Alumni Connections

Sara Newman (White) ‘06 graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration in 2014 before moving back home to Southern California to pursue a career in art. She is currently a Senior Product Designer at a company called Yoobi, which creates school supplies with a mission to give back to teachers in need. For every product purchased, classrooms in underserved communities receive basic school supplies. Most recently, Sara created the art and designed the products for a Yoobi back-to-school collection that was released at Target stores nationwide. Keep an eye out for her Star Wars collection, which is scheduled to hit stores this summer.

Kelsey Henegen ‘05 earned a bachelor of arts at University of California, Santa Barbara, and worked at technology start-ups for seven years before returning to academia. She holds master of arts degrees in English from Middlebury’s Bread Loaf School of English and a degree in liberal arts and Eastern classics from St. John’s College, Santa Fe, where her studies spanned philosophy, Sanskrit, literature, and theology. As a resident artist with the Historic Santa Fe Foundation, Kelsey created a monthlong poetry exhibit for the foundation’s El Zaguan gallery and published a chapbook titled To Keep the Name Daughter. Currently, she is studying and teaching undergraduate courses at Boise State University as a candidate for a Master of Fine Arts in Poetry and working on poetry translation projects from Spanish and Hindi. Her poetry has appeared in Narrative Magazine, Santa Fe Literary Review, and Whitefish Review, among others, and she was awarded first place in Narrative Magazine’s 30 Below contest in 2019.

Randon Davitt ‘12 went on to Orange County School of the Arts upon graduating from Pegasus in 2012. He then attended the University of Southern California, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Music degree in Popular Music Performance. Over his musical career, Randon has performed over 350 shows in the pop, rock, R&B, funk, blues, jazz, Irish, Latin pop, punk, and musical theater genres. Before attending USC, Randon played for four years with the touring blues trio, Chase Walker Band. Recently Randon has been touring as a bassist with Tom Sandoval and the Most Extras. Besides playing the bass, Randon is a pop music artist, plays traditional Irish music, and is a composer. His debut EP release as the performing artist Randie, “Here’s Hoping”, will be available on all major streaming platforms as of April 28.

12

18

Jason Plumb ‘18 graduated from Corona del Mar High School in June 2022. As a senior, Jason won the state title in the long jump with CDMHS’s Track and Field team. He is currently a freshman at University of California, Berkeley, where he studies business and has plans to apply to the business school next year. Jason is also a member of the Cal Track and Field team and is preparing for their upcoming season.

19

Jaci Hinman ‘19 is a senior at Troy High School, where she participates in the robotics program and has helped lead Troy’s team to the World Championships. Jaci credits her love for engineering and design to Mrs. DeBest’s robotics class. When Jaci isn’t doing robotics, she performs as a semiprofessional aerialist in Circo Etereo, the Ruby Karen Project aerial arts studio’s performance company. Jaci has always loved performing and saw aerial arts as something different that encourages unique self-expression. In fall 2023, Jaci hopes to attend the University of Southern California or Carnegie Mellon because of their accredited undergraduate preprofessional degree programs.

Justin Shayan Jadali ‘19 started his own business, Isopod Specialist LLC, during his freshman year at Corona del Mar High School after he noticed that reptile owners were creating more waste with their pet’s waste than necessary. Isopod Specialist was founded to solve that problem by making bioactive alternatives to the traditional terrariums used today. Justin started the company in his parent’s garage at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and ran it by himself for eighteen months. When he was able to move into a real facility, he hired friends to help fulfill packages, facilitate wholesale orders with pet stores, and manage customer service. Currently, Justin has six employees in California and two employees based in India. Isopod Specialists has been featured in Yahoo News and LA Weekly. Justin’s fast growing business made it necessary for him to graduate from high school early and have the flexibility of a community college schedule. While running his business, Justin attends Irvine Valley College where he serves as a student ambassador who gives campus tours, makes presentations about IVC at local high schools and middle schools, and runs the welcome desk. In his spare time, Justin volunteers with Mrs. DeBest helping to maintain the Pegasus 3D Printers and teach students how to design CAD files and use the 3D Printers.

