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Katherine Kressler

A few years back, Katherine Kressler stopped by the school to have some fun with the "then" Primary Team. Katherine had just returned from an Alaskan-Philadelphia Yearly Meeting Youth Exchange. After that, she taught English to children at a school in China. In the summer of 2002, she did an internship in the chemistry department at Lycoming College, where she was a senior in 2006-2007, majoring in chemistry. Katherine wanted to attend graduate school, but still hadn't decided where that will be.

The Albeckers

Latest on the Albeckers:

Aaron joined the police force in Newport News, Virginia, in December 2006.

Molly was in her junior year of college in 2006-2007 with a double major in biology and history.

Anna graduated from high school in June 2006. She was on the school's swim team and was a member of the school yearbook committee.

Dave (father) continues to work at Winchester Medical Center in the Pulmonary Function Testing lab. He devotes much of his time to his interest of cycling, including designing and building bikes for the family.

Ceci (mother) spent part of 2005 developing her own passion for cycling, joining Dave on a trip to the Tour de Georgia in April 2005.

Nora Basile

Nora Basile graduated with honors from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, and was commissioned an ensign on May 17, 2006. She received a bachelor's degree in environmental and marine science, with a minor in nautical science. Nora is now serving as a deck officer on the USCG cutter Willow, out of Newport, Rhode Island.

Craig Dalton

Craig Dalton is in the doctoral program in geography at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He was in his second year in 2006-2007, taking courses, working as a teaching assistant, and doing research and writing in several areas related to mapmaking and cultural studies.

Julia Dalton

In 2006-2007, Julia Dalton was in her fourth year of the five-year architecture program at Syracuse University. She has worked at Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, an architectural firm in Wilkes-Barre, in the summers of 2005 and 2006. She planned to study architecture in Florence, Italy, during the spring 2007 term.

Sarrah Evans

Sarrah Evans, a graduate of Earlham College, spent some time abroad in Kenya. She wrote an essay on her experience, highlighting the main lesson she learned during her time in Nairobi, Kayole and the surrounding areas: survival of the fittest. Kenya taught her to expect anything, and how to maintain her own survival. She enjoyed her experiences, and learned to expect the unexpected in Nairobi.

Johanna Gerig

Johanna Gerig was majoring in elementary education at Elizabethtown, where she was student teaching in the fall of 2006 in the fourth grade in a Lebanon County elementary school. Her extracurricular activities included theater and dance.

Kristofer Gerig

Kristofer Gerig was a sophomore at the University of Richmond, majoring in chemistry, in 2006-2007. Although still undecided, he had a strong interest in the field of medicine. Kris was a resident assistant at the university and a member of the "ultimate Frisbee" club and the extreme adventure club.

Dawn Candlish

Dawn Candlish (left) stopped by the school to catch some of Greenwood's annual talent show. She is standing with friends Brad and Daryl Houk. The Houks have two children, Courtney and Sander, who attended GFS, and Brad Houk is a former teacher in the GFS Middle School. Dawn was a junior in 2006-2007 at Duquesne University, majoring in cello performance.

Andrew Hart

Andrew Hart graduated as top studio student from his architecture class of 2005 at Temple University's Tyler School of Art Architecture Program. His thesis project focused on a rehabilitation project in and around Ashley, Pennsylvania, and the coal breaker there. Andrew received three awards including the Alumni Thesis Award, which is the top award given during graduation. Based on this award, he was nominated to show in the Vitetta Student Design Competition. The Vitetta is held between all four architecture schools in Philadelphia every two years. Andrew won the competition and received a cash prize that he used to travel to India to research the country's architecture and culture.

In late 2006, Andrew was working for the architecture firm of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson (the home office is in Wilkes-Barre; incidentally, GFS alumna Julia Dalton also works summers there while attending architectural school at Syracuse).

