of a Musician

Tyler Gwynn ’12, drummer for rock band Tenth Mountain Division based in Colorado, was a guest speaker in George Scharr’s Music Majors class, where he enthralled students with stories of his life on the road. Below is some of the information he shared.

Touring

I started touring with my college band at 21, the day after I graduated. We were five dudes in a pickup truck. We drove 15 hours from Denver to Houston all squished together. We even drove a revamped school bus with a broken gas gauge for a while, which was an adventure. Now, we have a 15-passenger van and a 10’ trailer that holds our equipment.

A drawback is that you get very little time to see your friends and family. So, you have to decide if this is what you want and know that you will have to sacrifice things.

Scheduling

Our manager or agent will book an offer in a major city, and we will look for other venues along the way or near the anchor venue, and we’d build around it. For example, we had a big gig in Chicago, so we booked Louisville, Detroit and Madison along the way.

We try to play two to three concerts in a row. You load in at 2 PM, sound check, troubleshoot and then start the concert at 10 PM. After the concert, we’re back on the road by 3 AM.

Pain Points

You push through no matter what. You are there to put on a show. People come to watch you and not just listen. They’re not just coming to see players with great haircuts. I threw my back out in Asheville while loading in, and they had to carry me to the Green Room, where I took Tylenol and had someone rub tiger balm on my back. Your onstage adrenaline gets you through. You can put on a show missing a guitar or a mandolin, but you have to have drums and bass. If I don’t show up, four other guys don’t get paid.

Covid

There were some COVID burn-out moments, but we took care of ourselves mentally and physically. We practiced, wrote a TV show, and made videos. You had to have a radical acceptance of the situation. We had to be prepared to keep our momentum going. Once it’s lost, it’s hard to get back.

Rock vs. Classical

There are so many genres, and I’ve played a lot of them. But rock chose me. Essentially music is like a meal with well-balanced and healthy food. Sometimes you just want a Snickers bar; you want to play pop or rap or hip hop.

Success

The key to success is to be happy for people and be proud of what you’ve done. Focus on your success and always root for your friends.

What’s Next

We’re working on our fourth album and trying to get lined up as an opening act. Those are harder to get than being the mainliner. As an opening act, you gain fans, notoriety, legitimacy. We opened for Leftover Salmon and gained a huge following from that. After a while, we saw their fans wearing our t-shirts.

Listen to Tenth Mountain Division or see upcoming tour dates at tmdtunes.com.

1980s

Congratulations to Kurt Achin ’87, who was awarded the Priscilla “Pucky” Roslansky Memorial Fund Award for his production of “Growing Together,” a program Kurt produced for FCTV about Farming Falmouth, a nonprofit organization that supports local agriculture. A board member of this group, Kurt interviewed many involved including Tyler Barron ’12, who works at Coonamessett Farm. Pucky Roslansky, an avid member of FCTV, was the mother of former Falmouth Academy trustee Clara (Roslansky) Hulbert ’79, and grandmother of Christa Hulbert ’04 and Tessa Hulbert ’11. She was also the grandmother of current student Hayden Roslansky ’26, the child of Bill Roslansky and Crissy Condon ’89. Before returning to Falmouth, Kurt worked primarily in Asia as a foreign correspondent for Voice of America, CNN and other organizations.

Jen Schneider

Ziskin ’89 was spotted on WCVB Channel 5 news talking about her activities with Let’s Talk Womxn. Jen is a founding member of this ensemble of women restaurateurs who advocate for female business owners. Jen owns three restaurants with her husband chef Josh Ziskin: La Morra, Punchbowl, and Heritage. The group hosted the Let’s Talk Womxn gala in Boston in March. This collaboration works together to build combined economic power for female business owners. Jen said during the Channel 5 interview, “If you need staff, if you have issues with a landlord or issues with your bank, you just throw it in the email list and you get 10 to 15 responses, easily, in the next 10 minutes. It’s great. But also, what we are working together to do is to build each other up.” According to Channel 5, the Massachusetts restaurant industry has a higher percentage of female ownership than any other industry in the state.

1990s

Eryn Bingle ’91 was named Chief of Staff of Free and Fair Litigation Group, a non-profit law firm designed to counter threats to democracy and individual rights. All their work is pro bono, and they take no more than ten cases at a time.

