Wallingford Country Day School

ALUMNI NOTES CLASS OF 2015

Hey there, Fifteeners! Hard to believe it was five years ago we all took that final walk down Alumni Path together! We had such great times and made such wonderful memories! So here’s what some of us are up to. (And please send in your news so your dedicated class secretaries — LOL — can share with the rest of the class!!)

Daria Newman-Lewis writes in from Portland that she’s busy “fighting oppression and living a vegan lifestyle.” Some of us may have caught Daria in recent news footage tossing a Molotov cocktail at law enforcement using those same throwing skills she used in Girls’ Varsity Lacrosse! Daria reports that she’s fighting hard for a more just and equitable society but will be home for Thanksgiving and her dad promises to heat the pool for a party! “If I stay out of jail,” she says. LOL!

Ché Gottlieb is currently spending the year at his family’s home on Nantucket, after suffering from “exhaustion and depression brought on by the Trump administration.” He plans to rest and think and “practice self-care” for the next year. Get well soon, Ché!

Sundar Picaratja is a junior associate at Goldman Sachs, specializing in corporate strategy. He reports that he’s working very hard, living at home to “save money,” and about to launch his financial-management business. Sounds, um, interesting.

Holden Hopkins is also keeping busy. “I’m working on my first novel! It’s a story about a young man who recognizes his own privilege, and then sets about to atone for the sins of his parents and ancestors.” Holden plans to complete the novel by Christmas, and hopes that it will be published later next year. Wally ’15ers may remember that Holden’s mother is fiction editor at a large publishing company, so it’s safe to say Holden is going into the family business. You go, Holden!!

Phipps Bartlett IV is a yoga instructor living on Hobe Sound in Florida and reports feeling “very creative” lately.

Mai-ting Bao is an eye surgeon, specializing in research and new surgical techniques. Very little to report there.

Sunshine DuPont (they, them) has formed a “farming collective” in upstate New York, on property owned by their grandparents. They report that they’ve turned the early-19th-century house into a “combination art space and seed library,” and they invite all Wallys to visit them and their partner this autumn when the leaves turn a “diversity of nonwhite colors.”

Rajneesh Sawnee is married (the first of Wally ’15!) and has two children, along with three patents for “growing organ-specific human tissue for surgical use, focusing primarily on replacing cancerous tissue.” Whatever, Rajneesh!

Unity Bellingham is currently serving time for assault, theft, and destruction of public property during the recent uprising in New York. Unity left us a long voicemail from state prison and made a passionate argument in defense of looting, and we have to say, she persuaded us! Unity hasn’t lost any of the skills she had back at Wally, when she led the senior debate club to All-State victory! Good luck, Unity! Her dad, partner at Chase & Bellingham and a former state senator, is aiming to have her released by October. Fingers crossed!!

Huyn Hong, Yuriko Ayaka, and Wang Xiu Ying recently graduated from MIT with degrees in advanced physics, material science, and organic computer design. (Whatever those are!! LOL, JK guys!) All three have moved to Palo Alto, California, to join the start-up scene which of course is very hot right now.

Sawyer Thatcher has begun transitioning from her assigned sex to her true sex. She will keep her name (that makes it easy!!) and will also continue playing rugby. We love you, Sawyer!!

Please remember to Save the Date for the Day of Demolition next month, when current and past students will gather together to dismantle the Cochran Library and Bullfinch Hall, brick by brick! As the school no longer teaches English literature or requires research papers due to Diversity & Inclusion measures, these buildings will be destroyed and replaced by a really fun community garden!

That’s all for this month! Please PLEASE send in your notes and messages to be included in next month’s bulletin! We really want to represent what all of you are doing!