Alumni Class Notes - July 2020

Once a Panther, always a Panther. Stay connected with each other, and your Pine Crest family by sharing your success, life events, the good and bad, and everything in between.

 Professional Achievements:

Dr. Lindsay (Kallan) Weisner ’95, Psy. D. released her first non-fiction book, "Ten Steps To Finding Happy," a self-help book on making yourself happier.  The book features work  from fellow alumnae Candice Hoyes ’95, jazz musician, and Nicole Glassman, Holistic Health Guru and owner of Mindful Health Holistic Nutrition.

Pari Forood ’76 has wrapped up a four year tour speaking about the 2015 release of "The Gates of Light." The book is about working on Capitol Hill in the 1980's for a Congressman from New York. While there and working on immigration reform, she was pulled into helping the flight of her cousin from Iran to the U.S.A.

Dylan Geller ’19 was selected to be a student manager for the Duke Men’s Basketball Team. 

Cathy Madigan ’73 received the Lulu Wolf Hassenplug Alumni Award for Distinguished Career in Nursing from Vanderbilt University. She is Chief Nurse Executive for the University of North Carolina Health Care System and Associate Dean for practice at the UNC Chapel Hill School of Nursing.

Alexandra (Rubinstein) Levitt ’09 recently returned to South Florida after living in New York City.  She is now a real estate agent with the Koolik Group at Compass Realty. 

John De Young ’11 is a television news producer at CBS News 4 Miami. He joins fellow alumna and news anchor Lauren (Granado) Pastrana ’05 at the network.

Descartes Holland ’13 was the recipient of the Johnson Space Center Group Achievement Award "for exceptional performance by the Habitable Airlock (HAL) Design, Integration, Test, and Evaluation Project Team," presented by Mark Geyer, Director of Johnson Space Center. 

Katie Bodner ’11 earned her Ph.D in Bioengineering from Stanford University as a Hertz-Draper Fellow and Stanford Graduate Fellow. Dr. Bodner started a new field of research exploring how bacterial viruses influence the human immune system. Her work has been published in scientific journals, including Nature Chemical Biology and Cell Systems, and has led to a patent and foundational technology for a start-up therapeutics company.

Spotted:

Tommy Sullivan ’17 delivered the sports segment on Univisión at the University of Miami!  Scroll over to the 11:30 mark in the video for his segment. 

Allyson (Staley) Samiljan ’68 retired recently from the YWCA of Palm Beach County after more than ten years managing Communications and Special Events. She fulfilled a bucket list item by appearing, and winning one game on Jeopardy. 

Marriages:

Blair (Waters) Willis ’71 and her husband Stu are celebrating 45 years of marriage! They have two sons and four grandchildren, and live in northern Idaho.

Alexandra (Rubinstein) Levitt ’09 married Adam Levitt on November 23, 2019.

Harrison Lieberfarb ’09 and Caroline Brand ’10 are recently engaged! Reminiscing about their days at Pine Crest (including senior prom dates), Harrison said, "Pine Crest will always be a huge part of our lives, and we think of everyone there often."

In Memoriam:

Robert "Bobby" Drackett ’82 passed away on June 12, 2020. He is survived by his wife Vanessa (Bancroft) Drackett ’82 and their four sons.