In his spare time, Andrew was involved with developing and teaching an extra-curricular "Introduction to Architecture" course for high school students at the Tyler School of Art and working as an adjunct faculty member at Temple. He and a group of friends produced an art exhibition for the Philadelphia Fringe festival, called "Place Holdings." Their installation piece was reviewed in the Philadelphia Inquirer and appeared on Philly's NBC Channel 10, among other news programs and interviews. In spring 2007, they will show the exhibition in Boston.

Andrew was living in the Manayunk neighborhood of Philadelphia, where he has been getting into competitive cycling in and around the city as well.

Aaron Javsicas

Aaron Javsicas was acquisitions editor for economics and business for Palgrove Publishing in New York City in late 2006.

Laura Javsicas

In late 2006, Dr. Laura Javsicas was an equine veterinarian in a residency program at the University of Florida.

Aaron and Laura are the children of Greenwood founders Anne and Peter Javsicas.

Eric Jost

Erik Jost is a data systems specialist in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Elizabeth Titman

Elizabeth Titman toured England, France, Switzerland, Italy, and Greece on a trip organized by Millville High School English teacher Michelle Saylor, who, along with history teacher Kenneth Marshman, joined the students on the trip. Emphasis was on the art, architecture, and history of the countries. Liz's part-time job at Camp Victory helped with the costs for this trip. In 2006-2007 Liz was in her senior year at Millville.

Tobias Lunger

Tobias Lunger was one of Greenwood's early students, when the school was called Community Friends School. He completed eighth grade at Greenwood back when the school had its first middle school program, and attended Hughesville High School and then George School. Tobias attended Earlham College. In 2006 he was living and working in the Muncy area and had been employed by Construction Specialties of Montgomery for nine years. Friends may remember Tobias's love of animals and his first unusual pet, a Mexican red-knee tarantula. He now cares for a large menagerie of animals and arachnids.

Kate Lunger

Kate Lunger has been living and working in Philadelphia, where she is program manager for Philadelphia Community Court and is the mother of Ameer, a student at Lansdowne Friends School. Ameer was in second grade in 2006-2007. Kate received her master's degree in criminal justice from Temple University. Since 2004 Kate has been engaged to Malachi Owens, a native Philadelphian. Malachi is a barber and the father of five-year-old Malachi. Kate attended George School, where she developed her interest in the criminal justice field, an early career choice that has been a very good one.

Stephen Lunger

Stephen Lunger is also a George School and Temple University graduate, following in the footsteps of his older sister. However, his field of study was psychology. Other footsteps Steve is following these days involve professional breakdancing, a passion he developed in high school and pursued in college. In 2006-2007 he was is a member of a "crew" that performed regularly in Philadelphia and New York and traveled widely for competitions. Steve has a pied piper effect on admiring nephew Ameer, who would follow him anywhere, and especially to break practice. At right, Steve dances at a plaza in downtown Philadelphia.

Allison and Elizabeth Martens

Allison and Elizabeth Martens were attending Blair Academy in Blairstown, New Jersey. In 2006-2007, Allison was a senior and Beth a junior. They both began attending Blair in 2005 so they were in their second year there. They loved it! Both were playing varsity soccer and singing in the select Blair Academy Singers group. Allison rowed crew in spring 2006 and both planned to row crew in spring 2007. They were on the Headmaster's List and Allison was a prefect for 2006-2007. Allison was elected captain of the soccer team. Unfortunately, she sustained a very serious injury 20 minutes into the first soccer match of the season and tore the ACL in her left knee, requiring reconstructive surgery. Her surgeon felt she should be able to row crew in spring 2007 if all went well, but she would be unable to play soccer for nine months.

Ben and Shiva Mandell

Ben Mandell graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a B.S. in computer engineering and then completed his M.B.A at Columbia University. During his undergraduate years, Ben founded VillageAuction.com, a company which hosted local online auctions across the country. Since graduating from Columbia, Ben has worked as a consultant for a non-profit venture capital fund in Nicaragua and a social upliftment arts project in South Africa.

