Virtual Swim/Dive Reunion 2020: Networking Night

General Hosts

Thomas Robinson ’16

Thomas Robinson is a 4th year PhD student studying environmental engineering under Dr. Michelle Scherer at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. Thomas’ focus is cleaning up pollutants in groundwater using iron minerals that can be pretty much everywhere. He is passionate about how science can be communicated more effectively, so that important information doesn’t get lost in translation. At Grinnell, Thomas received his degree in Chemistry and Environmental studies after starting out as a Biology major before changing directions during his 3rd year. His favorite events to swim at meets were the 200, 500, and 1650 Freestyle. Thomas is currently working on his disc golf game, but can also be found taking his dog Archer for walks around Iowa City with his partner Sam.

Maddie Pesch ’16

Maddy Pesch (she/her) currently lives in Madison, WI. At Grinnell she majored in Chemistry and Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies. She is a professional triathlete for the USA and a triathlon coach for Team Sirius Tri Club with 300 members world-wide. Maddy individually coaches a dozen athletes at a time ranging from ages 13-70 and from beginners to Ironman finishers and other professional athletes. Besides coaching her athletes and doing her own training, Maddy’s other job duties include managing relationships with sponsors, recruiting clients, creating social media content, and hosting events for her triathlon club/community. Maddy has kept herself entertained through quarantine by becoming a beginner gardener, downloading TikTok, and FaceTiming every week with her best friends who she met on the Grinnell Swim/Dive team.

Networking Breakout Room Hosts, by Industry

Law

Kahlil Epps ’18

Kahlil is a 2018 graduate who majored in English. He currently resides in Nashville, TN, where he attends Vanderbilt University Law School. Kahlil plans to find a job in Washington, D.C., at a law firm where he grew up. Before law school, Kahlil spent a year in Croatia as a Fulbright Fellow teaching English at the University of Zagreb in the Education Dept. Kahlil is a second-year law student (2L) on the Vanderbilt Bar Association (like SGA) and in the Legal Academic Scholar Program. Kahlil recently started going on semi-long bike rides because getting up in the morning to go swimming just was not in the cards as his semester progressed. Kahlil also bridged watch Vampire Diaries over the summer.

Josh Cottle ’18

Josh is currently a third-year student at the University of Minnesota Law School and is living in St. Paul, Minnesota. During school, he has spent time working at the ACLU of Minnesota and the Equal Justice Society in Oakland. When he was at Grinnell, Josh majored in Physics and Economics and recalls absolutely nothing from his Physics classes. Josh currently spends most of his time away from Zoom cycling and cooking.

Meagan McKinstry ’16

Meagan McKinstry graduated from Grinnell in 2016 with a B.A. in Sociology. After completing a year of service with Jesuit Volunteer Corp. in Scranton, PA, she attended Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, MA. Having graduated from NUSL this past May, Meagan recently began a job as a staff attorney at the Volunteer Lawyers Project of the Boston Bar Association, where she is representing tenants facing eviction due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Outside of law, Meagan was part of an acapella group at Grinnell, and she remains heavily involved with singing in her post-grad life as a member of her church choir. She is always willing to help students find their way, so she very much looks forward to discussing legal careers with current Ducks and Dogs on Thursday!

Business & Finance

Dave Ressner ’92

Since 2003, Dave Ressner has been a personal financial advisor with Buckingham Strategic Wealth, a fee-only, fiduciary firm in St. Louis, Missouri. Dave enjoys his work because it involves in-depth personal relationships with clients AND technical knowledge across investing, taxation, law, insurance, etc. Dave's path to this point was far from direct. He graduated from Grinnell in 1992 with a degree in Anthropology and some experience/interest in journalism. After earning a master's degree in journalism, Dave worked for five years in writing, editing and related fields, but felt unfulfilled. So at age 30, he started over, changing to his current career, which attracted him due to his own questions about personal finance and recurring questions from his friends, family and co-workers. Because personal finance is not widely taught, Dave enjoys answering questions from anyone who is eager to learn because he knows that good financial decisions can dramatically alter the course of people's lives. This includes frequent participation in a personal finance Facebook group for Grinnell alumni.

Maddie Gray ’16

Maddie is currently living in Boston and pursuing her MBA at Harvard Business School. Prior to business school she lived in New York City and worked in M&A and Corporate Development at Nuveen, a global asset management firm and the asset management arm of parent company, TIAA. Maddie graduated from Grinnell in 2016 where she double majored in Economics and Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies. When she's not in class or studying she can be found cooking and enjoying good food with her partner and friends, climbing at her local bouldering gym, and daydreaming about one day getting a puppy to cope with the overwhelming puppy fever that plagues her on the daily.

Government & Social Service

Summer White ’18

Summer White currently lives near Washington DC and is a government and public service consultant with Deloitte. She majored in political science at Grinnell with a concentration in policy studies. Lately Summer has found joy in scheduling snarky Facebook posts for a local political organization, witnessing the pureness of her niblings laughter, and sharing vegan treats with anyone open to trying them.

