Class Notes

Shagun Pawar (Psych, Soc’12) moved to Oregon for graduate school as a stepping stone to receiving her doctorate in clinical psychology. Shagun writes she misses CU, but she is looking forward to the adventures that lie before her.

Rachio, founded by Matthew Reisman (MEnvSt, MBA’12), is a Denver-based technology startup that makes it easy and affordable for homeowners to have beautiful, productive and resource-optimized landscapes. Rachio was selected as a finalist in the Colorado Innovation Network Innovation Challenge. Matthew lives in Superior, Colo.

Since graduating Monica Gauthier (Art’12) has started her first business endeavor called Activyst, a company that creates women’s athletic bags and supports girls’ sports programs in developing countries. Monica writes when girls play sports, they are healthier, more educated and happier, which then benefits their communities. One of her business partners worked on this issue with the World Health Organization in Nicaragua. Monica lives in Longmont, Colo.

Former Coloradan student worker Erika Usui (Jour, Jpn’12) is attending the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center’s Masters of Public Health program. Erika started her course work in June and plans to finish her graduate degree in three years. She plans to pursue a doctorate in public health. Erika lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Following his May commission with the U.S. Marine Corps Steven Gore (CivEngr’12) will head to basic school training in January 2013. In the meantime he has traveled to England to visit family and will go to Peru to see Machu Picchu, Wyoming to climb and Nepal to hike near Annapurna.

Accomplishing his dream of moving back to California after graduating CU, Esteban Hernandez (Jour’12) relocated to Los Angeles this summer. He blogs for the web show “What’s Trending” in Hollywood, covering pop culture news.

Cassandra Hickman (Jour’12) is a fifth-generation graduate of CU. Her great-great-grandmother, great-grandparents, grandparents and father graduated from the university. Cassandra writes that the count for graduating members of their family thus far is 23. She lives in Boulder.

Since graduation Christopher Kennedy (Jour’12) writes he is catching up with family and old friends. He is interviewing at various live music organizations in Washington, D.C. “Nothing cemented in terms of employment so far, but I’m still optimistic,” Christopher writes.

For two years Christie Sounart (Jour’12) worked as student assistant for the Coloradan, writing feature stories, profiles, Class Notes and news stories. Upon graduating in May, she served as interim assistant editor for the magazine for seven weeks. She then traveled to Costa Rica in July for the remainder of the summer to see the splendor of the country and visit her friend Jamie Roberts (Jour’12). Christie lives in Arvada, Colo.

The summer after spring graduation Andrew Tycksen (MechEngr’12) went on a two-week mission trip to Cambodia to help a village that was previously settled on a minefield. He taught and played with children who attended a nearby school. Since returning from Cambodia, Andrew works as a mechanical engineer for Electric Equipment & Engineering. The company designs and builds power equipment for such telecommunication companies as Verizon and T-mobile. He lives in Arvada, Colo.

After graduating from CU, Cassie Langhals (Psych’13) received her master’s of medical science in anesthesia from South University in 2016 and began working at the University of New Mexico (UNM) as a certified anesthesiologist assistant. In 2020, she received her master’s of educational leadership from UNM, and in December she graduated with her doctorate of education in health science education from the University of St. Augustine. In 2019 she took on the role of clinical coordinator for the UNM Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, and in July became the inaugural program director for the first master of science in anesthesia program at UNM, which she opened with Christopher Arndt (AeroEngr’90). The program is the first of its kind in New Mexico and has a mission to serve the Southwest population.

Julie Surfus (ChemBioEngr’13) and Jeff Willich (Fin’13) met at a football watch party for Houston alumni in 2014. In September 2023, the two were married in Boulder, coincidentally on the same day as the Rocky Mountain Showdown. They co-lead the Houston chapter of Forever Buffs.

Vincent Mangiere (Fin’13) and Andrew Geller (Psych’05) met in 2020 and were engaged in November 2022. Vincent has had a successful career in finance and Andrew in dentistry. The couple plans to wed in Aspen in March 2024. They live in the West Village of New York. 

Emily Higgins Rippeteau (MBA’13) is owner and founder of Rippeteau Consulting, which helps small craft breweries and distilleries with their day-to-day accounting needs. Her clients have expanded beyond Boulder to as far as Alaska and have included Ratio Beerworks and Crystal Springs Brewing Company. Emily lives in Longmont. 

DU law school graduate Meaghan Evans Fischer (PolSci’13) passed the bar exam and began working at law firm Wegener, Lane and Evans in 2017. She was recently named partner at the age of 29 years old.

CU Boulder’s track and field program had three alumni compete in July at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon. Emma Coburn (Mktg’13) placed eighth in the world for the women’s steeplechase after picking up her tenth U.S. steeplechase title in June. Joe Klecker (BioChem’20), who won his first U.S. title in the men’s 10,000 in May, finished in ninth place. Puerto Rican 400-meter dash national champion Gabby Scott (Mgmt’19) advanced to the semi-finals.

NBC News anchor and host of the network’s Stay Tuned show, Savannah Sellers (Jour’13) married Alex Yaraghi in Tuscany, Italy, on Sept. 16. The couple hosted 80 of their friends and family members at a villa for a three-day celebration. The couple met in 2017 in New York City’s West Village.

Kate Kohnen Krukowski (Phil’13) joined Quarles & Brady as an associate in the law firm’s Phoenix office. Kate is experienced in personal injury, wrongful death and criminal defense lawsuits and has represented clients in areas such as breach of contract and fiduciary duties, employment disputes, construction litigation, negligence and products liability.

The.com, a user-friendly website building platform with $4.4 million in funding, was founded by Jeff McKinnon (Econ’13) and his brother. The platform allows for community website building and remixing. Before founding their business, Jeff began website building as a freelancer. While at CU Boulder, Jeff was the president of the CU Alpine Club.

In 2014, Brittni Laura Hernandez (EthnSt; MEdu’18), Bethy Leonardi (MEdu’08; PhD’14) and Sara Staley (PhDEdu’14) launched A Queer Endeavor, an organization that works to make schools safe and humanizing for all young people by giving teachers the resources necessary to support LGBTQ students and to have meaningful classroom conversations regarding gender and sexuality. In July, the trio collaborated with graduate students and faculty from the School of Education to bring together about 450 teachers for the third Educator Institute for Equity and Justice.