Alene Tchekmedyian ‘02 graduated from University of California, Los Angeles, with a bachelors of arts before attending Columbia University for a Master’s Degree in Journalism. Upon completion of a master’s degree, Alene served as a news editor at Easy Reader before beginning her career as a reporter for the Los Angeles Times. Alene began her career at the LA Times by covering breaking news and criminal courts before taking over the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reporting in 2019. During her time on that beat, Alene has reported on controversial hiring decisions by Sheriff Alex Villanueva and the cover-up of misconduct by deputies who shared photos of Kobe Bryant’s helicopter crash. Her reporting led to a new state law and a successful lawsuit by Vanessa Bryant, Bryant’s widow. Alene’s hard-hitting reporting has resulted in criminal grand jury investigations and the uncovering of troubling practices by animal rights activist Marc Ching.

Natalie Lowenstein ‘11 is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Public Health at the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. After graduating from Sage Hill School in 2015, Natalie went onto Tufts University, where she majored in Biopsychology, Pre-Med, and minored in Entrepreneurial Leadership. Since graduating from Tufts University in 2019, she has been the clinical research coordinator for the Chief of Women’s Sports Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. Working under Dr. Elizabeth Matzkin, Natalie has published fourteen peer-reviewed manuscripts, three book chapters, and will be presenting two papers at the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgery in March 2023. Natalie has had the opportunity to work with Dr. Matzkin in her clinic, in the operating room, in a mountain trauma clinic, and on the sidelines of Division 1 sports games. Recently, Natalie led the medical tracking for the Boston Marathon and Half Marathon and was invited to sit on the Boston Marathon Medical Committee. Natalie will begin medical school in the summer of 2023.

19

Morgan Pinckney ‘19 is a senior at Mater Dei High School who has committed to Yale University in fall of 2023 as a member of the sailing team. Morgan has won six national championships in sailing and has been very fortunate to have the opportunity to travel around the world for sailing. In 2022, Morgan traveled to Ireland to participate in the Open World Championships for sailing where he placed 6th overall. In November, Morgan spent a few weeks in Sydney, Australia, competing in various Youth World Tour Events. During his free time, Morgan teaches private sailing lessons and has recently achieved Eagle Scout rank and completed a project on the Pre-K playground. Morgan credits learning about “proper prior planning” at an early age for allowing him to attain academic success while still pursuing his passion for sailing.

19

Kara Shen ‘19 is a senior at Mater Dei High School, where she is a member of the Girls’ Varsity Tennis Team. Kara also serves as a Scarlet Ambassador, an Associated Student Body group that gives campus tours, volunteers at information nights, hosts campus shadows, and gives presentations about Mater Dei at local middle schools. Outside of school, Kara is a youth leader with the Padre Foundation, which focuses on Pediatric-Adolescent Diabetes Research & Education for Type 1 Diabetes. As a youth leader, Kara has created a pamphlet on testing accommodations for high schoolers with Type 1 Diabetes. Kara is currently in the process of applying for college.

Zach Friedman ‘08 graduated from the University of Oregon in 2016 after graduating from Newport Harbor High School. For three years during college, Zach worked part time with the Milwaukee Brewers as an associate scout. Upon graduation from college, Zach worked for one year full time with the Milwaukee Brewers as a minor league video associate before joining the Philadelphia Phillies Scouting Team. Zach has been the signing scout for three of the Phillies’ first nine selections in the 2022 MLB Draft. In September 2022, Zach was awarded the 2022 Dallas Green Award, which was established in 2011 to honor the accomplishments of Dallas Green, who spent 62 years in the MLB organization. The award is given to an amateur or professional scout who best exemplifies the Phillies’ standard for scouting. It is most importantly awarded to an individual who is able not only to identify a player’s talent, but also his character and heart. Zach is in his fifth year with the Phillies.

14

Juliet Farkas ‘14 graduated from New York University in May 2022 with a Bachelor of Arts in Economic Theory. After graduating, Juliet accepted a position as a research intern for the Center for Transboundary Water Management at the Arava Institute under Dr. Clive Lipchin. Juliet works with Dr. Lipchin on his off-grid wastewater treatment system in the West Bank and unrecognized Bedouin villages and currently lives and works in a kibbutz in the most southern part of Israel. Juliet is thoroughly enjoying her time in Israel and has no immediate plans to return stateside.