Shiva Mandell graduated from Cornell University with a five-year degree in architecture and was living in Los Angeles in 2006. He was working for an architectural firm and had been working on a $30 million renovation for Red Bull's corporate headquarters in Santa Monica. Shiva's personal website contains examples of his work: www.creativerecycle.com.

In his free time Shiva had been exploring his creativity by creating recycled art and designing and sewing costumes for the dances that his girlfriend Nicole choreographed. They were planning a combined dance production and art exhibit in fall 2006 in Los Angeles. Shiva and Nicole have also formed an artist collective to explore dance and design: www.spaceandmovement.org.

The photo shows Ben and Shiva at Burning Man, a week-long celebration that is held every August in the Nevada desert.

Erin, Andrew, and Justin Meschter

Erin Meschter was a medical student at Jefferson College in Philadelphia in 2006-2007. That year brothers Andrew and Justin Meschter were undergraduate students, Andrew a junior majoring in economics at Penn State, and Justin at Villanova, majoring in comprehensive science. They are the grandchildren of our landscape architect Joan Meschter and are graduates of GFS.

Nathan Rockwood

Nathan Rockwood was a junior at Earlham in 2006-2007, looking forward to being a resident assistant on a health and wellness floor. He was a contributing designer for the recently published Serenity Role Playing Game by Margaret Weis Productions, and had an option to perform more work on the Battlestar Galactica series role-playing game.

Danielle Wardigo

Danielle Wardigo graduated from Central Columbia in 2001. In 2006-2007 she was living in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, and was the head of customer service at Circuit City in Exton. If any of you remember Danielle's love for elephants, it won't surprise you to learn that the graduation gift from her mother was a trip to Calgary to give an elephant a bath.

Elizabeth Smith

Elizabeth Smith says, "I loved every year I spent at Greenwood - from preschool through grade 6 - and was sad to leave in 1991!"

After Greenwood, Elizabeth attended Central Columbia until she graduated from there in 1997. She majored in mass communications at Bloomsburg University and eventually picked up a minor in studio art with a concentration in photography. After graduating from BU in the fall of 2001, Elizabeth started her own photography business, "Elizabeth H. Smith Photography."

The summer of 2006 was her fifth summer doing weddings and senior portraits, but she still preferred black and white photography, mostly of nature and landscape. Her dream was to build a larger studio at her Berwick home. She built her own darkroom at her house so she could continue to print her own black and white photos, and she has a small studio for taking portraits. Late in 2005 she began using digital photography for her weddings and senior pictures, and she has since almost completely converted to digital for the speed and convenience of viewing her images.

Her showings around Columbia County have been at Bloomsburg Veterinary Hospital, Days Inn in Danville, Phillips Emporium on Main Street in Bloomsburg, and the Barn at Boone's Dam in Bloomsburg. In late 2006 she had an exhibit of color photographs of Sedona and the Grand Canyon at the Bloomsburg Veterinary Hospital.

Adrian Wright-Fitzgerald

In 2006-2007, Adrian Wright-Fitzgerald was a sophomore at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh studying in the health sciences field. She entered a dual-degree program leading to a B.S. degree in athletic training, and, with additional semesters of work, a Ph.D. in physical therapy. She was on the rowing team and did a variety of volunteer work in the city. She loved the "small" urban experience and had gotten to know Pittsburgh quite well. This past summer, she was a counselor at Columbia County Child Development Program's summer camp, where she met several GFS primary students.

Lethan Candlish
Karrie Kressler

If you want to have an impromptu GFS class reunion, just follow the crowd to hear storyteller Lethan Candlish spin a tale. In August 2006, at least six Greenwood alumni and their families attended Lethan Candlish and Karrie Kressler's final performance of the summer production of The Adventures of Robin Hood: A new telling of a classic tale (see photo).