1999 Alumna Kristen Roupenian’s much heralded 2017 New Yorker short story “Cat Person” made it to the big screen and debuted at Sundance Film Festival in January. “This adaptation works best when capturing the fraught realities around a dating world complicated by technology and a growing understanding of how dangerous some men can be,” wrote Tim Grierson, Senior US Critic for Screen Daily.

2000s

Jeremy Gantz ’00 has been invited back to Time to serve on the editorial team of the magazine’s 100 Most Influential Companies edition. In the fall, he was an editor on Time’s annual Best Inventions issue.

Congratulations to Chris Buccino ’02 for being honored as a 5 Under 40 award winner in the 2023 edition of New England Home. Buccino is the founder and Principal Landscape architect of Landschop based in East Falmouth.

KC Hopkinson ’02, managing partner of Hopkinson Law, LLC, was recognized as a Top Lawyers for 2022 in Tampa Magazine. Hopkinson has been recognized throughout her career as Woman of the Year by Orlando Style Magazine (2021); Tampa Attorney of the Year by Tampa Style Magazine (2021); a Super Lawyers “Rising Star” every year since 2016; and a “Top 40 Under 40” Labor and Employment Lawyer by the American Society of Legal Advocates for three years. She represents individuals and businesses of all sizes in Tampa and throughout the state, and has received multiple honors along the way.

Congratulations to Bryony (Muniz) Scudder ’02, who was named February’s Teacher of the Month by Ocean 104.7. A compassionate yet tough teacher (Head Teacher of the Intermediate Team) at the Riverview School, she was nominated by a coworker, who said, “Scudder has been a great mentor to many of the teachers on the staff and her students love her. She develops students’ IEPs and organizes engaging field trips each week. She’s a dependable face for staff and students alike, always available and inspiring everyone to work at their best.” Scudder says her goal as a teacher is to make sure that every student’s voice is heard. She said in an interview with the station, “It’s a great job. It’s easy to mentor. It’s just a different kind of teaching. I love teaching. Every single day from the minute I set foot in the school, every moment is a teachable moment. There’s no lesson or thought the students have that is too insignificant to share. We want to make sure everyone’s voice is heard and everyone is cared about in the same way. I can be tough but I’m also the first one to cheer when something has been accomplished, whether it’s winning a cross country race or successfully finishing a paragraph they’ve been working on.” Scudder also hosted a series of tutorials on how to navigate IEPs on Facebook over the winter.

Congratulations to Steven Heslinga ’04 and Paul Heslinga ’07, whose firm the Heslinga & Tate Private Wealth Group of Wells Fargo Advisors was recognized on the 2023 Forbes Best-in-State Wealth Management Teams list. They were the only Massachusetts-based Wells Fargo private wealth management team to be recognized.

Congratulations to Katie Gundersen ’06 who was promoted to Associate Director, Advancement Events at Brown University. Gundersen holds a Master’s Degree focused in Non-Profit/Public/ Organizational Management from the University of Rhode Island.

Peter MacDonald ’06 and his wife Anja welcomed their third child, Manley Johannes MacDonald in November. He is joined by big sisters Emilie and Miriam. Peter’s company, Wunderite, where Philip MacDonald ’09 is Manager of UX, continues to grow, helping insurance agencies and customers simplify applications with next generation software.

Following a cancer rehabilitation fellowship at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, and a residency in physical medicine and rehabilitation at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston, Alex Gundersen, MD ’09 has moved to Providence where she is Director of Cancer Rehabilitation with Lifespan Physician Group, affiliated with Brown University. Gundersen attended Villanova for undergrad and earned her medical degree from Penn State University College of Medicine.

2010s

As reported in the previous issue of The GAM, Ben Smith ’11 is a recruitment officer for the USMC and not USC.

Kudos to Marney Rathbun ’12, whose poem “Splinter” was published in The Kenyon Review’s 2022 September/October issue. “It’s my most nationally recognized publication yet so I’m very excited and proud.” Her work has also appeared in ITERANT, Salt Hill Journal, and Cosmonauts Avenue. After a stint teaching 11th grade English at Falmouth Academy last year, Rathbun began a masters program in divinity at Harvard University.

