Class Notes

Two years ago Jeffrey Land (Hist’09) and a few friends started South Mouth Wings in Boulder on Broadway and Arapahoe. Jeffrey is in his third year of law school at Florida Coastal School of Law in Jacksonville, Fla.

USA Track & Field named Jenny Barringer Simpson (PolSci’09) Athlete of the Week on July 24. That week Jenny won the 1500-meter race in 4:00.48 at the Monaco Herculis Diamond League. In August, Jenny placed second in the women’s 1,500 at the world championships in Moscow.

Four years ago Kirk Williams (Soc’09) flew over the handlebars of his mountain bike at Hall Ranch near Lyons, Colo., and damaged three vertebrae and his spinal cord. Last summer he attended the No Barriers Summit in Telluride. The summit has clinics and workshops for adaptive rock climbing, paddle sports, yoga, hiking cycling and more. Kirk lives in Boulder and plans to launch his business Bird Eye Optics, which uses a flying camera to film and photograph different events. He directs the flying camera from his wheelchair.

Colorado native Natalie Wood (Comm’09) produces and anchors 10/11 Central Nebraska News at 5:30 and 9 p.m. on KSNB. Natalie landed her first anchor job in Williston, N.D., with an NBC affiliate. She enjoys running, biking and spending time with her dog.

NBA player Chris Copeland (Psych’09) reached a career-high of 33 points playing for the Knicks against the Atlanta Hawks in April. He then started in his first NBA playoff game against the Boston Celtics in Madison Square Garden. “I think it’s every basketball player’s dream to play here,” Chris told CUBuffs.com. “It’s the Garden; it’s the Mecca of basketball. It is such a blessing to be here.” Chris played for the Buffs from 2002-06 and is No. 34 on the all-time Colorado scoring list.

Because of his clean water reserve system invention, Boulder resident Tom Rachlin (MechEngr’09) was one of five finalists with a shot at the $100,000 prize in a national entrepreneurship competition sponsored by Ketel One Vodka and GQ Magazine. The contest took place at www.agentlemanscall.com.

The Fulbright U.S. Student Program awarded Ian Soroka (Film, Phil’09) a scholarship to Slovenia in film studies. He is one of more than 1,700 U.S. citizens to travel abroad with a student Fulbright for the 2012-13 academic year. Ian’s research focuses on Slovene/Yugoslav film history and his project is titledCinema and Memory: Cultural Preservation through National Cinema Slovenia.

Former Alumni Association student worker David Brennan (Int Af, Hist’09) has been living and working in Brussels, Belgium, since graduating from CU-Boulder. In August David was happy to write he saw the CU men’s basketball team during their European tour. David writes he had an overwhelmingly positive experience seeing and meeting the team and wrote a blog about it. It can be read at www.allbuffs.com.

For the third time Paul Kasemir (CompSci, ElEngr, MElEngr’09) competed in NBC’s American Ninja Warrior competition last summer. He lives in Longmont, Colo.

CU couple Lara Murphy (Comm’09) and Andrew Herlihy (PolSci’09) married on Aug. 11 in Boulder. Lara works in human resources at Nordstrom and Andrew is a law student at the University of Wyoming.

On May 13 Lara Wahl (Acct’09) and her boyfriend miraculously survived a horrible car crash and explosion when a truck fell from an overpass onto their car as the couple was driving on Interstate 70 on their way to play tennis. The story appeared in The Denver Post. Lara says, in retrospect, they snapped into fight-or-flight mode to survive. Lara works as an auditor and lives in Avon, Colo.

After graduating from CU’s arts program, Julia Lamberton (Art’09) moved to China to teach English.

After wrapping up 10 months of community service, Katherine Adams (Ling’09) graduated from the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps Pacific Region. The members worked in teams throughout the U.S., and Katherine’s team provided support to Missouri and Montana residents affected by tornados and floods. She lives in Frederick, Calif.

Rakefet Megory (MCDBio’09) and Matthew Orobona (MCDBio’10) plan to get married in July. Rakefet is enrolled in the veterinary program at Colorado State University where Matthew is attending graduate school. The wedding will take place in Boulder.

Dustin Rumsey (Mus’09) is a composer and soundtrack engineer for Boulder-based Square Two Productions while also offering private music lessons. He lives in Longmont, Colo.

Campton, Ohio, resident Brandon Vaccaro (DMus’09) is an assistant music professor at Kent State University. He also spends his days as a freelance composer, audio engineer and producer.

Carolyn Kenney (IntlAf’10) joined the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) as an adjunct research staff member in the Joint Advanced Warfighting Division of IDA’s Systems and Analyses Center. IDA is a nonprofit corporation that operates three federally funded research and development centers, and answers the most challenging U.S. security and science policy questions with objective analysis. Carolyn received her master’s degree in international human rights from the University of Denver in 2014.

In January, law firm Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck promoted Zach Siegel (IntlAf, PolSci’10; Law’15) to shareholder. A member of the firm’s Denver real estate department, Zach leverages an understanding of his clients’ businesses to achieve their strategic goals. He has expertise in complex acquisitions and dispositions and leasing and development projects. His work spans asset classes including multifamily, retail, office, industrial and mixed use transactions.

Judd Shader (EthnSt’10), founder and CEO of Leeds West Group, an automotive repair franchise management platform, joined the Javonte Williams Foundation’s executive advisory board. The Javonte Williams Foundation is a nonprofit dedicated to providing youth in the Denver metro area foster care system with essential resources and life-changing experiences. Judd will provide strategic direction for the foundation’s key fundraising campaign efforts. He lives in Greenwood Village, Colorado.

In late 2022, Cody Hawkins (Hum’10), CU Buffs quarterback from 2007 to 2010, was named head coach of Idaho State University. He previously served six seasons as a football coach at University of California, Davis, the last three of which he was the  offensive coordinator.