Class Notes—2010s
2010
Arts & Sciences Reunion June 25−28, 2015
Brad Elkins BA is a cofounder and principal of America Innovates, a political action committee launched “to support candidates with the courage, imagination, and political skill required to take on our nation’s most difficult challenges.” The organization was founded by a small group of Californians with deep experience in Washington.
Haben Girma BA, who made Business Insider’s 2013 list of the 20 most impressive Harvard Law School students, is currently fighting for the rights of blind readers in a lawsuit against digital subscription reading service Scribd, seeking equal access for the blind. Girma, a deaf-blind attorney who works as a Skadden Fellowship attorney with the nonprofit law firm Disability Rights Advocates, is representing the National Federation of the Blind and blind Vermont mother Heidi Viens.
Emily Gregory BA directed the play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead in summer 2014 for the Anon It Moves theatre company in Portland in partnership with the String House Theatre.
Clara Himelfarb BA is serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Ethiopia, training as a secondary English teacher.
Virginia Loomis BA is executive director of Anon It Moves, an ensemble-based classical theatre company in Portland. A designer, production manager, and stalwart techie, Loomis started her professional career in stage management with Portland’s Defunkt Theatre and was honored with a Spotlight Award nomination for the 2010–11 season. She’s experienced in lighting, set design, and costuming.
Louis Prahl BA is one of six Lewis & Clark alumni to receive a prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship in 2014. Prahl is a PhD student in biomedical engineering at the University of Minnesota. 2011
Dylan Smith BA is one of six Lewis & Clark alumni to receive a prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship in 2014. Smith works as a researcher in the fungal ecology lab of Kabir Peay, assistant professor of biology, at Stanford University.
Hannah Somhegyi BA is one of six Lewis & Clark alumni to receive a prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship in 2014. She is pursuing a PhD in neurobiology at Harvard.
2012
Class Correspondent: Josh Cohn, notes@lclark.edu
Daniel Afzal BA is a sports and entertainment anchor and host for PTV World, an English-language news channel in Pakistan that also serves Central Asia and the Middle East. After graduating from Lewis & Clark, Afzal worked as a marketing account manager for Cydcor, a Chicago marketing firm. He later returned to his home country of Pakistan to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. He was quickly hired as an anchor and host at the Pakistan Television Corporation. Now he covers international sporting events, including the Tour de France, the Wimbledon Championships, and the World Series Cricket. He also hosted several shows during the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Caitlin Fisher-Draeger BA is artistic director of Anon It Moves, an ensemble-based classical theatre company in Portland. She describes herself as a director who acts and a producer who dances. She believes that good theatre is deeply moving, entertaining, and educational—and the best theatre is all three. Fisher-Draeger received a Portland Drammy Award for her codirection of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Post5 Theatre in 2013.
2013
Samuel Dodson BA received the 2014 Peter Lyman Memorial/SAGE Scholarship in New Media. In fall 2014, he started a dual master of archival studies and master of library and information studies at the University of British Columbia. Dodson received the Peter Lyman Memorial Scholarship based on his academic achievements, leadership qualities, and involvement with his community library. As an intern at the Longview (Washington) Public Library, he maintained an online database of thousands of cultural and historical items and led a popular digital literacy program for K-12 students.
Benjamin Hoffman BA is one of six Lewis & Clark alumni to receive a prestigious National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship in 2014. Hoffman, winner of the college’s 2013 Rena Ratte Award, plans to attend Cornell University and work toward a PhD in pure mathematics. Tawab Malekzad BA recently produced a video on YouTube about Afghanistan, its future, and the role of the United States in the country. Malekzad has been writing political/international blogs on various topics (many about Afghanistan and Middle East politics) for outlets in Washington, D.C., since graduation.
2014
Samantha Peterson BA took to the stage of the College Unions Poetry Slam Invitational to deliver a poem that, in the words of the Huffington Post, “might change the way Americans talk about fat bodies.” The poem, “Dead Men Can’t Catcall,” earned her a Best of the Rest individual award and a story in the Huffington Post. Read more information about Peterson—including a video of her winning performance.
Erica Terpening-Romeo BA is artistic director of Anon It Moves, an ensemble-based classical theatre company in Portland. A director, actor, and playwright, she is a former managing director of the Strain Theatre Company in New York City. Terpening-Romeo received a Portland Drammy Award for her codirection of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Post5 Theatre in 2013. As a senior, she received the college’s 2014 Rena Ratte Award.