Katie Armstrong ’15 began a position at the MassHire Metro North Workforce Board as STEM Programs Manager. She focuses on STEM workforce development for high school students and does a lot of presenting and attending hiring fairs. Armstrong previously worked at Woodwell Climate Research Center on the Coonamessett River project, and she is a seasoned FA Science & Engineering Fair judge.

Kendall Currence ’18 is returning to Falmouth Academy to teach a basketball clinic as only she can. Taking place June 24 and 25, she will teach boys and girls, grades 4-12, to bring their skills to the next level. Registration can be found under the clinic tab at kendallcurrence.com.

Congratulations to Samira Wolf ’18, who graduated from Pfeiffer University in May 2022, with a degree in Criminal Justice. In December, she graduated from Rowan-Cabarrus Community College’s North Carolina Basic Law Enforcement Academy. Officer Wolf was sworn into the Salisbury Police Department in January.

Camden Emery ’19 has accepted an internship with Blizzard Albany to join the Cinematic Animation team for the summer of 2023. Emery graduated from Champlain College in the spring with a degree in game animation.

Falmouth Academy hosted another successful Students for Social Justice Conference in March with the theme, Rights and Responsibilities. MA Rep Dylan Fernandes ’08 made the closing statements, and Phoebe (Congalton) Morad ’95 attended with her daughter, and is pictured here with college counselor Ruth Slocum.

In Memory of Keyth Sylvia ’01

We are sad to report the passing of Keyth Sylvia ’01. In addition to special friends and relatives, including his daughter, Sylvia is survived by parents Mary and Jeffrey Sylvia, former members of Falmouth Academy’s transportation team. A “foodie” and an artist, Keyth was a marine deployed to Iraq in 2003 where he served with the 3rd Armored Reconnaissance Battalion.

Alumni continue to support Falmouth Academy by judging at the annual Science and Engineering Fair. Thank you to (first row) Kyle Benton ’12, Rachel Dragos ’12, Katie Armstrong ’15, and Nick Lowell ’88, and students (second row) Ben Gulmann ’23, Landon Cormie ’23, Ben Giumetti ’23. Missing from the photo are Kenny McCormack ’09, Scott Brown ’89, and Clara (Roslansky) Hulburt ’79

Introducing the Mariner Network for FA Alumni

Mariner Network is a new FA-only alumni networking platform hosted by Alumnifire, that will provide a userfriendly space for FA alumni to connect, share career advice or job opportunities, and create affinity groups on topics of interest to them. It will serve as a resource board and a directory to find other FA alumni.

To make registration easier, you can sign in with your email or use your LinkedIn and Facebook credentials. (If your other schools currently use Alumnifire, you’ll be able to access all of your networks.)

The Mariner Network will only be open to FA alumni.

The Mariner Network makes it easy to connect with fellow alumni for social or career networking reasons. Join today at falmouthacademy. alumnifire.com.

Alumni Networking Tips

Former teacher Lalise Melillo joined visiting alumni in December at Alumni Working Day, who returned to offer advice on how to thrive in college and provide industry-specific information. These alumni chaired roundtable discussions on various topics including law, public policy, engineering, journalism, and game design.

L to R: Josh Novak ’19, Sam Colt-Simonds ’19, Andrew Kingman ’00, Alex Rickard ’22, Melillo, Clint McDowell ’22, Caitlin Corkeron ’21, Logan Moniz ’22, Jeffrey Moon ’92, Camden Emery ’19, Mark Kate Jones ’17, Hannah Stillman ’19, Gill Johnston ’18, and Sean O'Neill ’04 (front).

Alumni Blizzard Ball

Despite near-blizzard conditions and icy roadways, 14 Falmouth Academy friends played basketball during the school’s holiday break, and they had a blast.

Pictured here are the alumni (and a couple of friends) who played some holiday ball. Back row (l to r): Alex Carbone, Tim Wadman ’09, Xandy Walsh ’11, Kunaal Rajagopal ’16, Daniel Sakakini ’13, Lyon Van Voorhis ’11, Robert Eder ’15, Owen Sullivan ’15, Peter Wells ’14. Front row: Lucas Johns ’14, Cody Baker ’14, Matt Liles, Daniel Eder ’12.