Shannon Ellery ’18

Shannon works as the Advocacy Specialist at The Arc of Indiana, a disability-rights non-profit organization in Indianapolis, Indiana. In this role, Shannon spends most of her time creating informational materials on disability rights and policy in Indiana, facilitating self-advocacy and systems- advocacy trainings for people with disabilities, and collaborating with stakeholders to advocate for legislation at the state level. She graduated with a degree in Biology/Russian, and while the coursework doesn't necessarily transfer, the writing and critical thinking skills she developed at Grinnell have been crucial to her work. Shannon enjoys swimming with her local masters team and looking up rescue puppies on the indyhumane website.

Education

Ben Vaughn ’15

I teach 2nd Grade in a Title I DC Public School. This was my first position after Grinnell as I accepted the call to join Teach for American DC Region as a Corps member, and I am still teaching at my placement school. I love teaching, and while it is challenging, it ultimately is exponentially as rewarding when you review all the progress at the end of the year. I am a certified indoor cycle instructor and fitness professional which is my current side hustle/passion. I love running classes in-person and cardio classes on Instagram.

Mike Daley ’72

Mike was an Econ/Ed; FR & BR Swimmer for 4 yrs. at GC. MA Northwestern, Counselor Ed. Mike worked as an RA/the first women’s swim coach/career services associate at GC for 3 years. His primary career was in student affairs, counseling, and higher education administration at 4 different institutions (Grinnell, Coker U, Cornell U, U of WI-MKE). Mike transitioned into FT swim & triathlon coaching in 1999. He completed 3 Ironman triathlons after turning 59. Mike continues to enjoy swimming and coaching in Holland, Michigan.

Stacie Kossoy ’05

I currently live in Baltimore, Maryland but work for KIPP DC charter school network in Washington DC. I currently serve as the Deputy Chief Academic Officer but have been a teacher and a principal prior to this role. I was a Sociology major with a concentration in Gender and Women's Studies. These days I do a lot of walking, hiking, and biking to try and get outside as much as possible. I also enjoying cuddling with my cat Tiny Panther.

Health

Carrie Sibbald ’15

Carrie graduated in 2015 with a double major in biochemistry and Spanish. She currently lives in St. Louis, is a 4th year medical student at Washington University in St. Louis, and is applying for residencies in ob/gyn for next year. She is also serving on the admissions committee this year for the medical school. Carrie runs a lot, has been baking more (especially since the pandemic started), recently picked up knitting again, and has two beloved cats at home named Nala and Marcela.

Nate Lueck ’00

Nate Lueck is a pathologist who lives in St. Paul, MN and works at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park (a suburb of Minneapolis). He was a chemistry major, graduating in 2000. He is married to another doctor, Christina Ward ‘98, who is an orthopedic hand surgeon at Regions Hospital in St. Paul. In his spare time, Nate enjoys running around with his kids (Aleia age 12 and Elliot age 9), biking and swimming, but he only swims twice a week now.

Christina Ward ’98

Christina majored in chemistry at Grinnell, and graduated in 1998. She went to medical school at Washington University in St. Louis, then on to residency and fellowship at the University of Iowa. She joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota in 2009, where she practices orthopaedic hand surgery, and teaches plastic and orthopaedic surgery residents. She is also the program director for the hand surgery fellowship. She lives in St. Paul, with her husband Nate (Class of 2000) and their two kids.

STEM & Data Science

Sean Warlick ’08

Sean is living in Seattle with his partner Amanda Warlick '08, their son and puppy. After spending a number of years in the aerospace industry he now leads a data science team at Qualtrics. Sean loves the outdoor opportunities that the pacific northwest offers; you'll often find him in the mountains with his mountain bike or skis.

Amanda Warlick ’08

After Grinnell, Amanda completed an interdisciplinary masters degree in marine mammal conservation and management. After working on the science staff at an international conservation NGO in Washington DC for a number of years, Amanda missed the West Coast and got a job with the National Marine Fisheries Service in Seattle where she learned about fisheries economics and the world of Big Data. She then made the big decision to return to graduate school for a degree in wildlife statistics, an endeavor that is ongoing. In her spare (what's this??) time, Amanda enjoys swimming (yes, still!), running, hiking, and generally spending time exploring mountains, forests, and tide pools with her family.

Arts, Media, & Communication

Laura Lockwood ’12

Laura Lockwood is a freelance voice actor living in Portland, Maine. She majored in French and Psychology at Grinnell. Laura hails from North Idaho originally and describes her convoluted journey to voice acting as a "pipedream turned dream career". She is an avid podcast listener and iced coffee drinker and if she's not in her home recording studio, you can likely find her meandering around town with her Bernese Mountain Dog or watching a stand-up special on Netflix.