07 Austin Rios ‘07 graduated from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration, Real Estate degree in 2015. Upon graduation, Austin moved to New York and began working for Eastdil Secured, a real estate investment bank. Austin specializes in asset sale transactions in Office and Industrial. After working in Commercial Real Estate, Austin was asked to help form Dynamic Rentals, an upstart camera rental company in Burbank, CA. Austin is currently the CEO at Dynamic Rentals, a motion picture camera rental company that supplements inventory for other rental companies across the globe. Dynamic Rentals have been used to support several movies and TV shows including Stranger Things, Top Gun, and Euphoria. Dynamic Rentals operates three locations across the U.S., UK, and Germany and has amassed one of the world’s largest collections of digital cinema cameras in just five years. Austin married his college sweetheart in July 2022, and they are expecting their first child in April.

19

Megan Vahdat ‘19 is a senior at Sage Hill School where she continues to work on behalf of social justice and contributes to her school community in various leadership roles. She was recently elected the co-chair of SAME (Sage Advocates for Multicultural Education) and the co-president of GEM (Girls Empowerment Movement) at Sage Hill School. As a rising student activist, she has spoken out on issues ranging from the rights of the incarcerated, educational equity, and the political struggle of Middle Eastern women in forums such as the UCLA Future Student Leaders of Color Conference and the Regional Student Diversity Summit. Megan enjoys representing her school at various academic competitions including the 2022 Orange County Academic Decathlon, where she won a coveted first place medal in the Interview Category and a second place medal in the Speech Category out of a field of almost 400 students. Last spring, she was named a champion in the National History Day-Orange County Senior Individual Documentary category for her project Mutual Incomprehension: The Role of Debate and Diplomacy in the Liberation of the U.S. Hostages in Iran. The win marked her fifth championship in the competition. She dedicated the award-winning film to Mr. James Swiger, her former teacher and coach. In 2021, Megan won the Bessie Reed McDonald Award for Women’s History at the National History DayCalifornia State Competition for her project, Starved for Change: Hunger Strikers Communicate the Need for Women’s Suffrage in Edwardian England. Forty-four thousand students from across the state participated in National History Day. Megan’s project was chosen at the state finals which included 1,400 students from 34 different counties. In her free time, Megan enjoys returning to the Pegasus campus to see all her former teachers for admissions events as a Sage Hill Student Ambassador.

14

Tia Grippo ‘14 graduated in May 2022 from Rice University, where she was a member of the volleyball team. During her senior year at Rice, Tia was a tournament assistant for special events with Insperity Invitational. Upon graduation, Tia began working full-time for Insperity Invitational as a tournament coordinator. Insperity Invitational is a PGA Champions tour event in Houston, Texas. Tia is loving her time in Houston!

12 Nick Crabtree ‘12 graduated from Huntington Beach High School in 2016 and went on to attend Boise State University. During his time at Boise State, Nick was a member of the Boise State Broncos Football program, which competes in the NCAA Division 1 Football Bowl Subdivision in the Mountain West Conference. As a Bronco, Nick played right tackle on the offensive line. Nick continues to reside in Boise, where he works on the marketing and customer relations team for Master Restoration, a local company that deals with commercial and residential disaster cleanup. 06

After graduating from Pegasus, Braden Cluck ‘06 attended Mater Dei High School where he played varsity golf for four years. Braden then attended Loyola Marymount University where he majored in business finance and became a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity. During his freshman year at LMU, Braden met his lovely wife, Hannah, whom he married in June 2017. Upon graduation, Braden accepted a position in Los Angeles with Aon, a multinational financial services firm specializing in commercial risk management, where he was part of the Construction Services Group working closely with large General Contractors and Construction firms handling their risk management program. In May 2018, Braden joined Orion Risk Management, a fullservice risk management and commercial insurance brokerage firm in Newport Beach where he continues to work closely in the construction space while also working with a variety of clients in the real estate, produce distributing, general contracting, and homebuilding arena. Braden and his wife Hannah are expecting their first child in March 2023.