Alumni : Please let us know what you are doing! Your fellow alums would like to know. Pictures are great as well. send updates to updates@bridgeschoolvermont.org.
Nightfires has returned to Middlebury in 2011 after a long hiatus. This celebration of the solstice in song, story and music had four Bridge School graduates in its cast. Annie Nessen Voohees ’88, Abigail Nessen Bengson ’95, Sara Granstrom ’97 and Andrea Tomasi ‘00.
Sarah Hurlburt, '95 gave birth to a baby boy, Salim Amin, on September 16, 2011
Sarah Hurlburt, ’95 gave birth to a baby boy, Salim Amin, on September 16, 2011. Sarah is working as a Program Manager at the Center for Global Health and Development at Boston University, conducting international health research. She hopes when Salim goes to school, his teachers will be as wonderful as her Bridge School teachers were!
Adrien Moseley Preston ’91 and Sarah McGrath Helmer ’91 both received Masters degrees from the University of Vermont Counseling program. Sarah currently works in the Dean’s office of the UVM College of Arts and Sciences, and Adrien is a school counselor at Burlington High School.
Chris Putnam-Pouliot ’92 is the librarian at Hartford Memorial Middle School in White River Junction Vermont. She lives in Wilder with her husband Matt and 5- year-old son Rico. Matt is an apprentice tattoo artist and Rico attends kindergarten. Rico joined the family through adoption in 2007. The family is planning a trip back to Rico’s homeland, Guatemala, this summer.
Abigail Nessen Bengson ’95 and her husband Shaun performed at the Flynn Space in Burlington this January. Singing and storytelling demand equal attention in the experimental works of the Bengsons, a vaudeville-style indie folk duo. They are now in the process of developing their alt-folk opera “Hundred Days” in which young lovers take on terminal illness. In their performance they previewed some of the songs with the help of their New York band and other local artists.
DeVeau Sleeper ’93 is a Kindergarten teacher in Mosier, Oregon. She
and her husband Hector Kent are planning to move back to Vermont this
summer to the Northeast Kingdom.
Nick, Martha and their baby Eleanor, born August 30th
Nick Hammond ’99 and his wife Martha welcomed their baby Eleanor on August 30th. Nick runs a team of horses for his logging business and assists on the family farm, Doolittle Farm. Martha works part time at the birthing center at Porter Hospital and also helps out on the farm. It isn’t uncommon to see all three (Martha, Nick and Eleanor) driving the team up the drive!
Moira Smiley ’88 and her group VOCO recently gave a concert in Burlington through the UVM Lane Series. Moira enjoyed it as another home-coming – just as performing at the Bridge School Benefit was in August 2010. When Moira is not on tour, she gardens and writes music in the hills of Los Angeles with her partner Andrew. She tours the U.S., Canada, UK and Australia with VOCO and as a soloist in New, Folk and Early Music. BBC Magazine recently called her “entrancing”, so watch out! Folkworks Magazine says about VOCO ”This is a truly phenomenal act, combining the energy of urban street singing with first-rate musicianship, folk roots and traditions from throughout the world. Their body percussion sets are a sight to behold!” 2011 found Moira featured in Tasmania, Australia’s Festival of Voices, premiering new work with the BBC Singers in BBC’s Proms Festival in London, in Atlanta, Chicago, Kansas City, Seattle, San Francisco and Toronto teaching extended vocal technique to Music Conservatory students. Her body percussion arrangement of LeadBelly’s “Bring Me Little Water, Silvy” is performed by thousands of ensembles around the world, and keeps spreading like a little wildfire. 2012 will bring a couple new albums, a new song cycle and folksong studies in Croatia and Serbia.
Nick Kramer class of '05
Nick Kramer’05 just finished boarding school in Andover MA. He is currently taking a year off before college to work around the world. He just spent two months living in Prague, and now is in NY about to sail down to the Bahamas where he hopes to boat-hop (go from small sailboat to small sailboat trading work as a deckhand for room and board) around the Caribbean. Eventually, he would like to find temporary work in Trinidad during their huge steel drum festival, and then time and money permitting, he’s going to try to bike from Oregon to Alaska with a friend. (photo)
Sarah Stratton ’06 was recently listed as the “Academic All-Star” of the week in the Burlington Free Press. She is a National Merit semi-finalist and received a score of 5, the highest score, on three Advanced Placement exams. She says the title of her biography might be “Half Full: Through the Eyes of an Optimist”. No wonder her personal motto is “Life is good”.
Rachel Peden ’97 is currently a sophomore working on her BS in Mechanical Engineering at UNC Charlotte. She has just been been initiated into the Pi Gamma chapter of Theta Tau, a professional engineering fraternity. She sends her regards to everyone at her favorite blue-roofed barn.
Tanner Price ’02, a senior at the Maine College of Art, is a finalist for the prestigious Windgate Art Fellowship. His wooden sculptures were recently displayed in an exhibit at the school.
Zach Bechhoefer ’09 was elected President of the 9th grade at Middlebury Union High School. This is his first year in the Middlebury schools so this is a big accomplishment.
Teddy Bechhoefer ’11 was elected to the Middlebury Union Middle School Student Council this fall as a new 7th grader.