Lethan Candlishbegan telling stories in 1998 at the Storytelling Theater at Knoebels Amusement Park. He then began an independent career of storytelling with Traveling Tales in 1998. His travels have taken him to many venues around the country, including Center County Community Charter School in State College, Pennsylvania; West End Library in Laurelton, Pennsylvania; and Oak Ridge Elementary School in Sacramento, California. He performed for Greenwood's community picnic in September 2006. Lethan was also to be the featured presenter at Brother Blue's storytelling gathering in Boston, Massachusetts. For his schedule of upcoming presentations, visit Lethan's website at www.travelingtales.net.

Karrie Kressler joined the cast of the Einstein Time Machine Theater of Middle Earth Studios in 2005, and found herself storytelling again in the summer of 2006 with Lethan. For her, storytelling is a growing skill, although dabbling in the arts is nothing new. Every so often Karrie can be found on local stages. Apart from her excursions with Lethan, she appeared in Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble's Gravity Hill2. In two earlier summers, she spent time in Puerto Rico, helping to build new homes for families, and in Bosnia, where she worked in an orphanage. Karrie was a junior at Earlham College in 2006-2007, specializing in both math and physics.

Genevieve Kelly

Genevieve Kelly, since leaving Greenwood, has been involved in numerous activities, in both academics and athletics.

Beginning in seventh grade, Gen was on the Ironbots Robotics Team for four years, competing in New Orleans, Boston, Pittsburgh, and elsewhere. She and her eight teammates qualified for the international level in 2003, so Gen competed for a week in Padua, Italy. Of the three areas they competed in, the Ironbots received a first and third place; Gen's dance-team got the third.

Although in 2006-2007 she was no longer a member of the team (due to a very hectic schedule), she still taught robotics with the Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit and Box of Light Theatre in Danville.

After a very long application process, Genevieve was accepted to the Pennsylvania Governor's School for Information, Society, and Technology. This meant that at the end of June 2006, she went to Drexel University with 60 other students for a five-week-long program to learn every aspect of technology, including web design, programming, moviemaking, robotics, and more.

McCambridge Dowd-Whipple

GFS alumna McCambridge Dowd-Whipple also went to the Pennsylvania Governor's School for Information, Society, and Technology at Drexel. Her focus was on acting, as part of the arts program.

Keil and Aaron Troisi
Gabe DiDomenico
Connor Henry

The September 8, 2006, issue of Bloomsburg's Press Enterprise announced that the Greenwood alumni Troisi brothers, Keil and Aaron, along with Gabe DiDomenico, were holding their fifth annual film festival at the Alvina Krause Theatre in Bloomsburg. The event, called "The Pandemonium Pictures Summer Screening," featured eight individual pieces, including a film short created by Greenwood's 2006-2007 eighth grade Middle School student Connor Henry. CDs of the performance are available for sale.

Keil was attending The School of Visual Arts in Manhatttan for screenwriting and Aaron was studying criminal law and justice at Penn State.

Gabe DiDomenico graduated from Drexel in May 2006 with a degree in screenwriting.

Photo Gallery

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Peeking their heads out of the leaves are Gwen (left) and Genie Vandivere, who moved to New York with their mother, Julie, in 2005. The girls stopped by the school in June 2006 to visit their former classmates.

Former Greenwood student Nick McConnell observed Michelle Dennen's music class with the kindergarten to second grade Primary Team. He began his studies in music education and performance at Bloomsburg University in the fall of 2006.

In June 2006, Kelly McConnell married Jacob Trevino. Kelly was enrolled in a doctoral program in clinical psychology at Bowling Green University in Ohio. Jacob is an engineer. Nick and Kelly's mother, Mary Ann McConnell, continues to help out the school as a substitute teacher. What would we do without her?

In April 2006, GFS Middle School students talked with school alumnus Matthew Gale, second from left, about preparing for their future careers. Matt and his aunt, Barbie Gale, had recently purchased the Eagles Mere Inn. He used his own career in hospitality to explain how he achieved the goal of owning his own establishment. Word has it that some of the Greenwood family have been enjoying the fine cuisine at the Eagles Mere Inn.

