful summer and I look forward to sharing more updates with you soon.
Tony Perry
tony.perry.99@alum.dartmouth.org