Reed and Jennifer Steinmetz, parents of former GFS student Maurah Steinmetz (front right in photo, with sister Talia on the left), report that the family were living in Singapore in 2006 on a three-year assignment. They left Danville in 2004 when Reed took a new position with Pfizer in Holland, Michigan. Never a dull moment . . . thank goodness for the yearly updates from Jennifer. They returned to the States in December 2006 and stopped by the school to talk to the students about life in Singapore and so that the girls could say hi to teachers and friends.

That's Sarah Sweeney-Denham in the back, holding son Jack. Sitting on the sofa is daughter Mary and husband Daniel Denham. Sarah is the associate director of programs and publications for Friends Council on Education in Philadelphia. In 2006-2007, Mary and Jack were in their first year at Plymouth Meeting Friends School, Mary in kindergarten and Jack in pre-K.

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Letters from Alumni and Families

Mike Wamser

Dear Friends,

It's a thrill to have this opportunity to share some of my work with the [BTE] community and people who helped me get involved in the world of the theatre.

My first taste of the stage was in the Community Friends School (remember that name?) spring show, "Johnny Appleseed," followed the next year by "William Penn." . . . About that time was when I began working with BTE as well.

It wasn't until high school that I acted again, and from the moment I started again, I never looked back. My junior year of high school was when I decided this would be my life.

Now, eight years after my graduation from Bloomsburg High School, and with dozens of shows and two degrees under my belt, I am back in the arms of a community that shaped me. I have had all sorts of experiences and worked all over the country, but this, to me, is a culmination.

Thank you for my early encouragement, and for all your support as audience members over the course of the run of "Romeo and Juliet."

Thanks,
Mike Wamser

Mike wrote this letter to Greenwood after he appeared in Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble's 2002 production of "Romeo and Juliet."

Lisa Cohoon

Greetings received in 2005 from former teacher Lisa Cohoon Coleman and husband Mark Coleman: Mark has been busy this year building a Mini Self-Storage Unit in Gratz across from the fairgrounds, adding another apartment to the FUZZY BUNNY building, and doing remodeling and repair work for Keystone Services. . . . Lisa continues to work with children with special needs for the Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit in the Shamokin and Line Mountain School Districts, while working towards her master's degree in special education at Bloomsburg University. We thoroughly enjoyed our trip to Cancun, Mexico. . . . We highly recommend this . . . fun in the sun destination.

Leslie and Mariel Sackman

Dear Friends,

We're so happy to be able to share our news with you, although it is uneventful. Mariel [Sackman] and I reminisce about Greenwood Friends all the time. Mar still hopes to see her friend Sophie DeWald again sometime soon.

Easton is now home. Mariel takes horseback riding lessons and piano lessons. Scott's practice is coming along nicely and I'm a volunteer parent at Williams Township Elementary School, among other things. We like the new school. Mariel was tested for and placed last year into their "gifted" program, where she is thriving. Her teachers continue to give us all good grades.

Our new neighborhood is lovely. When we decided to build here, I hoped for a street full of children so that Mariel could walk to her friends' houses to visit and play. And that's what we've got. There are 20 children under the age of 10. After homework is finished, there's always someone around for companionship.

Best Wishes,
Leslie Sackman

James Wenner Bradley is a two-year-old boy with close connections to Greenwood and Millville Friends. In September 2005, James underwent surgery to remove a tumor on his kidney and received chemotherapy treatment. He has been doing fine and acting very much like the young little boy he is, including pulling the hair of his sister Ellie.

James's connections: His mother Melinda graduated from Greenwood at eighth grade. Father Matt is the head of West Chester Friends School. Grandparents Dick and Shirley Wenner are members of Millville Meeting and strong supporters of and workers for Greenwood.

A group of Friends schools decided to make a quilt for James, sending him messages of love and good wishes. Greenwood is pleased to have a message from our community included in James's quilt, parts of which are pictured in the bulletin board display below.